Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending July 17, 2020

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: Cohort Analysis (free Cohort Analysis template!). GoPractice have a Product focused article on how to forecast key product metrics through cohort analysis and The Startup take a look at this metric from a VC Due Diligence perspective.
2. MARKETING: A SaaS 101 primer.  From the team at SaaStock is 1) a 20-page PDF guide to SaaS Marketing and 2) pulled from their last (non-virtual) conference are 4 of their top marketing Sessions.
3. DEVELOPERS: This is a really in-depth report from Stripe on the fiscal benefits of developers (They calculate it at $3 trillion GDP globally) and it also highlights the opportunity costs of bad code and technical debt - something that NZ startups such as RayGun and Codelingo are trying to help solve
4. PRODUCTIVITY: OK, real talk - now that we are all WFH and Remote Work is here to say, we have eliminated commutes, limited lengthy meetings, and small talk. This means that you have freed up a lot of time to tackle real tasks, right? Well according to the New York Times companies such as Cisco and Microsoft agree and have actually observed a productivity bump. Whoop! But there is a downside. According to this report, Work-life integration is hard - 40% of people surveyed experienced Zoom Mental exhaustion and this article from Forbes expands on some of that WFH negativity
5. GDPR: Do you have customers based in Europe (or that are even European Citizens)? You need to understand GDPR. Consent Cookie Walls are no longer compliant FYI. Lucky for you (or you Devs) the French National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) just published this GDPR guide for developers. Covering what needs to be considered at each stage of a project to ensure it adheres to GDPR guidelines (and also offering best practices and great tops and thematic files).  GitHub version here for all you hardcore GitHub users.
6. CYBER: Fun fact: 80% of hacking-related data breaches involve stolen or reused credentials (you can check here if you have compromised email addresses AND, more importantly, any of your Passwords breached). CB Insights have just released a new report on CyberSecurity Trends for 2020 and beyond (downloadable PDF). Threats are on the rise so it’s a compelling read/must read for any Tech based startup. Luckily for us there are a bunch of companies addressing password-less verification, privacy by design, and decentralized digital identities.
7. CAPITAL: If you haven’t seen this yet, bookmark away. This is a Tech Crunch directory of the most active and engaged investors in the VC industry today (perf reviewed - so ones recommended by founders).
8. PRODUCT: As this article (and accompanying podcast) points out -  all product work is not created (and executed) equally. Part of the problem is a singular approach is not the right strategy as there are different kinds of product work, each with their own processes, measures of success, and strategies.
9. SALES: Of the remote kind are now the norm. Managing and coaching a distributed team takes a modified approach. This article from Forbes comes a great article for anyone managing a sales team of seven methods sales leaders can use right now to coach remote teams.
10. PR: To me PR is kinda like SEO - I know I need it, but I don't get how to make it work effectively. ChartMoguls’ ears must have been burning with my commentary as they released this article late last month on PR for SaaS -  just at the time I needed to read it.

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POD OF THE WEEK: I first heard Hiten Shah talk at a HeavyBit event a couple of years ago and have been a fan since. This podcast is a good example of his quality commentary - covering his experiences over the last 20 years in tech.