Hey Reader,

Welcome to The Middle, your midweek rundown of the most interesting things we've read this week.

We're cutting through the noise to focus on what really matters.

GTM efficiency, tooling overload, and building a culture that stands out.

No fluff, just actionable stuff.

Let's dive in.

Jeff

Fill in the cracks

​David Spitz highlights a significant shift in how Wall Street values SaaS companies.

While growth remains important, Go-to-Market (GTM) Efficiency is emerging as a critical metric for investors.

Here's our take:

1. Redefine Success Metrics: Shift your executive dashboard to feature GTM efficiency alongside growth. Consider adopting a "Growth Efficiency Index" (new ARR / S&M spend) as a key metric.

2. Restructure Compensation: Align executive and sales team incentives with efficiency metrics, not just revenue targets. This might mean bonuses tied to CAC payback periods or LTV/CAC ratios.

3. Tech Stack Audit: Evaluate your marketing and sales tech stack. Invest in tools that improve conversion rates and reduce time-to-close.

4. Strategic Pivots: Consider moving upmarket or focusing on expansion revenue if your current GTM motion is inefficient. These strategies often yield better efficiency metrics.

5. Investor Narrative: In your next board meeting or earnings call, lead with your GTM efficiency story. Be prepared to discuss specific initiatives driving improvements in this area.

This shift isn't surprising; everyone has been saying this.

However, the data is starting to show trends in how people value efficiency compared to growth.

And now, as leaders, you have to adjust to the changing conditions to ensure you stay ahead.

29 Tools to Generate $10m Pipeline

​Stan Rymkiewicz shared an extensive list of 29 tools his team uses for various aspects of their SaaS operations, from website management to productivity, totaling $2,175 per month.

These 29 tools contribute to their $10m pipeline.

And I don't know what your thinking, but my first thought?

Holy shit, that's too many tools. (I feel a little like an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn)

Here's what I immediately thought about:

1. Complexity: Managing and integrating tools becomes a full-time job in itself.

2. Data Silos: With information spread across so many platforms, gaining a unified view becomes challenging.

3. Cost Inefficiency: Many tools have overlapping features, leading to unnecessary expenses.

4. Training Burden: Onboarding team members to use all these tools effectively is time-consuming and costly.

5. Security Risks: Each additional tool increases the potential attack surface for security breaches.

I've often found that more tools do not always equal more efficiency. But maybe I'm in the minority.

Twilio's Peculiar Approach to Building Culture

I researched a bit about Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO of Twilio, and came across a book he wrote, Ask Your Developer.

I read the cliff notes version, but I found some unconventional approaches to building a culture that I wanted to share.

Here are some things that Twilio did in the early days:

1. The Kindle Rule: Instead of typical startup perks, Twilio offered each employee a $1,000 annual budget for books on Kindle.

2. Wear the Customer's Shoes: During onboarding, all employees, including executives, were required to build a small app using Twilio's API.

3. Draw the Owl: Encouraged employees to figure things out themselves, based on the meme "How to Draw an Owl" (Step 1: Draw circles. Step 2: Draw the rest of the owl).

My favorite thing about some of these examples is that they're all (mainly) action-based. They aren't buried in platitudes but rather very laid out.

Seems like culture has become a thing we talk about more than emulate.