Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending August 8, 2025

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: EBITDA - the acronym's been called "Earnings Before I Trick Dumb Accountants." EBITDA strips out non-operating noise—but misuse is rampant. MostlyMetrics charts its messy history and relevance in SaaS.


2. INVESTORS: Check out this Ultimate Investors List of Lists from The VC Corner. This list includes everything from venture capital firms to family offices, active angel investors, Corporate Venture Arms, and accelerators. Bookmark now!


3. DISCOUNT: Discounting can juice growth but wreak havoc on your metrics. Both ChartMogul and SaaStr warn: reflect actual revenue in MRR, not list price. Misreporting MRR distorts GTM signals and investor trust. But you can also increase prices so salespeople can "discount".


4. RAISE: A whopper guide (149 pages) that provides actionable insights for navigating the complexities of raising capital, covering investor relations, pitching essentials, market awareness, and the fundraising process.


5. AI-JOBS: Microsoft Research measured real Copilot usage across 200K+ chats to create an "AI applicability score" for occupations. Knowledge work—writing, data analysis, sales, admin—ranks highest. Time to retrain as a Bridge and Lock Tender if you haven't started down that path yet.


6. AI REPORT: ICONIQ's State of AI 2025 shows AI is graduating from hype into real P&L impact. On average, companies now allocate 10–20% of their R&D spend to AI. (As mentioned last month, early-stage startups allocate 20–50% of their R&D budget to AI.) However, only ~50% of employees actively use internal tools, despite 70% having access. Power users deploy 7+ AI use cases and report 15–30% productivity gains, while AI-native GTMs drive 56% trial‑to‑paid conversion (vs 32% for traditional SaaS). But stickiness? I think that is too early to say - but there is such a thing as AI Tourism.


7. TECHNICAL CO-FOUNDERS: Hiring a technical co-founder as a non-technical founder? This guide lays out how to frame the opportunity, where to look, and how to build conviction (and success) on both sides - clear, tactical, no-fluff advice.


8. PRICING: Pricing is like software; it's never done, but it also shouldn't be mainly guesswork. VC Corner's Go-To Pricing Guide breaks down early-stage frameworks for choosing value-based models over your gut-feel. Meanwhile, Mostly Metrics' Evolution of Software Pricing traces six pricing "eras", from seats to usage to outcome‑based pricing.


9. IPOs: Almost 3 years ago, I reported on the acquisition of Figma by Adobe; 15 months later, I noted that the deal had fizzled. Well, Figma IPOd last week and it's the biggest VC-backed tech debut in yeeeeeaars. Does this signal life returning to the tech IPO market? Liquidity's certainly back on the table, and founders, funds, and bankers are watching very closely. If the pipeline really is opening. Who's next?


10. CASE STUDY: Adding onto number 9, Pre Adobe debacle and IPO, FIGMA famously wandered around in the wilderness in the early days until they found Product Market Fit. First Round Capital has broken its growth down (from stealth to enterprise) into 5 phases, and this article dives deep into Figma's Early Days and how patience & discipline fostered a killer product and PLG motion.


POD OF THE WEEK: Following up on numbers 5 and 6  is AI's real impact on sales with SaaStr's CEO and Co-Founder, and SVP & GM.