# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending October 27, 2023

Published: 26 October 2023
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-october-27-2023

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

End of year is just around the corner - so it's [Metric Review time](https://www.sachinrekhi.com/a-leaders-guide-to-metrics-reviews). If you desire to build a data-driven organization in the new year, rigor and discipline have to be built around it. Sachin Rekhi's article discusses why metrics reviews should matter (TL;DR decision-making, inspection, intuition).

Link: https://www.sachinrekhi.com/a-leaders-guide-to-metrics-reviews

## 2. LAW

From CBInsights is a [67-page report covering the 11 laws driving success in tech](https://www.dropbox.com/s/urw27exp9y9ub5e/CB-Insights_Laws-Driving-Success-In-Tech.pdf?dl=0). These law-isms cover concepts such as Amazon's 2-pizza rule, the 80/20 principle, and more.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/urw27exp9y9ub5e/CB-Insights_Laws-Driving-Success-In-Tech.pdf?dl=0

## 3. P&L + COGS

SaaS P&Ls are structured in specific ways, as defining what goes into the cost of goods sold (COGS) section is essential. So, [take a good read of what the SaaSCFO recommends to include](https://www.thesaascfo.com/what-should-be-included-in-saas-cogs) for COGS and [how to structure a SaaS P&L](https://www.thesaascfo.com/how-to-structure-your-saas-pl/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&mc_cid=500edc4e4e&mc_eid=7121c45a64). According to the Author - 90% of them are structured incorrectly, 5% are close, and 5% are correct.

Link: https://www.thesaascfo.com/what-should-be-included-in-saas-cogs

## 4. PUBLIC CLOUD

The three major providers — AWS, Azure, and GCP - [remain dominant in the Public Cloud realm](https://open.substack.com/pub/genuineimpact/p/cloud-computing?r=2l6zh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email)(65% combined as of Q2 23). Amazon's AWS remains, by quite a margin, [the most widely used public cloud platform](https://www.statista.com/chart/18819/worldwide-market-share-of-leading-cloud-infrastructure-service-providers/) hogging about half of that 65%. Its cloud business has primarily driven Amazon's overall profits in recent years. In 2019, AWS was [50 percent of Amazon's operating profit, representing just 13 percent of total net sales](https://www.statista.com/chart/9174/amazon-operating-profit/). By the end of Q2 2023 [it was 70%](https://qz.com/amazon-earnings-cloud-revenue-ai-demand-1850709218#:~:text=Amazon%20is%20a%20retail%20giant,benefit%20from%20growing%20AI%20demand.).

Link: https://open.substack.com/pub/genuineimpact/p/cloud-computing?r=2l6zh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

## 5. CYBER

With all kinds of [cyber attacks](https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1030634/okta-shares-slump-again-monday-following-cyber-attack-1030634.html) happening [lately](https://www.eurogamer.net/sony-confirms-cyber-attack-exposed-details-of-nearly-7000-current-and-former-employees), it's time to hammer this home: Regardless of the size of your SaaS business, for 2024, security should be [part of your dev cycle,](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/what-teams-should-know-about-devsecops/)but also know your weak spots. Founder Institute discusses [6 points of vulnerability in a tech stack](https://fi.co/insight/keep-your-startup-safe-from-cyber-attacks-know-your-weak-spots) that may be a bit leaky. Security should be rolled up into the process - [DevSecOps](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/what-teams-should-know-about-devsecops/) being the new port-portmanteau, [or is that SecDevOps](https://www.cspi.com/devsecops-vs-secdevops-blog)? Heavybit also has [a great article](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/navigating-cloud-infrastructure-security-challenges/) discussing cloud security challenges (as apparently, if we extrapolate this data from #4 above, [two-thirds of SaaS](https://www.statista.com/topics/3071/cloud-software-as-a-service-saas/#topicOverview)is now sitting on Public Cloud).

Link: https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1030634/okta-shares-slump-again-monday-following-cyber-attack-1030634.html

## 6. PRICING

Last week's [Freemium post](https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-october-20-2023) was popular. It's time to double down on pricing again this week with a featurette based on Paddle (aka Profitwell)'s '[State of SaaS Pricing in 2023' report](https://www.paddle.com/price-intelligently/state-of-b2b-saas-pricing-in-2023). Some highlights for you: 94% of B2B SaaS firms update pricing yearly; The most common success metrics are average revenue per user (ARPU), 34%, followed by annual recurring revenue (ARR) - 18%; Free rules: premium-tier free trials dominate (44.2%), followed by freemium offers (18.7%).

Link: https://www.top10in.tech/top-10-in-tech/top-10-in-tech-what-to-know-for-week-ending-october-20-2023

## 7. DATA

Startups need to have a data-driven focus for growth. [This article from ProductLed introduces the "Customer Scorecard"](https://productled.com/blog/productled-method-data-led-organization)and highlights the power of a key metric, the "North Star" (see #1 above), to align team and user interests.

Link: https://productled.com/blog/productled-method-data-led-organization

## 8. FAILURE

It's a common tech-ism in the tech industry [that Innovation needs a lot of failure before success, something Startups and the industry often do not configure culturally](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/fasttimes/have-you-made-it-safe-to-fail). I agree from a design perspective - but this article also highlights that narratively, [you should not glorify it](https://newsletter.weskao.com/p/the-problem-with-glorifying-failure) - try to show a baseline of success (with good failures thrown in).

Link: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/fasttimes/have-you-made-it-safe-to-fail

## 9. REPRESENTATION - VENTURE

\<SIGH> Year to date, Women-founded startups raised 2.1% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the US [according to Pitchbook](https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-vc-female-founders-dashboard) ($2.4B out of $125.85B ), which is ever so slightly higher [than the 1.9% of all of 2022](https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/18/women-founded-startups-raised-1-9-of-all-vc-funds-in-2022-a-drop-from-2021/). If you think that is pathetic, read on - [Black founders received just 0.13% of venture capital this Q](https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/20/black-founders-received-0-13-of-capital-this-q3/?guccounter=1), according to Crunchbase - $39.7 million out of $29.9 billion. This is a massive year-over-year drop (1.2% last year).

Link: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-vc-female-founders-dashboard

## 10. CASE STUDY

A continuation of #4 above **-** This [case study covers the entire history of AWS](https://www.aakashg.com/2022/05/07/aws/) and is a fun read - it also puts AWS's current ARR at $70B!

Link: https://www.aakashg.com/2022/05/07/aws/

## POD OF THE WEEK

A mash-up of #1, #6, and #7 [Sustainable growth in SaaS using data and pricing](https://www.saastock.com/blog/sustainable-growth-in-saas-using-data-and-pricing-paul-lynch-chargify-ceo), with Paul Lynch, the CEO of Chargify.

Link: https://www.saastock.com/blog/sustainable-growth-in-saas-using-data-and-pricing-paul-lynch-chargify-ceo