The weekly top 10 for B2B tech operators · Every Friday
Margins by Revenue Stream. Understanding gross margins by revenue stream is crucial for a) SaaS profitability and b) Figuring out what products/features work and what don't. Check out the SaaS CFO's article on proper rev stream accounting and a detailed SaaS P&L setup to enable accurate margin analysis across your revenue streams. Best-in-class SaaS gross margin for revenue is 80% as your reference point.
Jobs to be Done is one of my favorite frameworks - it's a way to make innovation accessible and tangible in very pragmatic ways. Take a light read here on a lightweight JTBD framework - broken down with real-world business examples, you can also skip straight to the templates. Or go for the more comprehensive one here (that also has a template). Theory Ventures 2024 Go-to-Market Survey.
Startups often inherit secondhand problems—metrics, goals, and strategies from companies (or newsletters) nothing like them. This post makes the case for solving real, first-principles-driven problems instead.
Bookmark this for future reference - a Term Sheets guide that explains the most important clauses—like valuation, liquidation preferences, and anti-dilution protections—and offers some strategies for negotiating more founder favorable terms.
You'll hear "agentic" a lot this year—Bessemer breaks down their version of an AI Agent Autonomy Scale, from dumb scripts to fully autonomous workflows. The big takeaway? Most "agents" today are barely tools, but true autonomy is coming.
The SaaS Capital Spending Benchmarks for B2B SaaS Companies is out - bookmark this when it's time to benchmark your wallets y'all! Bootstrapped B2B SaaS companies spend 95% of ARR (hey - I do better than that!!), while VC-backed ones burn 107%. Equity-backed teams spend 100% more on marketing and 71% more on R&D.
No - not the type you don't like, the other type, that attacks! Most teams only use data when things break. Elena Verna makes the case for offensive analytics—proactively surfacing what's working and why. From Slack to Uber to Google, some great use cases profiled!
GPU/AI-based silicon is the new arms race. NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and a wave of startups are battling to power the next-gen models. Speed, efficiency, and memory optimization are the focus - with big moves in open-source AI chips too.
Earlier this month, some leaked emails reveal how Meta scrambled to keep Facebook "culturally relevant"—pitching tie-ins with Drake, new dating features, and even Taylor Swift content. Internally? Execs admitted teens were ghosting the app. A rough look inside the social media decline curve, also things that didn't help with a book from a Facebook Insider who alleges bad behavior coming in from the top. Facebook's attempt to stop the author from promoting or distributing the book backfired - as that news made the headlines on the book's front page.
This one is super useful (at least I'm well aware of it) if you ever find that you need to "warm up" a domain for bulk email or marketing purposes - Resend shares how they warmed up their new domain to send 3M+ emails/monthwithout landing in spam land. Great tactics to pay attention to here include inbox seeding, ramp schedules, and IP warm-up. It also includes what NOT to do!
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