# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending January 24, 2020

Published: 24 January 2020
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-january-24-2020

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

**Expansion**: OK - this is a total deep dive. Expansion revenue costs pennies on the dollar vs net new customer acquisition costs and also [demonstrates that a business can deliver increasing value to customers](https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-metrics-refresher-expansion) (and monetize that value!). On average [37% of new ARR bookings is attributable to cross sell/up-sell activities](https://dskok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_5d9ca6c23e2a6-e1570547432691.png) and improving retention or monetization can actually [impact growth 2-4x more effectively than improvements in acquisition](https://www.dropbox.com/s/iyvvohthpee1g9g/BASiS_2017-patrick-campbell.pdf?dl=0). (see slides 41-46 for the real nuggets). Tips on how to optimize this via renewal [available here](https://openviewpartners.com/blog/in-saas-renewal-is-everything-is-your-process-working#.XVr2AZNKhTZ). But I really enjoyed reading [this working example](https://open.buffer.com/buffers-evolution-and-expansion) of what that means to a companies growth and revenues from a product perspective from the company [Buffer.](http://buffer.com/)

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-metrics-refresher-expansion

## 2. PERSONALIZATION

As an add-on to above, personalization can [reduces acquisition costs as much as 50%](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/marketings-holy-grail-digital-personalization-at-scale) and [87% of companies see a lift in key growth metrics](https://venturebeat.com/2015/09/23/new-vb-insight-research-shows-web-personalization-is-not-just-for-amazon/) Here is a [great article from Chart Mogul](https://blog.chartmogul.com/saas-guide-website-personalization) on the (modern day) personalization fundamentals.

Link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/marketings-holy-grail-digital-personalization-at-scale

## 3. MARKETING

From Kyle Tibbitts - [Marketing lessons learned](https://kyletibbitts.com/marketing-lessons-learned-over-more-than-a-decade-growing-startups-90e9b450f9d1) over more than a decade growing startups. It all starts with the Product - 'Great marketing emanates from a great product.'

Link: https://kyletibbitts.com/marketing-lessons-learned-over-more-than-a-decade-growing-startups-90e9b450f9d1

## 4. VENTURE

Tomasz Tunguz [takes a look at the health of the US Venture Market as we head into 2020](https://tomtunguz.com/the-health-of-the-us-venture-market-in-2020). Even with an increase in scrutiny in 2019, it seems like we are still on a run and sentiment in the valley continues to be positive.

Link: https://tomtunguz.com/the-health-of-the-us-venture-market-in-2020

## 5. DEV SUPPORT

Your devs are the lifeblood of your tech business, so how best can organizations provide ways to optimize their developer support? Well check this [State of Developer Report](https://go.devada.com/rs/758-HCK-771/images/WP%202019%20State%20of%20the%20Developer%20Report.pdf) as a resource to get started - Two-thirds of the developers say maintenance of legacy systems and technical debt hinder improved productivity! **TL;DR**? Devs are problem solvers (but they generally don't want to talk to you) - understanding this should feed into how you design a support system for your products.

Link: https://go.devada.com/rs/758-HCK-771/images/WP%202019%20State%20of%20the%20Developer%20Report.pdf

## 6. PRODUCTS

And speaking of products, want to build them faster? Hiten Shah has a [great book for you on his 5 habits](https://www.dropbox.com/s/hfbzj88pa8jaqnt/5%20Habits%20to%20Building%20Better%20Products%20Faster.pdf?dl=0). It also has real-life examples of how different tech companies practice these habits.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hfbzj88pa8jaqnt/5%20Habits%20to%20Building%20Better%20Products%20Faster.pdf?dl=0

## 7. SEO

This is an oldie but a goody: Want to know how Zapier grew their business leveraging SEO - [here is the case study](https://ryanberg.co/how-zapier-reached-35m-arr-with-this-saas-seo-strategy/). TEASER: It kinda involves them building 25,000 seperate landing pages (no I didn’t accidentally type to many zeroes)

Link: https://ryanberg.co/how-zapier-reached-35m-arr-with-this-saas-seo-strategy/

## 8. ONBOARDING

It’s something I’m deeply into right now. This is how [ZenDesk do it](https://medium.com/saas-onboarding-emails/zendesk-onboarding-email-breakdown-bd728323fb87) and [ChartMogul have a version to](https://blog.chartmogul.com/onboarding-plan-b2b-saas/)

Link: https://medium.com/saas-onboarding-emails/zendesk-onboarding-email-breakdown-bd728323fb87

## 9. OKR’s

Pioneered by Google a few years back, OKR’s have emerged as a part of the suite of modern product and company best practices (that include Lean, Agile and Jobs-To-Be-Done frameworks). [Heavybit](https://www.heavybit.com/) have a great article on s[teps to get started for the first time within your organization](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/best-practices-startup-okrs).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/

## 10. SALES

A great primer from our friends at Lighter Capital. [Sales cycles, commission rates, models, and metrics all explained](https://www.lightercapital.com/blog/intro-to-saas-sales-cycles-models-metrics) (with best practices)

Link: https://www.lightercapital.com/blog/intro-to-saas-sales-cycles-models-metrics

## POD OF THE WEEK

Controlled Chaos: The Inevitable Marriage of DevOps and Security. A great podcast that reflects the growing reality that [security needs to evolve and become integrated into the development process](https://www.heavybit.com/library/podcasts/the-secure-developer/ep-39-build-break-and-defend-with-mohan-yelnadu-of-prudential/)

**BONUS:** Need a SaaS Metrics refresher? [Chart Mogul got you covered with a weekly course.](https://chartmogul.com/resources/saas-metrics-refresher/)

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/podcasts/the-secure-developer/ep-39-build-break-and-defend-with-mohan-yelnadu-of-prudential/