Top 10 in Tech - What to know for the week ending July 16, 2021

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: Light reading this week (jk, jk, lol, no it's not) - I received a bunch of feedback on posts a couple of weeks back for VC Metrics that matter - it's time to go deeper - this is from Andrew Chen of a16z: An 80-page slide deck of the red flags and magic numbers that investors look for in your startup’s metrics. The article is the best part due to Andrew’s notes - but if you just want the PDF, I got ya, just click here. 
2. VENTURE: Another Quarter has passed, so another State of Venture report is out from CB Insights (Q2 21) - and it 190 slides of Spicy! Global funding hit a record high (again), up 157% YoY ($156B), 136 new unicorns in Q2 - 2020 had a mere 128 in total for comparison, and M&A/IPO exits are up 109% YoY (2,893 in the quarter).
3. CUSTOMER JOURNEY: What the heck is a Customer Journey anyway and why do you need to create one? Now you know you need one, mapping out a Customer Success Journey via a visual map is a great way to know at what areas a Customer Success Team needs to be involved in (and what their responsibilities will be) via a variety of engagement models. You can also access a sweet customer journey mapping template here.
4. CHANNEL SALES: Figuring out channels (new, emerging, adjacent, uncertain, etc.) requires experimental rigor and good processes. Reforge.com is never lacking for detail when it comes to addressing topics like this, so take a deep read of their article here complete with a framework, case studies, and even a Worksheet (Google Sheets style!).
5. BOOTSTRAPPERS: This is for all of you choosing the do-it-without-investors route: Check the State of Independent SaaS Report, which is based on hundreds of non-venture track, revenue-generating, SaaS companies. It has fantastic benchmarks for the bootstrapped: growth rates, demographics, validation approaches, and more.
6. GROWTH: Reforge gets another mention this week - discussing the industry expectations for SaaS companies to choose either Growth or Monetization strategies. Their perspective is that this is a false choice - ask the bootstrappers above: It's about how monetization feeds growth. Adding a tactical layer to this - building a system for growth is an interplay between marketing, product, and good monetization - everything is related.
7. PRODUCT DEBT: Product Debt is just as bad as Technical Debt - it's all the decisions that have been made, often tactical and acute, without a clear product vision or sufficient consideration about the long-term effects of that moment/decision. The link above also has a great case study of Google's messaging product evolution.
8. BOARDS: Great fact: Having a diverse board pays off. Check this report examining the link between companies with multidimensional board diversity and the correlation to revenue. You can also see how your board stacks up by calculating your score here.
9. APP TRACKING: If you hate Apple's new App Tracking Transparency policy (ATT) - my guess is you are in advertising/marketing or you are Facebook. So here are some interesting stats: Mobile ad spend (on iOS 15) has decreased by about 1/3rd since the beginning of June - while the opposite is true on Android. This is also resulting in 15% to 20% revenue drops for iOS developers - likely meaning a big shift of developer energy into Android coming soon. Fun sidebar - ATT request distribution by Geography
10. CASE STUDY: WISE (the app formerly known as TransferWise) is now a publicly-traded FinTech and anyone that knows me knows that I'm a big fan. I use it for most of my business and personal life and will enthusiastically tell you given the opportunity....never heard of them before? Well, guess what? Their main channel of growth is word of mouth, so you're welcome. GoPractice have a great breakdown of their growth and an accompanying Podcast

POD OF THE WEEK: This one doesn't actually exist yet but is an expansion from #2 above - it's a future webinar (July 20th at 2pm EDT) reviewing the CB Insights State of Venture Q2 21 report ​