# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending January 19, 2024

Published: 18 January 2024
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-january-19-2024

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

(Lead Velocity Rate):[https://www.geckoboard.com/learn/kpi-examples/saas-kpis/lead-velocity-rate/](https://www.geckoboard.com/learn/kpi-examples/saas-kpis/lead-velocity-rate/)[LVR is the lead growth rate of qualified leads per month](https://www.geckoboard.com/learn/kpi-examples/saas-kpis/lead-velocity-rate). This metric clearly explains a business's future revenue and growth. Setting a goal to increase LVR by 25%, for example, will also enable you to equally increase revenue generated for your business.

Link: https://www.geckoboard.com/learn/kpi-examples/saas-kpis/lead-velocity-rate/

## 2. FOUNDER-LED SALES

Founder-led sales is a well-documented part of the startup journey, especially in the early days, and often with very inexperienced or more technical founders. [Here is a great article (with Engineering-based analogies)](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/founder-led-sales-strategy)on how Founders can mentally re-frame and execute an excellent sales program.

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/founder-led-sales-strategy

## 3. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

It's a weird open secret that many B2B SaaS businesses generate significant revenue from implementation and deployment projects, [often captured as revenue from Professional Services](https://medium.com/@brooke.land/professional-services-and-customer-success-in-saas-startups-7ea002826b4d). So check out Dave Kellogg's post called The [Professional Services Paradox](https://kellblog.com/2023/02/06/a-tale-of-two-companies-the-professional-services-paradox/), where there are times when only a Startup can deliver the services needed to execute a transformation strategy. BTW - on average, Service Revenue as a percentage of Total Revenue [caps out at 11%](https://www.dropbox.com/s/j0ztl9751c732v2/PS%20as%20percent%20of%20ARR.png?dl=0) with enterprise-focused businesses, but even at the lower end of town, it's still 5% of revenue with SMB-focused businesses. Fun fact: [more professional services = less churn](https://www.dropbox.com/s/wpwh57z8pjynt9g/Services%20vs%20Churn%20-%20SKOK.png?dl=0).

Link: https://medium.com/@brooke.land/professional-services-and-customer-success-in-saas-startups-7ea002826b4d

## 4. VENTURE

2023 was tough not only for startups but also for VCs. We've lost [OpenView](https://techstartups.com/2023/12/12/openview-weighs-next-steps-after-deep-layoffs-return-investors-capital-or-rebuild-with-new-funds/) (some of the best reports and benchmarks out there) as well as [Countdown Capital](https://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/1037402/countdown-capital-to-shut-down-and-return-uninvested-funds-1037402.html). The recent [Global Private Market Fundraising Report](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a9irl85xw6sm3zy1ixhp6/Q3_2023_Global_Private_Market_Fundraising_Report.pdf?rlkey=awkyff6t77e9xfhlbzvadallz&dl=0) from PitchBook shows that capital last year is tracking to finish from flat to approximately 5% higher, but Megafunds ($5 billion and up) account for about half of all capital raised. Pressure is on first-time fund managers as [LPs favor larger, established funds](https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/emerging-VCs-LPs-Countdown-Capital-OpenView-shutdowns). Andreessen Horowitz (one of the megafunds) was the most active VC last year - [79 VC deals](https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/active-investor-ranks-a16z-lightspeed-eoy-2023/).

Link: https://techstartups.com/2023/12/12/openview-weighs-next-steps-after-deep-layoffs-return-investors-capital-or-rebuild-with-new-funds/

## 5. BENCHMARKS

Last week's [newsletter](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-january-12-2023) was just a week too early, as ChartMogul launched "[ChartMogul Benchmarks](https://chartmogul.com/blog/compare-your-performance-to-the-market-with-chartmogul-benchmarks)" on their platform on Friday. It's designed to give operators on-demand access and an up-to-date snapshot of what good growth looks like for SaaS companies. It requires an account - but it's free!

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-january-12-2023

## 6. GROWTH

2023 was the LeanOps revolution as outlined in #1, #2, #3, #4, #6, #8, #9, and #10 in last week's [newsletter](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-january-12-2023) - we're all part of the newer capital-efficient world all startups live in (not just the bootstrapped ones). So check out the new [2024 State of Customer Growth Survey Report](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yd2rws96do88nw74ka2j1/The-2024-State-of-Customer-Growth-Report.pdf?rlkey=h1669gfrta8rk30xoh00wgti3&dl=0) from Catalyst, which shows that while new business growth and retention are essential, customer expansion is the key to very capital-efficient revenue growth (startups of $1M+ ARR, have a third of new revenue from expansion). It also outlines the risks of overselling, poor implementation, and lack of account relationships, which can hold back that growth.

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-january-12-2023

## 7. DEVS and AI

According to the [StackOverflow 2023 Developer Survey](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/), Stackoverflow's main contribution to developers looks to be under threat: About half of developers are using Github's Copilot, and over 80% are using ChatGPT. Other good nuggets: 1/3 still identify as Full Stack, and Developers primarily learn online (over 80%). JavaScript remains the most commonly used language, and AWS is the most widely used cloud platform (by about double).

Link: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/

## 8. CYBER

Cyberthreats are going nowhere fast in 2024; as threat surfaces increase in size and complexity, they will probably get worse. So bookmark this new [Incident Response Team Guide from Microsoft](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wev4uoy8cje6te5kq6ki1/Navigating-the-Maze-of-Incident-Response.pdf?rlkey=f6mtv6r9zz8eebtummarrdu9n&dl=0) to add to your intranet, share with your incident team, or roll up into your Incident response strategy.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wev4uoy8cje6te5kq6ki1/Navigating-the-Maze-of-Incident-Response.pdf?rlkey=f6mtv6r9zz8eebtummarrdu9n&dl=0

## 9. MOBILE

The newest [State of Mobile report](https://e.infogram.com/_/bIRQVyDIdHeiWznXf7ar) is out from [data.ai](http://data.ai), which reviews last year's mobile market and looks at Trends for 2024. Here are some highlights: We're up to an average of 5 hours per day on our phones - up 6% from last year; most of that time is on social (where TikTok rules and X is on the decline), even if people are [not posting as many updates](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/Social-Interactions-Moving-to-DMs-What-it-Means-for-Marketers/644871/) - everyone is all up in everyone else's DMs instead. In-app spending is on the rise, - $60 billion in 2023 (excluding games)

Link: https://e.infogram.com/_/bIRQVyDIdHeiWznXf7ar

## 10. CASE STUDY

Expanding on number 2 above, here is a list of [10 Founder-Led Sales lessons learned](https://medium.com/racecapital/10-lessons-learned-from-founder-led-sales-for-startups-3b558fd06782) with a recent roundtable from Race Capital.

Link: https://medium.com/racecapital/10-lessons-learned-from-founder-led-sales-for-startups-3b558fd06782

## POD OF THE WEEK

Sam Schillace, deputy CTO and corporate VP at Microsoft, was also the architect behind Google Docs/workspace and, in [this podcast](https://youtu.be/IOWDoDpQ7Xg), discusses how to be innovative, the evolution of Google Docs, embracing failure, and the importance of convenience in Product Design.

Link: https://youtu.be/IOWDoDpQ7Xg