# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending July 22, 2022

Published: 18 July 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-july-22-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

Not all metrics should be measured in isolation**: [The three siblings: CAC, LTV, and Payback period](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/the-three-key-things-you-need-to-know-to-build-a-great-startup/)**, are vital interrelated metrics you need to build a great SaaS startup.

Link: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/the-three-key-things-you-need-to-know-to-build-a-great-startup/

## 2. WHAT TO SAY

For outbound messaging, how can you make customer communications effective, balancing business objectives with empathy, authenticity, and value for the recipient during these times? [Here are some great templates](https://close.com/resources/crisis-emails) from [Close.com](http://close.com/), and Wordstream has some [great copywriting guidelines](https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2020/04/02/marketing-during-covid-19) in the time of Covid.

Link: https://close.com/resources/crisis-emails

## 3. CONTENT MARKETING

[Now is the best time to double down on content](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/doubling-down-on-content-now-more-than-ever-with-mitch-wainer/) - so get writing!. But be sure to read here on [Startup content marketing mistakes](https://draft.dev/learn/great-content-marketing-doesn-t-depend-on-luck). Also, spot quiz hot shot - how long should a Blog Post be? Hypothetically [this long](https://ahrefs.com/blog/blog-post-length) (but also literally not that long - it's a long-ass blog post).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/doubling-down-on-content-now-more-than-ever-with-mitch-wainer/

## 4. VENTURE

Pitchbook's [Q2 Venture Monitor report](https://files.pitchbook.com/website/files/pdf/Q2_2022_PitchBook-NVCA_Venture_Monitor.pdf)dropped earlier this week. In Q2 2022, VC investors remain cautious with dealmaking. This[complimentary article](https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/venture-monitor-vc-trends-charts) to the report rounded up the major five trends - on the positive [Seed valuations remain high](https://infogram.com/median-us-angel-and-seed-pre-money-valuations-1h7j4dv99ywrv4n), and Billion-dollar plus funds [posted a record year](https://infogram.com/share-of-us-vc-fundraising-deal-value-by-size-1ho16vowwz3y84n).

Link: https://files.pitchbook.com/website/files/pdf/Q2_2022_PitchBook-NVCA_Venture_Monitor.pdf

## 5. CRYPTO

Complimentary to the Pitchbook report above, [this article referencing Crunchbase Data](https://nairametrics.com/2022/07/18/crypto-venture-capital-investments-drop-by-3-2-billion-in-first-half-of-2022/) notes that Crypto-based Venture Capital investments dropped by $3.2 billion (26%) in H1 2022 - but that still represents a massive $9.3B invested in cryptocurrency startups this year. The number of deals increased to 534 (up from 456 last year).

Link: https://nairametrics.com/2022/07/18/crypto-venture-capital-investments-drop-by-3-2-billion-in-first-half-of-2022/

## 6. UX

Optimizing a User Experience is a key to the long-term success of any service or product. I've mentioned in prior posts that Google has [Web Vitals](https://web.dev/vitals/). This program offers developers guidance about best practice benchmarks on user experience, but here is the why: From Forrester - [the Business Impact of Investing in Experience](https://business.adobe.com/resources/reports/the-business-impact-of-investing-in-experience-forrester-thought-leadership-paper-2021/thank-you.html). Bonus - First Round Capital has a [DEEEEEP dive/crash Course for Founders on the principles of UX Research](https://review.firstround.com/a-ux-research-crash-course-for-founders-customer-discovery-tips-from-zoom-zapier-and-dropbox)from the people at Zoom, Zapier, and Dropbox.

Link: https://web.dev/vitals/

## 7. DEX

Crack open your tech dictionaries for another acronym-based entry: Digital Employee Experience. Kinda expanding on #4 above - but this is all about your internal users - your team. In a surprise to mostly no one, [95% of employees say IT issues decrease workplace productivity and morale](https://venturebeat.com/2022/07/06/report-95-of-employees-say-it-issues-decrease-workplace-productivity-and-morale/). This is a bigger deal AND a more significant challenge to solve now that digital tools are more mission-critical in today's WFH/Hybrid/Remote work environments.

Link: https://venturebeat.com/2022/07/06/report-95-of-employees-say-it-issues-decrease-workplace-productivity-and-morale/

## 8. ONBOARDING

This was a definite add to my bookmarks of helpful sites. [Mailmodo](https://www.mailmodo.com/) has a list of [SaaS-specific Email flows, and tips](https://www.mailmodo.com/email-flow/saas-email-flow/saas-welcome-email-sequence/) across customer flows from cold nurture to Churn prevention.

Link: https://www.mailmodo.com/

## 9. APPLE

They haven't had a great week with [current announcements](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-18/apple-to-slow-hiring-and-spending-for-some-teams-next-year) matching the global economic slowdown. But let's get some perspective: Apple spends more money on R&D than the space programs of most countries, but it's still only 6.5% of their revenue, which is low for a technology company - how do I know this? [Check out this glorious infographic](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fef891d23-15c3-4522-80ab-030ce081d697_2084x1820.png) from the genuine Impact Newsletter - All eight charts in the original post are amazing - [read the whole thing here.](https://genuineimpact.substack.com/p/8-charts-you-dont-wanna-miss)

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-18/apple-to-slow-hiring-and-spending-for-some-teams-next-year

## 10. CASE STUDY

Product Led Groth hits security - see [how Snyk snuck into some significant market share in the cybersecurity industry](https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/application-security-startups-developer-snyk) (150 ARR, 150% YoY growth) by following tactics from Atlassian, Slack, and Twilio.

Link: https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/application-security-startups-developer-snyk

## POD OF THE WEEK

[How to Prepare your Go To Market Strategy for a Downturn](https://allisonpickens.substack.com/p/how-to-prepare-your-gtm-for-a-downturn?r=2l6zh&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web) with Alexa Grabell of Pocus.

Link: https://allisonpickens.substack.com/p/how-to-prepare-your-gtm-for-a-downturn?r=2l6zh&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web