# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending August 16, 2019

Published: 16 August 2019
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-august-16-2019

## 1. SCALE-UP

Scaling any business is hard and especially scaling out the market-facing teams, in particular sales. Being ready is key. [Here is a great list of questions to ask from Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2019/06/28/14-questions-to-ask-before-expanding-your-business-sales-team/#ebe2ea047dbb) about a companies readiness to scale teams.

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2019/06/28/14-questions-to-ask-before-expanding-your-business-sales-team/#ebe2ea047dbb

## 2. STOCK OPTIONS

In today's competitive employment market, incentivizing people to stay put [is no joke](https://viglobal.com/2018/06/13/tech-industry-battles-highest-attrition-rate-in-the-world-and-its-costly/). Using stock options, especially in the US-based tech world, is a tried and true strategy. [This post from The Startup](https://medium.com/swlh/a-no-b-s-guide-to-startup-stock-option-grants-526a8bc33c2b) is a comprehensive guide on how to deliver employee based stock option grants.

Link: https://viglobal.com/2018/06/13/tech-industry-battles-highest-attrition-rate-in-the-world-and-its-costly/

## 3. VIDEO

Connie Chan from a16z makes the case that [eCommerce apps will have to also become video apps](https://a16z.com/2019/08/06/ecommerce-as-videos-killer-app/) as commerce trends evolve.

Link: https://a16z.com/2019/08/06/ecommerce-as-videos-killer-app/

## 4. THE ROSE METRIC

People are the most important (and expensive) metric for any company, especially SaaS (yes, I would argue more important than the software product). Revenue per FTE is one metric to measure when it comes to people efficiency, but a better one perhaps is [the ROSE Metric](https://www.thesaascfo.com/saas-rose-metric/), (Return on SaaS Employees). This metric highlights the tradeoffs between headcount, recurring revenue, and EBITDA growth of a SaaS company.

Link: https://www.thesaascfo.com/saas-rose-metric/

## 5. LOYALTY

We are deep into the [Age of the Customer](https://go.forrester.com/age-of-the-customer/) and paid subscription-based premium loyalty solutions (it’s hard to figure out where to put the hyphens in that statement) are an emerging retention and value strategy for many brands - for example, Amazon Prime, [Lululemon](https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/08/12/how-lululemons-new-loyalty-program-can-drive-incre.aspx), and [Nike Adventure Club](https://www.nikeadventureclub.com/). Clarus [recently released a study](http://www.claruscommerce.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Clarus-Commerce-Premium-Loyalty-Study-2019-Final.pdf?utm_source=site&utm_medium=thank%20you%20page) on this growing segment, with great insights on what consumers expect from a paid program, how frequently they want rewards, and how it influences shopping behavior.

Link: https://go.forrester.com/age-of-the-customer/

## 6. DEV TEAMS

[An article from Marianne Bellotti that I wish I had read 15 years ago](https://medium.com/@bellmar/all-the-best-engineering-advice-i-stole-from-non-technical-people-eb7f90ca2f5f) describing all the best engineering and management advice she stole from non-technical people. I’ll tease this with the reliability and security-based 100:10:1 rule; Brainstorm 100 things that could go wrong, pick 10 that feel like the most likely, investigate them, and focus on 1 critical problem.

Link: https://medium.com/@bellmar/all-the-best-engineering-advice-i-stole-from-non-technical-people-eb7f90ca2f5f

## 7. SOCIAL COMMERCE

[Great report from Business Insider on the Social Commerce sector](https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnyi6k9xca130ck/bii_socialcommerce_2019.pdf?dl=0) - forecasting an $84.2 billion social commerce opportunity by 2024, assuming we can address the security and true issues.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnyi6k9xca130ck/bii_socialcommerce_2019.pdf?dl=0

## 8. STARTUP START-UPS

Brex launched out of seemingly nowhere a couple of years ago in San Francisco, proving that [servicing startups is a lucrative business](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/technology/brex-start-up.html) and famously [ditching digital advertising in favor of physical billboards](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/a-hot-startup-has-covered-san-francisco-with-billboards-here%E2%80%99s-why-the-ceo-says-the-ads-are-worth-every-penny/ar-BBMaZDq) on buildings and public transportation stops. BONUS: If you are a Kiwi startup looking to use Brex as your internal Credit Card provider I have negotiated a [NZ specific landing page](https://brex.com/newzealand/) with them (with zero fee card issuance).

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/technology/brex-start-up.html

## 9. SPEED MATTERS

I write this newsletter during my weekly public-transport commute times using Evernote - I prioritize speed and quality content over spelling, editorial tightness, and grammar. (My bad!) [James Somers feels the same](http://jsomers.net/blog/speed-matters). [As does Google](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/organizational-culture/time-management-tips-productivity), they[obviously also made speed a priority](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/experience-design/mobile-site-speed-importance/) for their tech stack and speed is UX moat for tech companies. Netflix is another great speed-focused tech company, who (amazingly to me) [de-prioritized uptime in favor of speed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTKIT6STSVM&feature=youtu.be) and also [become their own CDN](https://openconnect.netflix.com/en) as part of their speedy experience solution.

Link: http://jsomers.net/blog/speed-matters

## 10. ZERO TO TEN

There are a bunch of founder stories out there telling quite scripted PR stories of their growth. But I found t[his post from the founder of HotJar](https://medium.com/outside-the-jar-by-hotjar/6-lessons-learned-as-the-co-founder-of-a-10m-saas-startup-5e1b66b8808c) very insightful (and full of great data on their industry unit economics) .

Link: https://medium.com/outside-the-jar-by-hotjar/6-lessons-learned-as-the-co-founder-of-a-10m-saas-startup-5e1b66b8808c

## POD OF THE WEEK

[How to Change Your Mind](http://freakonomics.com/podcast/change-your-mind) from Freakonmics Radio. A lot is empathy based.

**BONUS**: Recruitment. Convincing someone to join your startup is a sales pitch all in itself. Y-Combinator partner [Dalton Caldwell gives his advice on how to pitch this](https://blog.ycombinator.com/how-do-you-convince-someone-to-join-your-startup/).

Link: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/change-your-mind