Issue #1
Here is a regular newsletter to talk about this massive pivot from old to new tech and the stories around it.
In true cutting and thrusting style, I am not launching a podcast, it would feel lazy and would end up far too long and rambling. Instead, here is a regular newsletter to talk about this massive pivot from old to new tech and the stories around it. If by now you are wondering who this is from and why we’re qualified… there’s a short bio at the bottom of this missive.
This series will start gently, and over time I will bring in some gossip and insight from the tech communities we work with, from vendors, agencies, merchants and customers. I’ll talk to about marketing and selling in this new world, product strategy, customer advocacy and customer churn - all through the eyes of a slightly older white male.
The series title: No Rocket Ships
I don’t know about you, but the emoji used by Hypergrowth SaaS on social media to brag about various fundraising landmarks is now out of kilter with the economy (plus it has always driven me bloody mad). With the valuations in SaaS realigning, this series is titled after the dose of reality we will all be living with for the next few years.
The new composable tech stacks are truly embryonic, much further ahead in the UK and then parts of Europe, but until the U.S. takes it on it’ll remain a sideshow. Meanwhile, the MACH message is resonating now, and in some markets it seems to have real momentum. Tech firms are desperately announcing their MACH compliance, partnerships, integrations and accelerators. Agencies are fighting to join up and even the payment companies are trying to get involved. We hear all the time now from the MACH laggards wanting to talk about little else.
The MACH Alliance is the place to be, although I still can’t get past my initial “Star Wars” reaction (where’s my light sabre) 2 years later.
I’m a fan, advocate, and a member of the advisory board. But, I’m also an independent. No affiliation, no software to sell.
Myth Busting site speed - Our first apocryphal story
Our first newsletter story is a reminder of how myths become reality in tech, until they are proven wrong, and even then everyone is too polite or nervous to correct them.
How long has Google been promoting site speed? 15 years? Part of the Google score for more than 10 years at least right? They’ve promised an ROI from sub 1-sec page load times for years, and we’ve all bought it of course - every merchant sighs, shakes their head and knows that they’ll never see that ROI because the investment needed is simply too much.
Last week I spoke to the big grown-up tech leader within a global consumer brand that had spent 2 yrs following Google’s recommendation and “went after'' page load seriously. They went all in - and globally managed to get their Core Web Vitals LCP right down in 2022. It cost a fortune. It was painful.
Result? It has yielded no benefit, nothing. No extra conversion, No better SEO. No cheaper ads. NADA.
You can see why customers don’t always believe the tech vendor community, and why trust has been eroded over the last 10 years at least.
Can composable start to rebuild that trust? We shall spend some time unpicking in our next issue.
Misspelt word of the week:
‘Compostable’ (Not you Tomas Krag, you meant it)
