# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending March 11, 2022

Published: 11 March 2022
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-march-11-2022

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

Back to basics this week and referencing a six-year-old article from a16z of the [16 fundamental startup metric classics](https://a16z.com/2015/08/21/16-metrics/) covering Bookings vs Revenue, Gross Profit, ACV, CAC, Active Users and the like and [here is how to choose your north star metrics](https://future.a16z.com/north-star-metrics/).

Link: https://a16z.com/2015/08/21/16-metrics/

## 2. VIDEO

Nailing introductory and Demo videos is a bit of an art form. Don't know where to start or have a video block? Get inspiration from [this curated collection of some of the best](https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/intro-and-demo-videos-from-famous-startups), and [here is a list of 6 videos every SaaS Company needs](https://blog.goldenspiralmarketing.com/6-videos-every-saas-company-needs). (TL;DR Explainers, Company, Testimonials, landing, page, FAQ and Personalized Sales)

Link: https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/intro-and-demo-videos-from-famous-startups

## 3. PRICING (deep dive)

Product pricing is super hard. Here are the top [lessons learned from 25 SaaS companies](https://blog.upscope.io/25-companies-show-you-their-best-saas-pricing-models/), the [impact pricing changes can have on your business](https://labs.openviewpartners.com/the-unspoken-impact-of-pricing-changes/#.XC-hqc9KjKY), and[how to test it](https://labs.openviewpartners.com/how-to-effectively-test-your-pricing/#.XC-hrs9KjKY). Chargify has a [list of 5 pricing scenarios to test as a SaaS company](https://www.chargify.com/blog/5-pricing-scenarios-to-test-for-saas-companies/), with real examples to compare, and Point Nine Capital has [nine awesome pricing strategy experiments](https://medium.com/point-nine-news/9-tricks-to-experiment-with-your-pricing-strategy-329b07a5b171).

Link: https://blog.upscope.io/25-companies-show-you-their-best-saas-pricing-models/

## 4. DIFFERENTIATION

Standing out in a saturated sea of SaaS is a tricky problem to solve - pro-tip - never do it on price alone (see #3 above). So ask yourself, "why should someone buy from you?" It requires balancing familiarity and differentiation - [read this article to get you thinking on the topic more.](https://cxl.com/blog/differentiation-strategy/)

Link: https://cxl.com/blog/differentiation-strategy/

## 5. CORPORATE VENTURE

(or CVC) Hot off the press from CBInsights is [the Global 2021 State of CVC Report](https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0icxupf9x48sgf/CB-Insights_CVC-Report-2021.pdf?dl=0) (pdf). CVC-backed deals went bonkers in 2021. Global CVC-backed funding [more than doubled](https://research-assets.cbinsights.com/2022/02/25144559/CVC-funding-768x397.png) ($169.3B), and Silicon Valley captured $35B of this (guess what - also a new record).

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0icxupf9x48sgf/CB-Insights_CVC-Report-2021.pdf?dl=0

## 6. COMPENSATION

Ready to hire some salespeople for your Startup? Take a read of [how Facebook re-imagined theirs at the 400 employees mark](https://review.firstround.com/A-Counterintuitive-System-for-Startup-Compensation). When it comes to Sales Teams, bookmark the [Betts Compensation Guide](https://experience.bettsrecruiting.com/e/2021-comp-guide-60db648a480f3) as it's always a handy reference site and then [read this post from Jason Lemkin](https://www.saastr.com/a-framework-and-some-ideas-for-your-first-sales-comp-plan) on constructing a framework for the first SaaS sales compensation plans. What about as a founder? A good rule of thumb, [according to Nathan Latka](https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvf-6orD0jH9zUd5FcerkUK836IFApuC3r?mc_cid=ed649edb31&mc_eid=7121c45a64), is if you're a two-co-founders and just hit $1m in ARR, you should each be making about $100k per year and Increase to $150k at $2m in ARR.

Link: https://review.firstround.com/A-Counterintuitive-System-for-Startup-Compensation

## 7. CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Here is the [Vonage Global Customer Engagement Report for 2021](https://www.dropbox.com/s/q0a3brkbflw2046/Vonage%20Customer%20Engagement%20report-2021.pdf?dl=0). LOTS has changed in the past two years: 300% growth in customers choosing video chat as the main channel for talking to companies, and WhatsApp is 160 per cent more popular now than SMS, with almost 50% of consumers using WhatsApp to connect with businesses.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q0a3brkbflw2046/Vonage%20Customer%20Engagement%20report-2021.pdf?dl=0

## 8. HIGH OUTPUT MARKETING

Another for your tech dictionaries. It's a way to leverage and optimize workflow. The author increased SQL's by 177% using this method, so[read their guide on getting started.](https://www.positivehuman.co/articles/high-output-marketing)

Link: https://www.positivehuman.co/articles/high-output-marketing

## 9. PRODUCT MARKET FIT (Another deep dive)

Oooof. [More than 50% of the time, the lack of Product-Market Fit (PMF) factors into why a startup fails](https://startupos.com/finding-market-fit-going-through-the-paces/) (keep reading this article, though, as it goes through how StartupOS figured their PMF out). AirTree (an early-stage VC) has [just published this article taking a look at what metrics VCs like them look at for signs of Product-Market Fit](https://medium.com/airtree-venture/b2b-saas-benchmarks-what-metrics-do-vcs-look-at-for-signs-of-product-market-fit-pmf-608e3133c516) - and also what the red flags are. Also, [this article](https://gopractice.io/blog/what-is-product-market-fit-and-how-to-measure-pmf) has some great PMF definitions. Marc Andreessen called PMF "[the only thing that matters](https://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html)" to early-stage startups 12 years ago. Now his team get a little more nuanced, suggesting focusing[on Product-User-Fit](https://a16z.com/2019/09/16/product-user-fit-comes-before-product-market-fit/) as an indicator towards achieving PMF. A similar nuance is also true post PMF with repeatable-scalable ***revenue*** models as a precursor to a repeatable-scalable business model (you know - the one with actual profits).

Link: https://startupos.com/finding-market-fit-going-through-the-paces/

## 10. CASE STUDY

Expanding on above, *asking* the PMF question IMO is always the more noble focus (as opposed to *answering* the question). But sometimes - you've got to know (see above), and here is a case study on [how Superhuman did it](https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/).

Link: https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/

## POD OF THE WEEK

[Unpacking Product Market Fit](https://open.spotify.com/show/6rif8R6NkkVeeB7can8G9i?si=4ZZfQg2vR02GWqd6WYRo1Q&nd=1)- the podcast version - this episode references different examples and strategies to understand what kind of PMF would work for your Startup.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/6rif8R6NkkVeeB7can8G9i?si=4ZZfQg2vR02GWqd6WYRo1Q&nd=1