# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending October 10, 2025

Published: 9 October 2025
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-october-10-2025

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

AI METRICS AI ARR isn't always what it seems. [MostlyMetrics breaks down how companies are stretching definitions to inflate AI-related revenue](https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/the-great-ai-arr-illusion?) — bundling, attribution games, and vague "AI features." Timely reminder: inspect the footnotes, stay cynical!

Link: https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/the-great-ai-arr-illusion?

## 2. ESOP

Employee Share Option Plans are a wonderful idea to incentivize and retain great staff, but under the hood, ESOPs are complex, especially with changing valuations, both positive and negative, in today's market. Check out [Airtree Venture's best practices for communicating the value of ESOP to teams](https://www.airtree.vc/open-source-vc/communicating-esop-value-to-employees). This article also has a bonus financial model template (value calculator, salary package calculator, and vesting schedule). Check [this cheat sheet](https://www.dropbox.com/s/zdzqkw6rcddzr8y/ESOP%20Cheat%20sheet%20of%20Terms.pdf?dl=0) for common ESOP terms.

Link: https://www.airtree.vc/open-source-vc/communicating-esop-value-to-employees

## 3. BUYERS vs USERS

The person writing you a check is not necessarily the same person getting value out of your business. So take a read of [this insightful article from HeavyBit](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/messaging-to-the-user-vs-the-buyer-is-there-a-difference/) on differentiating messaging based on this premise and [the different profiles](https://blog.hubspot.com/customers/ideal-customer-profiles-and-buyer-personas-are-they-different).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/messaging-to-the-user-vs-the-buyer-is-there-a-difference/

## 4. ESOP BENCHMARKS

A fast follow from above is [this wonderful site](https://www.indexventures.com/optionplan) that has compiled a set of Option benchmark data, comprising over 20,000 option grants from more than 1,650 startups across the US and Europe, sorted by Seed or Venture stage. Carta has also [recently done the math](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterjameswalker_cartadata-esop-employeeoptions-activity-7203108506005118976-jvpG) and found that for seed-stage valuations ($1M to $10M), the median pool size is 12.9%

Link: https://www.indexventures.com/optionplan

## 5. LINGO

Here is a mega Tech Dictionary update for you because [AI is changing who writes what, and when](https://karozieminski.substack.com/p/vibecoding-spec-driven-and-the-new), so we need new terms for all that: Vibe Coding, Spec-Driven Dev, Prompt Jail, and more.

Link: https://karozieminski.substack.com/p/vibecoding-spec-driven-and-the-new

## 6. AGENTIC

This [article](https://blog.jaclynkonzelmann.com/p/the-agentic-era-bringing-clarity)and also [Slide Deck](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qoSAdY7NTEhH15YoWnGHGXbNaKfzTN7HnRFRaAKT_Gk/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p) breaks down what the "Agentic Era" of software actually means IRL: autonomy, context awareness, and goal-driven UX.

Link: https://blog.jaclynkonzelmann.com/p/the-agentic-era-bringing-clarity

## 7. VENTURE

Carta's [Q2 report is out](https://carta.com/data/vc-fund-performance-q2-2025/) and shows early-stage VC is still holding steady - but overall LP appetite is cooling. Time to liquidity is also growing, and markups are slowing.

Link: https://carta.com/data/vc-fund-performance-q2-2025/

## 8. BUBBLE

Is AI in a bubble? One-hundred-friggin-percent it is! But maybe all bubbles aren't all bad? Azeem Azhar takes a look at [how over-capitalized hype cycles can actually drive real breakthroughs,](https://www.exponentialview.co/p/is-ai-a-bubble)as long as excess gets channeled into things like infrastructure.

Link: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/is-ai-a-bubble

## 9. GROWTH HACKING

Hacks that work edition: Growth hacking isn't dead—it's evolving. [Foundation shares some cutting-edge strategies](https://foundationinc.co/lab/saas-hacking-strategies) to scale in competitive markets. From viral loops to leveraging micro-influencers, there is some true gold in there.

Link: https://foundationinc.co/lab/saas-hacking-strategies

## 10. CASE STUDY

Complementing #9 above, real growth hacking is about rapid iteration across product, marketing, and data. This First Round piece unpacks [what growth hacking](https://review.firstround.com/glossary/growth-hacking/)[*actually*](https://review.firstround.com/glossary/growth-hacking/)[means today](https://review.firstround.com/glossary/growth-hacking/), with examples from Airbnb, Dropbox, and more.

Link: https://review.firstround.com/glossary/growth-hacking/

## POD OF THE WEEK

Growth by experimentation, Albert Cheng shares how [his teams run 1,000+ experiments a year](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-hidden-growth-opportunities-albert-cheng?r=2l6zh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false) (!) to unlock growth.

Link: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-hidden-growth-opportunities-albert-cheng?r=2l6zh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false