Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending March 21, 2025

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: ASP or Average Sales Price. ASP tracks the average price new customers pay when signing up. Unlike ARPA, which includes renewals and expansions, ASP spotlights initial deal size—a key signal for sales performance and pricing strategy. Track it by region, plan, or channel to optimize revenue growth.


2. THE END: No - not of this newsletter! But could the rise of AI tools, which are the ones achieving insane ARR growth (like $20m ARR in 2 months), signal a shift where software creation becomes democratized (by users)? There is definitely some food for thought in this article that outlines a current industry transformation that is blurring the lines between developers and users and possibly positioning software as a medium for personal expression and creativity. The future may see countless micro-startups addressing niche needs with tailored solutions?


3. AI AGENTS: Spinning off from number 2, (and also something I'm also working on), AI agents are poised to revolutionize SaaS by automating repetitive tasks and offering on-demand insights - but could they replace it, or how about a more hybrid approach - this article maps all that out, and this LinkedIn Article has a great visual!


4. AI STACK: Bolt was referenced in #2 above as a company that grew to $20m ARR in 2 months, but it's also a great case study in the new new. A really lightweight and fast, AI-first (See #5 below) company/ This structure rips the band-aid off some traditional constraints of headcount and dev cycles and also introduces a new stack to build a business on, the AI-Agent Stack. Shit is getting Agentic fast! Don't believe me? A quarter of startups in YC's current cohort have almost entirely AI-generated codebases.


5. AI-FIRST: My word this newsletter is turning into an AI-based one this week - but the "AI-First" approach is emerging as the new "Cloud-First" for startups. Unlike traditional SaaS targeting IT budgets, AI-first service businesses aim at labor costs, delivering services more efficiently through automation and task management. I think this is a pretty significant paradigm shift emphasizing the importance of integrating AI at the core of so many business models.


6. BPOs and AI: Business process outsourcing - is something many Enterprise (and SMBs) businesses engage in often around mundane or repetitive tasks.  It's a $300B BPO industry primed for disruption by AI (and new-SaaS), according to this article from a16z. Customer support, back-office operations, and invoice reconciliation tasks can all be solved via AI, cutting costs while providing faster and more efficient scaling options.


7. BUSINESS PLAN: Finally, a non-AI post. Business plans!! ​Most business plans fail due to a skill set of founders: over-optimism, as well as a lack of adaptability and inadequate market understanding. Founders often overestimate their control and underestimate challenges, leading to misguided strategies. Recognizing these pitfalls and fostering a culture of flexibility and realistic planning are the big skills for success.


8. PROTOTYPE (AI): Back to AI again 🤖  (and Bolt - see #2 and #4). AI-driven prototyping tools like Bolt (and others like v0) are revolutionizing product development. The main reason for hype I think is that these platforms enable rapid iteration and real-time feedback, allowing teams to quickly visualize concepts, test functionalities, and refine user experiences. This accelerates time-to-market and reduces development costs, which in turn should be leading to more innovative and user-centric products.


9. MOATS: Moats used to come in all kinds of different flavors (such as speed, Brand, or growth), but as AI lowers those software development barriers I've mentioned in #2, #3, #4, #5, and #8 this week, traditional moats like complex software code are totally eroding. To maintain durable revenue and stay competitive, startups should focus on trust, unique data, and network effects (multi-product ecosystems, if you can build 'em, also help).


10. CASE STUDY: Big claim: The OG "Cloud-first" (see number 5 above) business, Salesforce, is freezing engineering hires in 2025—but also growing sales by 20%. Why? AI automates a lot of dev work, but selling AI-powered products still takes us humans. This signals a major shift across an organization: AI won't kill sales teams—it will make them even more essential.


POD OF THE WEEK: Is there too much to read up there?  👆🏼 Listen to the Notebook LLM AI-generated podcast summarizing this week's newsletter for your commute home.