# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending August 28, 2020

Published: 26 August 2020
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-august-28-2020

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

VALUE: A value metric is what a company charges for - in modern SaaS that can be per block of users, per transaction, bandwidth, etc, etc. Aligning that pricing value to [the value a customer receives](https://userpilot.com/blog/the-aha-moment-for-product-onboarding-activation) is the trick! (that needs tracking). Why does that matter? Well [according to Profitwell](https://www.profitwell.com/blog/outcome-based-value-metrics-for-growth), who studied about 4,000 companies, [the corollary is serious growth](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/120299/PWR%20Episode%2031/Comparing%20Growth%20by%20Pricing%20Model%20(no%20share).jpeg) (companies using value metrics are growing at double the rate than those companies not using a value metric) AND [reduced churn](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/120299/PWR%20Episode%2031/Outcome%20Value%20Metrics%20Drive%20Down%20Churn%20(no%20share).jpg).

Link: https://userpilot.com/blog/the-aha-moment-for-product-onboarding-activation

## 2. COMPETITION

Of course you will always be asked for Market Sizing in a pitch, but how well prepared are you for questions about the competition? (Pro-tip - saying you don't have competitors is red-flag). [Read this article from Search Engine Land](https://searchengineland.com/search-competition-who-are-you-really-competing-with-338403) that outline the steps you can follow to get some quality competitive analysis research in. Pro-tip 2 - as we are all tech people here - do not underestimate the power of [G2](https://www.g2.com/), [product hunt](https://www.producthunt.com/), or [Capterra](https://www.capterra.com/) to set your research foundations.

Link: https://searchengineland.com/search-competition-who-are-you-really-competing-with-338403

## 3. GOVERNANCE

Mark Suster (from Upfront Ventures) has started a series on his Medium Blog covering [StartUp Boards](https://bothsidesofthetable.com/startup-boards-ee3ad0389040). With a follow up article (which I think is very relevant to NZ startups) which shows a [board structure based on stage](https://bothsidesofthetable.com/who-should-be-on-your-startup-board-c099daa7178e)! He also provides a [blog post AND a 43 slide presentation on Managing Startup Boards](https://bothsidesofthetable.com/managing-your-startup-board-a-short-presentation-4d709772bc00) with really interesting (for founders at least) [continuous integration](https://www.thoughtworks.com/continuous-integration)/agile approaches to management.

Link: https://bothsidesofthetable.com/startup-boards-ee3ad0389040

## 4. USERS

Convincing users (that are not friends and family) to [adopt, and pay for, your product at the early stage](https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/how-todays-fastest-growing-b2b-businesses) is a significant milestone. Check [this impressive post from Lenny Rachitsky](https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/how-todays-fastest-growing-b2b-businesses-b11) on what he learned unpicking that for some of todays tastes growing B2B businesses.

Link: https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/how-todays-fastest-growing-b2b-businesses

## 5. SALES EMAILS

Sweet - [a power point deck for y’all](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s3PJdZpkZSSFT9MqHcHIQly7z9X3IMIb0fOvDy3bi9E/edit#slide=id.g8d379308d7_0_193). This is from Predictable Revenue on the four pillars they think constitutes a quality sales based email campaign. TL;DR less is more. FYI - there is a resource page at the end of quality helpful additional resources.

Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s3PJdZpkZSSFT9MqHcHIQly7z9X3IMIb0fOvDy3bi9E/edit#slide=id.g8d379308d7_0_193

## 6. GROWTH

No matter what all the fancy decks you look at with envy tell you - revenue is NOT linear, like ever. When it comes to solving revenue growth problems, most will jump on the get-more-customers bandwagon. But [read this article, centered on MRR as a representative of growth](https://baremetrics.com/blog/mrr-growth), but asking "what things can a SaaS company do to grow without adding more customers?" TL;DR: 1. Reduce Churn, 2. Upsell/cross-sell, 3. Charge more.

Link: https://baremetrics.com/blog/mrr-growth

## 7. CUSTOMER SUCCESS

This is all about preserving as much revenue as possible over time (post purchase) - complementing the post above, take a (deep) read of [this extensive guide for building great customer success teams](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/extensive-guide-building-your-first-great-customer-success-queener/) - it’s not just about limiting churn, but also a department and practice to convince existing customers to buy even more from you. As Jason Lemkin said back in 2015: "[Customer Success is where 90% of the revenue is](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexmcclafferty/2015/05/18/customer-success/)”. Want a working example? Chart Mogul expand on this and [explain their approach to a (successful) success management strategy.](https://blog.chartmogul.com/proactive-customer-success/)

Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/extensive-guide-building-your-first-great-customer-success-queener/

## 8. VC IPOs

Pitchbook’s report - [Index of Venture-Backed IPOs for Q3 2020](https://www.dropbox.com/s/hfpd0ryn76n6et8/PitchBook_Q3_2020_Analyst_Note_Index_of_Venture-Backed_IPOs_an_Analysis.pdf?dl=0) is out. Big (but maybe obvious) key observations: the performance of the newer companies differs radically across factors including sector, size, business model, and market cap - all add up to higher performance (and reward)

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hfpd0ryn76n6et8/PitchBook_Q3_2020_Analyst_Note_Index_of_Venture-Backed_IPOs_an_Analysis.pdf?dl=0

## 9. SEO

Discoverability trumps content marketing and needs to be an endless-part of any modern business strategy. Moz have [a great little guide](https://moz.com/blog/announcing-keyword-research-master-guide) and [here is a pretty good (current) guide from Founder Institute](https://fi.co/insight/how-does-seo-work). But how does SEO work if you are part of a larger enterprise? The basics of wining in this category are summarized in [this report from DeepCrawl](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qavti216ewuzt9e/w_deep08.pdf?dl=0).

Link: https://moz.com/blog/announcing-keyword-research-master-guide

## 10. FRICTION

Every SaaS business process I look at seems to have areas of friction and when it comes to SaaS products, user-based friction becomes a critical aspect to understand and solve. [This article breaks user-friction down into 3 types](https://www.sachinrekhi.com/the-hierarchy-of-user-friction) (emotional, cognitive and interactive) and provides tools to help understand and solve for each different type.

Link: https://www.sachinrekhi.com/the-hierarchy-of-user-friction

## POD OF THE WEEK

CASH. Pretty much every SaaS founder: Long term prospects look promising, short term cash sucks. From Hiten Shah and Steli Efti comes a great podcast on [How to Improve Cashflow During a Crisis](https://thestartupchat.com/ep522/).

Link: https://thestartupchat.com/ep522/