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Contents
The gotechbusiness.com Top 3
- fake out: Kylea spoke to Stability Diffusion about 4chan getting their hands on its artificial intelligence art model and then some deepfake experts about what this means and who might be at risk.
- Peloton drives into Amazon: That Amazon box just got more diverse. Peloton has started selling its equipment on Amazon, opening up a whole new strategy shift and revenue stream for the beleaguered company, Brian writes.
- Spam: A bug caused by a configuration change caused some Facebook users to receive strange messages from celebrities. It’s solved now, but Ivan and manish are thin on what happened.
Startups and VC
We have published a very fascinating piece written by Battery Ventures’ Neeraj Agrawal, Brandon Gleklenand Jack Mattei on gotechbusiness.com Plus (our premium subscription site) today, on how ARR per employee (APE) is one of the most meaningful efficiency metrics for startups. It is logical; for many startups, the number of employees is one of the largest cost bases – even more than acquiring customers. It’s a fresh take on measuring business success, and well worth a read.
Okay, fine, a few more:
ARR per employee is the North Star efficiency measure you’ve been looking for
Image Credits: MirageC (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
If you want to break even, go for APE.
Cloud companies generally rely on efficiency metrics like CAC payback and LTV-to-CAC, but “they feel more like financial than operational, and it’s hard for employees to execute on these concepts,” said Neeraj Agrawal, Brandon Gleklen and Jack Mattei of Battery Ventures.
Using data from Capital IQ and Battery research, this post includes key benchmarks for public companies and private SaaS companies, along with recommended targets for companies with different ARR ranges.
“APE is an extremely simple metric that we believe can serve as your pole star as you navigate these volatile times.”
(gotechbusiness.com+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
It was a Sarah, Brian, Aisha, Bag kind of day. First, Walmart+ members have a brand new feature: cash back. Sarah explains that Walmart+ is the “answer to Amazon Prime”. Here’s how it works: Browse the app for offers and clip them for future purchases. Once you create one, you’ll earn cash back in the form of digital rewards that accumulate over time to apply to future purchases.
Now on to WhatsApp’s new group discussion features, a story Sarah has been following since April. It seems that more users will be able to access the feature, which is similar to Facebook but in a messaging function, and reduces the number of individual chats. The groups are also not public or findable and joining means you need an invite.
