Hey Reader,

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

I just spent a week outside away from my laptop. Built a shed, painted rocking chairs, carved out some new flower beds - the standard homeowner Spring List.

I learned a few things during this walkabout:

1. I make a decent carpenter, but I’m much better with a computer

2. It feels damn good to get outside, in the sun, and spend a day

We’ve got a good one for you today, let’s jump into The Middle.

Jeff

PS: If you want to attend May's Level Up Webinar on The Big 3 of Subscription Revenue, click here

The Magnificent Seven

Since 1996, there’s been a 43% drop in public equities (stocks).
That’s nearly 3,500 fewer stock symbols on the ticker.

Well, that trend might make sense with this backdrop:

• The Sarbanes-Oxley Act made going public too costly and cumbersome for small businesses

• Venture Capital and Private Equity have made cash more readily available thus not needing to cash out in the public markets

But, Chartr shares a theory that economists believe increased M&A by The Magnificent Seven could also be playing a role in this decline.

870+ acquired companies wouldn’t make up the nearly 3,500-company gap, but that’s still a sizable dent. The M&A trend seems likely to persist as long as interest rates stay around their current levels.

A few reasons this pertains to you (especially in a private SaaS business):

• Your dream of taking a company public could be further off than you think (do people really dream of that?)

• With M&A likely, your teams ought to support your customers through that transition and salvage a chance at retaining the “bigger” business

In any case, let’s hope we get more public companies soon:

Pressing Work in Common

Maya Spivak writes about why User Conferences can be a “Turbo Boost” in your business, especially if used at the right time to the right audience.

She poses 4 questions to shape your conference strategy, but I got stuck on this quote from her former CEO:

Most outsiders think everyone works in harmony within a SaaS business, but in reality, most teams work on independent initiatives loosely held together by company goals.

Marketing —> Leads. Sales —> Revenue. CS —> Retention. Product —> Innovation.

Sure, they all help the company grow Net Revenue Retention but each of their contributions is silod to their department.

Contrast that with a big singular initiative (like a User Conference).
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The work now becomes a much bigger part of the operating rhythm of the business. The meetings become horizontal, not vertical.

It makes you wonder what you can accomplish with focus and priority around unifying initiatives.

Make The Decision Today

Jason Fried, a co-founder of 37signals, is a thoughtful writer who swims against the norm of a typical tech founder.

His writing around decision-making was too good to just pull one snippet:

Side Note: That writing is a magnificent example of the slippery slope, pulling you onto the next sentence.

Most people want to acquire 100% of the information necessary to make decisions. But leaders (especially great ones) know that’s not possible.
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They don’t fret about what they can’t control (aka the future).
They do fret about evaluating a decision from multiple angles.

At some point, the switch flips and you start playing the game in front of you, rather than the game going on inside your head.

Make the decision today, the outcome will come along in due time.