# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for the week ending April 30, 2021

Published: 30 April 2021
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-april-30-2021

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: PQL vs Activations.

In my mind the try-before-you-buy approach to software subscriptions are the best way to get to my money - that is pretty much what PLG is - so put away your SQL and MQL metrics for a second and focus on their newer cousin: [PQL (Product Qualified Leads](https://productled.com/product-qualified-leads)) - this tracks potential customer who has exhibited buying intent based on product interest and usage. Now you know that - [measuring PQL vs Activations are the two metrics to measure in unison](https://openviewpartners.com/blog/activation-product-qualified-leads).

Link: https://productled.com/product-qualified-leads

## 2. PRICING SENSITIVITY

I do post about pricing a lot ([because a 1% increase in price can generate up to an 11% increase in your profits](http://web.nchu.edu.tw/~hjlee/files/Pricing_Strategy/03_Managing%20price,%20Gaining%20Profit.pdf)) So this week lets take a more nuanced approach by looking at different concepts within pricing strategies starting with priced based sensitivity: which is basically a measure of the percentage of sales you will lose or gain at any particular price point relative to another lower or higher price point. Profitwell can explain it much better - so [take a read of their article about how to measure and optimize it](https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/190607/Unlock-Price-Sensitivity-s-Profitable-Surprise)(check the Van Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter")

Link: http://web.nchu.edu.tw/~hjlee/files/Pricing_Strategy/03_Managing%20price,%20Gaining%20Profit.pdf

## 3. WFH (DEEP DIVE)

OK - so here is the big question-of-our-time we all want to be answered: Are we more productive or less productive working from home and petting our cat/dog? Upwork [reports that the WFH forced experiment IS working](https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k57s1ivkesusrz/Upwork_EconomistReport_FWR_052020.pdf?dl=0) but their platform has kinda consisted of WFH people since those golden days pre-Covid - so they may have an agenda - they say 'empirically,' but in more qualitative not quantitive ways. So let's also look at a more trusted and independent source: [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/12/27/does-working-from-home-make-employees-more-productive) (if you have a sub to their site) and [Harvard](https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/eharrington/files/harrington_jmp_working_remotely.pdf) (if you don't). In their study they unearthed a better metric: Productivity sharply rose by 7.5% when workers went remote with no sacrifice in customer satisfaction reviews. [Slack takes a bit of a different path on their study](https://slack.com/intl/en-nz/blog/collaboration/workplace-transformation-in-the-wake-of-covid-19): WFH is not for everyone but if you are an employer: People prefer choice (72%). So if you want to hire good people you need to be flexible about where they will work. Ultimately the winning metric is forecasting that the [WFH boom will lift productivity in the U.S. economy by 5%](https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BFI_WP_2020174.pdf) (mostly because of savings in commuting time).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k57s1ivkesusrz/Upwork_EconomistReport_FWR_052020.pdf?dl=0

## 4. PR

Getting good PR if you’re an unknown startup is hard (and also can be seen as a low priority in the endless stable of things-to-get-done) - but it's not as hard as you think without a publicist. [Here is a great 101 article from Point Nine Capital](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/how-to-get-press-coverage-fe9dfb1249c8)(they call it PR for dummies) on how to get great press coverage. ChartMoguls also have [this article late on PR for SaaS](https://blog.chartmogul.com/pr-for-saas) - with some sample scripts!

Link: https://medium.com/point-nine-news/how-to-get-press-coverage-fe9dfb1249c8

## 5. SAAS SPEND

This is actually a really good benchmarking report for your spending habits. I (semi-often) joke that SaaS is just a big Ponzi Scheme - because running a SaaS company requires a boatload of money being spent on other SaaS Companies products (Slack! Zoom! HubSpot! AWS! Google! Microsoft! Adobe! Atlassian! etc etc etc). But [how much money do SaaS companies spend on everything](https://www.saas-capital.com/blog-posts/spending-benchmarks-for-private-b2b-saas-companies/)? Well, check the first chart on SaaS company spend - remarkably to no one bootstrapped companies are being outspent by venture-backed companies - but the average is 80% of ARR to 115% ARR!! (operating at a loss to support growth - because [growth is a Moat](https://www.kevanlee.com/articles/product-led-growth-moat-framework)). Keep scrolling through - way more goodies in there (such as spending by ARR levels).

Link: https://www.saas-capital.com/blog-posts/spending-benchmarks-for-private-b2b-saas-companies/

## 6. AI TRENDS

Even though we're 1/3 of the way through 2021, [this s a fun article on trends in AI for 2021 from Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishatalagala/2021/03/15/artificial-intelligence-in-2021-five-trends-you-may-or-may-not-expect/?sh=1ac7795a5677). d\\Deep fakes are becoming [more and more alarming](https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22403741/deepfake-geography-satellite-imagery-ai-generated-fakes-threat) - but [AI for Kids](https://www.corp.aiclub.world/) caught my attention the most - but the ones with impressive commercial potential are Advanced Pre-trained Language Models - [AI is now writing poetry](https://nerdist.com/article/google-ai-writes-poetry-like-legendary-poets/), you dig??

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishatalagala/2021/03/15/artificial-intelligence-in-2021-five-trends-you-may-or-may-not-expect/?sh=1ac7795a5677

## 7. OPEN STARTUPS

Most Startups are very secretive about their metrics but over the last 6 years Baremetrics has been [chipping away at this industry norm to get SaaS companies to be more open about performance](https://baremetrics.com/open-startups); Theorizing that radically transparency can actually be beneficial - it works for me to compare and contrast my own business performance.

Link: https://baremetrics.com/open-startups

## 8. WRITING

Being able to write well is a skill that needs to sit with founders. So here is 3 step guide - Step 1. [How to position your startup](https://firstround.com/review/Positioning-Your-Startup-is-Vital-Heres-How-to-Do-It-Right/) and [achieve your unique value prop](https://twitter.com/josberco/status/1301957543594528769?utm_source=indieletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%7B$indieletters%7D&utm_term=); Step 2. [how to write well](https://firstround.com/review/a-founders-guide-to-writing-well/) and [one more version for good measure](https://adamfaliq.com/2020/10/28/write-well/); and Step 3 [top tips for telling stories](https://firstround.com/review/good-leaders-are-great-storytellers-our-6-tips-for-telling-stories-that-resonate/).

Link: https://firstround.com/review/Positioning-Your-Startup-is-Vital-Heres-How-to-Do-It-Right/

## 9. ONBOARDING CHURN

This is the sibling to the post above as abandonment can be a signal of poor onboarding. Here are [3 reasons why users abandon the onboarding process](https://www.icarvision.com/en/3-reasons-why-we-abandon-the-onboarding-process-) (identify verification, slow onboarding experiences, and being asked for too much data) and AppSee has another 8 reasons in [this article](https://medium.com/@Appseecom/what-makes-users-abandon-your-app-f75176851c45) (adding Privacy and Ad clutter to the list).

Link: https://www.icarvision.com/en/3-reasons-why-we-abandon-the-onboarding-process-

## 10. CASE STUDY

Datadog - who, you may ask? Well, I use 'em, I bet your platform engineers may too along with a truckload of others because they generate a whopping [$700 Million+ in ARR and growing at 61% year-on-year.](https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-datadog-at-700000000-arr/) The top 7% of their customers generate 75% of revenue and 60% of revenue growth comes from existing customers!

Link: https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-datadog-at-700000000-arr/

## POD OF THE WEEK

[Scaling Zapier To $140M ARR](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/20vc-scaling-zapier-to-$140m-arr-$5bn-valuation-on/id958230465?i=1000517235673) from The 20 minute VC - it includes [25,000 landing pages](https://ryanberg.co/how-zapier-reached-35m-arr-with-this-saas-seo-strategy/) you know.

Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/20vc-scaling-zapier-to-$140m-arr-$5bn-valuation-on/id958230465?i=1000517235673