# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending June 24, 2022

Published: 23 June 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-june-24-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK: Customer Renewal Rate

measures the percentage of customers who renew their subscriptions at the end of each subscription period. High renewal rates inform companies about many things - product-market-fit, market, pricing fit, value, business model viability, etc. [The authors of this article from Profitwell](https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/renewal-rate) describe the formula and differentiate between renewal and retention - one is actively renewing, the other is actively not cancelling.

Link: https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/renewal-rate

## 2. FREE-ER

It's not necessarily a time to [rethink Freemium as a SaaS Go-To-Market strategy](https://www.appcues.com/blog/rethink-freemium). But it's probably a good time to think about a more free-as-a-sales-strategy - according to Jason Lemkin from Saastr - [more-free seems to be working well these days](https://www.saastr.com/more-free-seems-to-be-working-well-these-days/). BTW Freemium is not just for B2C businesses like [Dropbox and Spotify](https://www.bondcap.com/report/itr19/110). Freemium is now a strategy [employed in gaming](https://www.bondcap.com/report/itr19/102), [Enterprise](https://www.bondcap.com/report/itr19/108), [Cloud](https://www.bondcap.com/report/itr19/116), and Online [Payments](https://www.bondcap.com/report/itr19/120).

Link: https://www.appcues.com/blog/rethink-freemium

## 3. PLG vs SLG

Product Led Growth remains a popular topic (according to my click-through rates) - why? Just take a look at this [Expansion SaaS Benchmarks report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/nt6wcvfjvwdovez/2020_SaaS_benchmarks_deck_vFINAL.pdf?dl=0) (it's a downloadable PDF). [Again, product Led Growth](https://openviewpartners.com/product-led-growth-maturity-grader)businesses lead the pack! So let's look at the differences in [PLG vs more traditional SaaS Go-To-Market Strategies - Sales Led Growth](https://www.journy.io/blog/product-led-vs-sales-led-growth-the-ultimate-guide). But [according to this article](https://saasoptics.com/blog/sales-led-vs-product-led-why-you-dont-have-to-choose), it's not a "vs" thing - you don't have to choose.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nt6wcvfjvwdovez/2020_SaaS_benchmarks_deck_vFINAL.pdf?dl=0

## 4. MOATS

As mentioned in past posts, Moats are one of the best ways to provide a competitive advantage for your business, and moats come in all kinds of different flavours (such as [speed](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/mobile-site-speed-importance/), [Brand](https://nothingventured.rocks/brand-the-only-true-moat-in-saas-24459d8d4eae), or [growth](https://www.kevanlee.com/articles/product-led-growth-moat-framework)). But [here is a great one that conceptually covers b2b and b2c: EMOTION!](https://productlessons.substack.com/p/building-personal-moats-and-killer). Regarding B2B, [this post lists some popular and effective ways](https://medium.com/@soumyamohan_34366/moats-in-b2b-saas-businesses-a8b11826712f) companies create moats for their products.

Link: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/mobile-site-speed-importance/

## 5. VALUATIONS

Check [this real-time market data feed from AngelList Venture](https://stack.angellist.com/valuations). At the Seed end of town, early-stage valuations are in flux, but more significant than that - deal frequency has slid down a big bank, and founders are diluting more on deal close.

Link: https://stack.angellist.com/valuations

## 6. ENGINEER vs ENTREPRENEUR

I love [this article as it's a manifestation of the battle that lives in my head](https://kerkour.com/engineer-vs-entrepreneur-mindset): Engineers love to get it right, and Entrepreneurs love to get it done. Such a simple statement materializes in so many ways.

Link: https://kerkour.com/engineer-vs-entrepreneur-mindset

## 7. NOW WHAT?

We just experienced the incredibly abrupt end to almost a decade and a half of SaaS prosperity. So now, what do we do as operators? Bill Gurley (the guy I mentioned in [#8 a couple of weeks back](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-june-10-2022)) has some [Twitter-based commentary for you](https://twitter.com/bgurley/status/1520111743942418434?s=20&t=uo_gJQaNf9pzhak6kXhoYQ) (it ain't his first rodeo), and the CEO of Gainsight has [put together an excellent framework for executives to get through the rocky times ahead](https://www.inc.com/nick-mehta/what-saas-collapse-means-for-every-leader.html).

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-june-10-2022

## 8. NEGOTIATE

In 2021, forty-two per cent of us opted for sales-negotiated pricing models - HubSpot will totally negotiate, FYI!. Negotiating is tiresome, so read this article for some hot tips on [why you may be negotiating your SaaS contracts all wrong](https://medium.com/@amandarost/youre-negotiating-your-saas-contracts-all-wrong-784f62d93a89).

Link: https://medium.com/@amandarost/youre-negotiating-your-saas-contracts-all-wrong-784f62d93a89

## 9. CLIMATE TECH

While we are seeing venture funding across SaaS and Startups drop, we may have a bright spot; [investment in the climate tech sector is expected to remain strong](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-17/climate-tech-investors-advise-the-boom-is-here-to-stay). Climate Tech already went through a significant downturn - but [investors think it's different this time](https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/14/a-decade-after-the-bubble-burst-5-climate-tech-investors-explain-why-theyre-all-in/) #climatetech2.0.

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-17/climate-tech-investors-advise-the-boom-is-here-to-stay

## 10. CASE STUDY

As someone forced to use Yodlee, I envy those who get to use Plaid - a financial services connector currently valued at [$13.4 Billion](https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/07/plaid-raises-425m-series-d-from-altimeter-as-it-charts-a-post-visa-future/). Check[here for an explanation of what Plaid is and why it's so valuable](https://technically.substack.com/p/what-does-plaid-do) for those of us in the financial services or financial adjacent. (it's the legacy technology the highly fractured US banking systems are built on).

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/07/plaid-raises-425m-series-d-from-altimeter-as-it-charts-a-post-visa-future/

## POD OF THE WEEK

Expanding on #10 above - I'm enjoying the ["Equity" podcast from Tech Crunch](https://tcrn.ch/3kKkkFq) who have some gossip on the [Stripe vs Plaid](https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/04/stripe-launches-financial-connections-for-customers-to-pull-banking-data-used-to-power-transactions-automatically/) drama.

Link: https://tcrn.ch/3kKkkFq