# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending April 8, 2022

Published: 8 April 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-april-8-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

NRG - Natural Rate of Growth. Now that I've slow-burn convinced a bunch of y'all to go all-in with Product Lead Growth (PLG), it's time to reference the metrics you need to know. [It requires us to get halfway through this article before that becomes clear](https://openviewpartners.com/blog/new-saas-metric/). But hey - it's worth the scroll. With Natural Rate of Growth (NRG), the assumption is that a PLG business has an organic, self-service growth engine at the core (as they are built to attract the end-user). Keep reading as the article comes complete with benchmarks towards the bottom. Hungry for more best-practice PLG metrics? [I got ya!](https://productled.com/key-metrics-for-every-team-in-a-product-led-company)

Link: https://openviewpartners.com/blog/new-saas-metric/

## 2. TRUST (Customers)

People trust people over brands when it comes to trust. Chart Mogul has posted an '[Ultimate' Guide to Using Customer Testimonials to Boost Sales](https://blog.chartmogul.com/customer-testimonials/), noting that a generic and insincere endorsement is as helpful as not using anything. It's also possible to take it a step further by leveraging those frothiest of customers into a referral channel.

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/customer-testimonials/

## 3. ZERO TRUST (Security)

Trust is also a platform play, so expanding on the above and giving you an emerging phrase for your cybersecurity dictionaries - heck, it's even [an Executive Order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/12/executive-order-on-improving-the-nations-cybersecurity/) for the US via President Biden. With the widespread shift to #WFH life in the past couple of years, successful IT and security teams have leveraged Zero Trust initiatives to address some coarse-grain and fine-grain access control challenges. This is all happening at the edge because that is where we all are these days, and perimeter/fence based protection won't work. Identify based and zero-trust strategies and architecture are where we need to be, so start with [this primer on Zero trust from ZDNet](https://www.zdnet.com/article/zero-trust-and-cybersecurity-heres-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters/) and move [here with this State of Zero Trust Security report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/e51b9duxsfphj3s/The-State-of-Zero-Trust-Security-Asia-Pacific-2021.pdf?dl=0) from OKTA for the APAC region.

Link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/12/executive-order-on-improving-the-nations-cybersecurity/

## 4. PRODUCT TRUST

From my buddy, Ryan Koonce, this is the third part of the Trust deep dive this week, this time focused on product and [how to build in-product experiences](https://www.trychameleon.com/blog/in-product-experiences). Users are judge-y based on every interaction they have with your product. So if you provide experiences that are ineffective, annoying, distracting, or irrelevant, they could churn yours for another \<Cough> \<Evernote>.

Link: https://www.trychameleon.com/blog/in-product-experiences

## 5. VALIDATION

I'm sure you have heard this repeatedly: validating a product is a make or break part of a startup's scale-up process, especially at the early stage. But how do you do that properly? Check [this list of techniques and tools](https://www.indiehackers.com/post/validate-your-product-19-market-testing-and-market-validation-tactics-plus-7-tools-for-validating-df82ddf259) (it all starts with Market Research) - and get more into that [starting here](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/market-research-buyers-journey-guide) (with free templates!)

Link: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/validate-your-product-19-market-testing-and-market-validation-tactics-plus-7-tools-for-validating-df82ddf259

## 6. CRYPTO

Gemini's new Global State of Crypto report highlights [the significant changes happening to the Crypto market in 2021](https://www.dropbox.com/s/b3vcwm4g34cyx6t/Gemini%20-%202022%20-%20Global%20State%20of%20Crypto.pdf?dl=0). Regulation and Eduction still make up the headwinds of the industry's future: $30 billion VC investments deployed in 2021 ($10 m of which was just in Q4' 21). 41% of those surveyed purchased crypto for the first time in '21, and inflation was a primary driver for Crypto adoption last year (which is indicative of what may be in store for the inflationary year that 2022 has been so far).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b3vcwm4g34cyx6t/Gemini%20-%202022%20-%20Global%20State%20of%20Crypto.pdf?dl=0

## 7. CRYPTO DEVS

The sibling to #6 above Tomasz Tunguz also noted this week that [only about 0.07% of devs globally work in Web3, but they have managed to create about $2 TRILLION in market cap](https://tomtunguz.com/programming-languages-web3/) (and that's only counting the top 100 valued projects). So who are these people, and what are they doing? TL;DR They are young and using (soon to be not) [niche languages.](https://res.cloudinary.com/dzawgnnlr/image/upload/v1649040929/e1cvcmjkah1pora6wpij.png)

Link: https://tomtunguz.com/programming-languages-web3/

## 8. INFLUENCE MAPS

I enjoyed [this read](https://sparktoro.com/blog/influence-maps-the-best-marketing-framework-youve-never-heard-of) earlier this week. The opening paragraph got me, as this week I really unlocked the power of a vertical monitor and literally said both statements ("This is amazing!", "WTF?! Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?"). Well, guess what - this kind of discovery in the behavioural design field is called the "Influence Map" Framework, which is super obvious (in hindsight 😊 ).

Link: https://sparktoro.com/blog/influence-maps-the-best-marketing-framework-youve-never-heard-of

## 9. USAGE BASED PRICING

I may have mentioned this in the past, but only[41% of SaaS Companies priced by seat](https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Slide48.png) in 2021. This reflects the evolving tech/SaaS landscape but is it for your business? Tomasz Tunguz asked the same question earlier this month (in his second appliance in this newsletter this week) and [boiled it down to 3 questions to ask](https://tomtunguz.com/usage-based-pricing/).

Link: https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Slide48.png

## 10. CASE STUDY

Blast from the past on [how OKTA made category creation happen](https://www.bvp.com/atlas/okta-ceo-todd-mckinnon-on-powering-through-your-darkest-days-until-finally-the-category-is-born) before possibly [torpedoing everything earlier this month](https://thenewstack.io/the-okta-mess-is-even-worse-than-it-appears/), so here is another SaaS security company, [CrowdStrike, where Jason Lemkin takes a closer look via his "5 Interesting Learnings" series](https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-crowdstrike-at-1-7-billion-in-arr) - they are currently at 1.7 Billion in ARR and growing at 65% YoY with $100k ARR ACV and 120%+ NDR.

Link: https://www.bvp.com/atlas/okta-ceo-todd-mckinnon-on-powering-through-your-darkest-days-until-finally-the-category-is-born

## POD OF THE WEEK

Great video (with outstanding notes) covering content creation and marketing strategy at the early stage: [How to Earn Trust, Manage Risk and Build Momentum](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/early-stage-content-strategy-earn-trust-manage-risk-and-build-momentum/).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/early-stage-content-strategy-earn-trust-manage-risk-and-build-momentum/