Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending October 8, 2021 - SaaStr ANNUAL Special

SaaStr Annual 2021 came to an end last week and many of us could not be there in person. So I've snooped the internet and put together a list of 10 key learning for us absentees

1. CONSUMPTION BASED PRICING: I have been known to talk about this from time to time (but I call it usage-based) so watch BCG pricing practice experts affirm EVERYTHING I say :-). 20-25% increase in ARR by changing pricing models anyone?
2. CHURN: Repeat customers are likely to spend 67% more than new customers and increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase your company's profitability by 75%. These are just two knowledge bombs dropped by Verifone's VOP of client success in this presentation of 7 strategies to reduce Churn and give retention rates a boost. Watch here.
3. STATE OF THE CLOUD: I've already written about this one - but the Bessemer Venture Partners presentation every year was always my favorite and this year's presentation is well worth watching all the way through - so check their State of the Cloud 2021: The Age of Cloud Unicorns presentation that covers the state of the industry, future trends, and provides a deep dive into a how-to guide to get to Unicorn status. Cloud is almost at a $3 trillion market Cap with a post FAANG index called MT SAAS. But that is just the start of this report - stunning metrics of the industry (and dry powder).
4. ENTERPRISE BUYERS: G2 conducted (a somewhat self-serving) Software Buyer Behavior Report and presented the highlights at SaaStr this year - you can download the full report here - but there are some great nuggets of insight: Buying is happening faster and becoming more frictionless - 48% of enterprise software purchases are made on credit cards and security was the top consideration for buyers with 88% reporting security as very important when making purchasing decisions with 83% requiring a security or privacy assessment when purchasing software. Complementing this report is another SaaStr Annual 2021 talk that covers how B2B buyer behavior has changed.
5. TRUST: Watch here - That last comment in #4 above leads nicely into this next one. Given the state of breaches worldwide selling trust is just as important as selling your product. How - Sydney Archer of TugBoat logic recommends a well-documented InfoSec program. But it's not just about your customers - so also watch this presentation covering trust in your brand across a variety of stakeholders.
6. CATEGORY CREATION: I know we all want to be up and to the left on one of those Gartner/Forrester Quadrant reports. So take a watch of this presentation on category creation from Neo4 and another version from Gett.
7. DEVELOPERS: Watch here - Stack Overflow's SVP presented the results from their 2021 Developer Survey, which is full of insightful nuggets: Developers primarily learn online (60% of respondents learned how to code via online resources) - sop L&D is a big requirement - but not as expensive an investment. Technical certs are important - but don't underestimate the power of StackOverflow, Podcasts, and the like. AWS is the most widely used cloud platform, but GCP and Azure made some gains, devs are still mostly men, and this year React.js surpassed jQuery as the most commonly used framework.
8. INTENT: Watch here - From the CMO at Marqeta comes a great presentation on how buyer intent is the new marketing buzzword to qualify and nurture prospects when they demonstrate an interest in you. It's about reaching out (far from your website) to where prospects show intent (and how to discover that).
9. REVENUE GROWTH: This one is from the archives as I consider it one of the best presentations at SaaStr Annual - it’s from Mark Roberge of Stage 2 Capital and Harvard Business School. Providing a handy step-by-step guide to revenue growth (downloadable PDF!)
10. CASE STUDY: Toast. For many of you, this is the Point of Sale system you have probably never heard of. It's only 9 years old but listed on the NYSE last month and is currently valued at about $27 billion with approx $475m in Revenue (that's about 56x according to my math). Why so hot? 118% growth and pretty much a half bill in revenue is not too shabby but check here for some detailed notes from under the hood.