Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending May 16, 2025

1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: What KPIs do venture firms consistently care about across stages? This article highlights how KPIs evolve from early traction metrics like CAC and LTV to more advanced indicators like NRR as companies scale and also shifting into survival metrics like cash runway to operational efficiencies.


2. CAPITAL (seed): AngelList data shows that, on average, seed-stage companies have about 18 months to secure a Series A. Because if a startup isn't marked up by then, it's likely to stall.


3. REVERSE TRIALS: Reverse Trials are a play on freemium, where new users start with a time-limited trial of all your paid features, and at the end of the trial, they can either buy or downgrade to a fully free tier - this article also explains how Airtable do this well. The benefit here is that, emotionally, users experience loss aversion, where the pain of losing something is twice as powerful of a motivator as the pleasure of gaining.


4. AI EVALUATIONS: Oh - this one is good. Every AI startup sounds like a rocket ship - but we all know about the good ol' Startup Jazz Hands - all sizzle and no sausage. Well, check this framework, which helps cut through the pitch BS—what matters, what's sizzle-y fluff, and how to build (or back) something real (or at least really AI).


5. AGI: Speaking of Jazz Hands - Is AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) real or just Silicon Valley cosplay with a massive budget? Check this takedown of the "AGI startup" wave, which calls out the hype, the grift, and what real researchers actually think.


6. VENTURE PITCH: Wanna know what's really happening behind the scenes in a VC pitch? Avery Law breaks down the VC decision-making process: partner politics and legal diligence bottlenecks. Founders: it's ain't just about your pitch. Timing, biases, and internal champions all matter too.


7. PLG: Upgrade paths are a well-known strategy, especially in the PLG world, for increasing revenue, especially LTV/ACV, but not all users upgrade in the same way. Check out this breakdown of SaaS upgrade paths—feature-, seat-, and usage-based. It's a smart take with practical diagrams (and I love me some good pictures).


8. TESTING: We got customers on the A/B test path this week, and y'all don't actually test enough (or at least test well) - me included. Check out this guide, which lays out a full-stack testing strategy, from messaging to monetization, and shows why velocity, not perfection, is your friend and compounds the wins.


9. GENAI: Google Cloud's new 2025 AI Infrastructure report confirms what we know to be obvious: GenAI is now mainstream. 98% of orgs are developing or using it in production. It's not hype, it's now core infra. But cost, data quality, and hybrid deployments are critical to success. Plus, those IT Consultancy companies are the biggest adopters in Prod.


10. CASE STUDY: How many hours should founders work? Check out this analysis of YCombinator Founders. It's a 3-part series, but a good TL;DR is that pre-product-market fit founders work the most hours, with time spent decreasing as companies grow and gain traction. For many of us, it's a good read for a) Validation and b) Tips on managing your time and not burning out.


POD OF THE WEEK: Total Bang for the buck podcast - 11 essential SaaS metrics explained in 11 minutes. ​