# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending July 1, 2022

Published: 30 June 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-july-1-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

The old classic **Active Users!** An active user is any user who interacts with your platform in some defined way during a specific time period that you can identify (depends on your business but can be daily, weekly, or monthly). Many consider this a vanity metric these days but [here is why this is still important](https://www.grow.com/blog/why-are-active-users-important).

Link: https://www.grow.com/blog/why-are-active-users-important

## 2. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

[The Syms Method](https://taprun.com/articles/product-managers-visual-guide-to-feature-selection)- another for your Tech Dictionary that goes beyond features vs benefits but is definitely more a guide on pure feature selection using some good old-fashioned Venn diagrams.

Link: https://taprun.com/articles/product-managers-visual-guide-to-feature-selection

## 3. STORYTELLING

Adding onto last week's listing on a [post discussing Emotional Moats](https://productlessons.substack.com/p/building-personal-moats-and-killer) as a competitive advantage: I anecdotally feel like my way of storytelling has shifted from pre-pandemic ways, and [Google seems to agree with my sentiment](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/future-of-marketing/management-and-culture/rebooting-storytelling-principles/).

Link: https://productlessons.substack.com/p/building-personal-moats-and-killer

## 4. GROWTH MARKETING

Some of us old-schoolers still use this phrase (it dates back eons, all the way to 2010). Take a read-through [here to better understand the differences between growth marketing and traditional marketing](https://www.galacticfed.com/blog/what-is-growth-marketing-an-introductory-guide). It includes some great examples of companies who execute growth marketing strategies well (such as Dropbox) along with some great infographics, including a reference to "Pirate Metrics" [referenced in this newsletter](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-april-22-2022).

Link: https://www.galacticfed.com/blog/what-is-growth-marketing-an-introductory-guide

## 5. SALES

ZoomInfo has unleashed [an excellent playbook for all your business development teams](https://www.dropbox.com/s/iytsz4pr1lv3197/16-go-to-market-plays-book.pdf?dl=0), which I've already shared with my team. The PDF contains 16 of the best go-to-market plays from B2B sales and marketing pros across different stages of the sales funnel.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iytsz4pr1lv3197/16-go-to-market-plays-book.pdf?dl=0

## 6. POC

We switched to proof of concept (POC) based paid trials as part of our enterprise sales process last year, and I like it! It's working well as part of our customer journey and is the fastest [time-to-value](https://baremetrics.com/academy/time-to-value-ttv) metric we can deliver for various enterprise stakeholders. Want to get your POC up and running fast? The team at Work-Bench have a [step-by-step framework AND a template of a POC Agreement for you here](https://www.work-bench.com/playbooks/how-to-structure-a-poc-poc-agreement-template).

Link: https://baremetrics.com/academy/time-to-value-ttv

## 7. SECURITY

The [RSA security conference](https://www.rsaconference.com/usa) happened IRL earlier this month in SF, and the big 2022 take home: If it's not yet, security should be a significant priority in your stack this year - [legislation is coming](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/cybersecurity/cybersecurity-legislation-preparing-for-increased-reporting-and-transparency). Take a read here on how [early-stage enterprise startups should think through building a security foundation](https://www.work-bench.com/post/security-for-enterprise-startups-to-scale-sell) (great for the sales process too, ya know!) On the enterprise side of town, CIOs are expected to spend 90% of their budget on vital tech like cloud and security (the other 10% still in the mix for POCs (see above)) - it's also a pretty [recession-proof budget line](https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/cybersecurity-industry-recession-tech-layoffs).

Link: https://www.rsaconference.com/usa

## 8. PERSONALIZATION

SaaS marketers use personalization more and more to increase their conversion rates as personalization [reduces acquisition costs by as much as 50%](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/marketings-holy-grail-digital-personalization-at-scale). Twilio just released its latest report, [The State of Personalization](https://www.dropbox.com/s/bl10fz0gj6h621k/State-of-Personalization-Report-Twilio-Segment-2022.pdf?dl=0) 2022 edition. 35% of companies surveyed feel they are successfully achieving omnichannel personalization, which is a 45% increase from last year. And about half of consumers surveyed said they will likely become repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience.

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

## 9. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

So what's really changing in the economic downturn of 2022? Each month, the Google Market Insights team analyzes billions of recent search queries and consumer behaviours to develop a deep understanding of what's happening. [Read on more here](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/financial-uncertainty-preparation), where wallet tightening, as seen via search, is a real thing in 2022, divided into 4 pillars: Inflation mitigation, financial knowledge, Consumer research, and online/offline shopping.

Link: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/financial-uncertainty-preparation

## 10. CASE STUDY

The Design Process. This article made me smile as it takes the reader through a deep dive across the entire design journey of something so simple (but so design challenging): [Making the world's most satisfying checkbox](https://www.andy.works/words/the-most-satisfying-checkbox).

Link: https://www.andy.works/words/the-most-satisfying-checkbox

## POD OF THE WEEK

The weekly All-In Podcast was mysteriously on hiatus for almost a month. [We find out why in the latest edition](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e84-markets-update-crypto-collapse-russia-ukraine-endgame/id1502871393?i=1000567573131) - TL; DL - Jason Calacanis did something awkward, and the uber-wealthy tech-boy band almost broke up.

Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e84-markets-update-crypto-collapse-russia-ukraine-endgame/id1502871393?i=1000567573131