1/ Logical implication of the war for knowledge workers:

Well-run cities will start to resemble SaaS companies. They will have ARR, Sales, CSM, Marketing, and R&D.

Here’s what I mean... https://twitter.com/davidsacks/status/1263891595369349120

2/ ARR - successful cities will view taxpayer revenue as an annually recurring subscription by residents who are free to cancel at any time. Accordingly they will try to delight customers, not vilify them. They will focus on delivering a product that people want.

3/ Sales - successful cities will sell job creators on moving there. That’s why @FrancisSuarez is killing it right now. He’s selling unopposed. It’s pretty easy to win competitive deals when your rivals aren’t even bothering to counter-sell against you.

4/ CSM - successful cities will instrument churn, try to collect churn notes from people who leave, and work to eliminate the reasons for churn before it happens. They will view CSAT as their key metric.

5/ Marketing - successful cities will track their NPS score and have an active presence on social media. They will define a vision, maybe even put forth a mission statement. They will understand and enhance their niche in a competitive market for knowledge workers.

6/ R&D - successful cities will plow ARR back into features that enhance the value of the city, creating a virtuous cycle that attracts more ARR. They will listen to customers about what those features should be, not special interests (who are basically suppliers, not customers).

7/ Bad cities/politicians will scoff at this analogy. They are too good for sales. They’ve lost sight of their customer. They’re trapped in legacy thinking.

We’ve seen what happens when this happens to a SaaS company: it loses.

8/ The good news is that the SaaS playbook is easy to implement. It’s been done thousands of times. The question is whether there’s the political will to do it. Ultimately voters are going to have to demand a new crop of politicians who have a customer success mindset. //