Latest news with #Ratio
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
CBS Sports names Clemson a National Championship contender based off their Blue-Chip Ratio
Clemson football is once again being recognized as a legitimate national title contender heading into the 2025 season, this time by way of the Blue-Chip Ratio—a recruiting-based metric from CBS Sports that identifies the teams most equipped to win it all. According to Bud Elliott, who developed the BCR formula, only 18 programs currently meet the standard for championship contention. That standard is simple: a team must sign more four- and five-star recruits than two- and three-star players over the previous four recruiting cycles. While Clemson's BCR rating dropped from last year, it still sits at 55%, which is above the 52% mark from the Tigers' 2016 title run, though below the 61% from the 2018 championship team. Blue-Chip Ratio does not include transfer portal additions, focusing solely on high school and JUCO scholarship signees. Elliott explains that while elite programs do use the portal to fill specific needs, sustained success still hinges on consistently signing top-tier talent out of high school. Miami leads all ACC teams with a 64% BCR, followed by Clemson, and then Florida State just under the mark at 54%. Clemson's season opener against LSU will feature two teams on the list—LSU checks in at 73%, seventh overall. The SEC and Big Ten dominate the list with a combined 14 teams, while the Big 12 is shut out entirely. Ohio State, last year's national champion, leads the nation at 89%, tied with Alabama Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
Hypebeast
09-07-2025
- Business
- Hypebeast
FRAMA's Ratio Storage Series Is Imbued With Architectural Balance
With the Ratio Series, Copenhagen-based design purveyorFRAMAhas unveiled the latest addition to its evolving portfolio of furniture and home goods lines. Characterized by the label's Scandinavian minimalism and appreciation of natural materiality, the four pieces were conceived with the designers of ilo to achieve a balance of 'proportion, stain, measurement and weight.' As shown in FRAMA's campaign, the pieces are designed with a timeless aesthetic — a harmonious dynamic that doesn't overpower the existing space. In consistent form, the Ratio Chest and Console offer closed horizontal storage with drawers — providing a clean surface to highlight the Birch grain. Elsewhere, the compact Side Table and open Trolley incorporate the theme of precise construction into accessory solutions. Ana Magalhães Ilharco and Matilde Cortez de Lobão ofilocrafted the Ratio series with a geometric rhythm inspired by architectural standards. The designers' precise tuning of each design element gives the new collection a familiar quality, echoing the stark wooden forms of furniture from the early 20th century — a period of transition between the era of craftsmen and mass production facilities. The reference to architectural practice reflects the studio's research-focused approach, often pulling from varied realms, from traditional Japanese interiors to European Modernism. These sensibilities align with the style of FRAMA's other lines, including the Symmetry series and the Rivet Series. See the gallery above for a closer look at the Ratio Series and shop the collection now onFRAMAand at select stockists.
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Proven Ways To Foster Project Ownership Among Dev Teams
When developers take ownership of their work, they tend to be more productive, engaged and invested in a project's success. But fostering that sense of responsibility doesn't happen by accident—it takes intentional leadership and a culture that supports autonomy and accountability. Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share strategies they've used to successfully cultivate project ownership within their teams. Read on to learn how the right mix of clarity, autonomy and recognition can transform task-focused developers into truly empowered collaborators. 1. Give The Team Meaningful Autonomy The most effective way to nurture genuine project ownership in developers is by giving them meaningful autonomy right from the project's outset. Allowing team members to define and shape the solutions encourages accountability and inspires deeper personal investment. This approach leverages developers' intrinsic motivation, significantly improving project outcomes. - Serge Beck, Omniwire 2. Pair Engineers Up With Sales Or Customer Success Leads I've found that pairing engineers directly with sales or customer success leads on key features creates a strong sense of project ownership. At Ratio, this simple act turns a developer into a stakeholder. When they see how their work shapes the customer's experience or drives revenue, they start to think beyond code. It shifts the mindset from task execution to product impact. - Ashish Srimal, Ratio Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify? 3. Hire Team Members Who Can Anticipate Issues Hiring a high-level talent who is a proactive thinker, not just a task executor, instills a project ownership mindset. Beyond delegation, growth comes from team members who anticipate issues and take the initiative to solve them and seize opportunities. Autonomy accompanied by strategic communication fosters trust and accountability, essential for scaling quickly and efficiently. - Benjamin Claeys, QR TIGER 4. Share The 'Why' Developers feel ownership when product owners share the 'why.' Technical architects involve them early in tech decisions and actively invite their ideas. Engaging devs in frequent feedback boosts pride, trust and responsibility, transforming coders into empowered project stakeholders. - Matthew Cloutier, Sticky Strategy 5. Let Team Members Know You Have Their Backs In my experience, the idea of someone having my back no matter what has helped me build that mindset of ownership in a given situation. The same concept can be applied to dev team members. Everyone is working toward a collective goal with a shared responsibility to make any project a success. - Leena Waghmare, Gilead Sciences, Inc. 6. Allow Developers To Focus On Quality Through Deployment Using Agile development, test-driven development (TDD) and shift-left practices empowers developers to own features, test early and focus on quality through deployment. This builds pride in seeing their work live and sharpens accountability—if it breaks, they're on call. The result: better quality, stronger ownership and energized teams. - Sal Visca, Vertex Inc. 7. Encourage Team Members To Complete Project Management Professional Training Encourage all team members to complete foundational PMP training so they understand the full project lifecycle, key dependencies and stakeholder expectations. The education creates alignment across roles and fosters ownership by showing how their contributions impact delivery, risk and client outcomes. - Mike Hyzy, CGI 8. Align The Team With Business Outcomes One effective strategy is to align developers with business outcomes, not just tasks, and give them end-to-end responsibility for features, including user impact and metrics. This fosters accountability, deeper engagement and innovation, as team members see the real-world value of their work beyond code commits. - Hrushikesh Deshmukh, Fannie Mae 9. Allow Them To Make Key Technical Decisions Grant team members autonomy within clear, well-communicated constraints. When empowered to make key technical decisions, employees will often shift from task execution to outcome ownership. This builds intrinsic accountability, strengthens problem-solving and fosters pride in results—which can help drive sustained engagement, better collaboration and higher-quality deliverables. - Oka Kiyoshi 10. Let Them Weigh In On 'How,' Not Just 'What' We should empower our dev team members with significant autonomy and decision-making authority over 'how' a project should be built—not just 'what' needs to be built. This strategy is effective because it increases engagement, fosters accountability and leverages expertise. - Ambika Saklani Bhardwaj, Walmart Inc. 11. Pay A Small Bonus For Every Uncovered Bug Pay devs a small bonus for every bug they uncover in peer reviews. Fault-finding becomes a team sport, boosting code quality, pride and shared ownership. Further, it catches flaws early, saving sprint time and proving that quality is everyone's job. - Erick Grau, Chibitek 12. Assign Temporary Ownership Of Components Or Feature Areas One effective strategy is rotating tech stewardship by assigning each dev temporary ownership of a component or feature area. It empowers autonomy, encourages long-term thinking and builds cross-functional empathy. This works well because it balances accountability with trust, reinforcing that ownership isn't about titles, but about stewardship and care for outcomes. - Raghu Para, Ford Motor Company 13. Embed Developers In The Discovery Phase Embedding developers early in the product discovery phase while involving them in user research, design conversations and outcome mapping fosters a stronger sense of ownership. This strategy is particularly effective because it ties technical contributions to real-world impact, increasing engagement, accountability and intrinsic motivation to drive both product quality and business success. - Nicola Sfondrini, PWC 14. Let Developers Give Their Services Fun Names Let developers name their services with terrible puns. Nobody abandons a microservice called 'DataBased' or 'Cache Me Outside.' Pride in bad wordplay creates stronger ownership than any RACI matrix. The engineer who named it will defend it like their first pet. - Ishaan Agarwal, Square 15. Foster A Deeper Understanding Of Dependencies Giving developers knowledge-graph-driven visibility into system identities, access pathways and governance fosters a deeper understanding of dependencies. When developers see how their work affects security and operations, it drives accountability and ownership. This transparency also empowers better decision-making around secure design and risk mitigation. - Craig Davies, Gathid 16. Let Them Work Directly With Customers Involve devs directly in customer interactions—from discovery to proof of concept to demo. When engineers hear real needs, questions and feedback firsthand, they're more invested in outcomes, not just outputs. It builds accountability, empathy and a deeper sense of ownership across the build lifecycle. - Karen Kim, Human Managed 17. Give End-To-End Responsibility One highly effective strategy to instill a project ownership mindset among developers is to give engineers end-to-end responsibility, from design to deployment to post-launch monitoring. This strategy works particularly well because it aligns technical contributions with business outcomes. Developers begin to see how their work impacts users and performance metrics. - Pratik Badri, JPMorgan Chase & Co. 18. Shift The Focus From Outputs To Outcomes Shift the team's focus from measuring outputs (lines of code, for example) to measuring outcomes (business impact). This encourages developers to think like the end user by connecting their technical work directly to real-world results and user value. This strategy naturally fosters a sense of ownership and accountability for the project's overall success. - Kevin Cushnie, MC Systems 19. Build Ownership And Active Communication Into Your Culture There are two parts to this. Culture is one. Ownership needs to be built in as a standard in any organization. If you can't own a project, you don't belong. Second, there needs to be a lot of active communication. Make sure devs know they are heard and that their ideas and recommendations come before profits and deadlines. - Sabrin Freedman-Alexander, Cloudvoid 20. Rotate The Scrum Master Role I empower developers by rotating the Scrum Master role each sprint. They get to lead, present to stakeholders, make key decisions and own the outcomes. This fosters true accountability and leadership. It's remarkable when they feel that personal stake in the results—beyond just code, their work and dedication truly flourish. - Uttam Kumar, American Eagle Outfitters
Forbes
30-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Subscription Illusion: How Flexible Payments Fuel Growth
Ashish Srimal, cofounder & CEO at Ratio, is a SaaS entrepreneur and executive who has built SaaS startups and led large SaaS businesses. Recurring revenue isn't the same as sustainable growth. On paper, everything looks solid: rising ARR (annual recurring revenue), committed contracts and clean dashboards. But in practice, cash is delayed, discounts eat into the margin and deals take longer to close. The model built for predictability is now quietly dragging efficiency. That's the subscription illusion: when revenue says one thing, but capital says something else. It's no longer just about landing subscriptions. The real question is, are you growing in ways that actually strengthen the business? Looking at bookings alone can obscure the truth. Growth that isn't cash-efficient, margin-protective or scalable isn't real growth. I'll unpack why the old subscription playbook is falling short, and how flexible payments are helping SaaS companies sell faster, earn more and scale with confidence. What are the four costliest illusions about subscription-based SaaS selling? I've learned the hard way that in SaaS, some of the most trusted subscription tactics aren't just flawed; they're quietly working against you. Here are four illusions that look like growth on the surface but can bleed your business if you don't see what's underneath. Most SaaS founders believe that "as long as monthly or annual recurring revenue is growing, our business is growing." But MRR/ARR is a signal, not a substance. It tells you what's been promised, not what's been delivered. You can be booking $100,000 per month while bleeding cash from slow collections, high churn or heavy discounting. On paper, you're scaling. In reality, you're suffocating. Revenue growth without cash flow is like running on fumes. You can't fund sales, hiring, product or marketing with invoices alone. Real growth requires capital you can use, not just numbers you can show. ARR doesn't pay salaries. Cash does. Until your revenue translates into profitability and liquidity, you're not growing; you're floating. "Discounts grease the wheels of high-value deals and are harder to say no to." It's a common belief in B2B SaaS, where high-ticket deals meet tight budgets. Sellers lean on discounts to accelerate decisions and close faster. But deep discounting often backfires. It erodes your product's perceived value, compresses margins and speeds up sales at a cost. Worse: Discounts lower your revenue ceiling, become expected in renewals and attract price-sensitive customers who churn when the deal resets. Sales reps often believe, "If we lock customers into 12-, 24- or 36-month contracts, churn becomes a non-issue." On paper, that looks safe: fewer cancellations, smoother metrics. But long-term contracts don't eliminate churn—they delay it. If customers don't see the value, they'll quietly disengage and exit when the term ends. Why? They can't adjust plans mid-term to fit changing needs. Fixed packages block upgrades, usage-based add-ons and custom expansions. And you start forecasting renewals or expansions that never come, leading to missed targets and lost revenue. What looked like retention turns out to be a disguised churn waiting to surface. A familiar mindset from a decade ago is: 'Don't worry about burn or upfront capital. If we need cash, we'll raise another round.' Many founders relied on fundraising as a safety net for aggressive spending, such as acquisition costs, long payback periods and big investments. But that safety net is gone. Over the past couple of years, VC funding dropped 50% to 75% from peak levels. If you overspend assuming capital will come, you risk running dry, facing layoffs, budget cuts, down rounds or worse. There's no bailout. Cash discipline matters. Investors now prioritize profit, burn multiples, CAC payback and free cash flow. And subscription models already delay cash. While these aren't the only illusions, they're some of the most costly ones, and ignoring the reality behind them quietly puts your business at risk. Now, to play it safe doesn't mean throwing out the subscription model. It's to evolve it. You need to fix how and when you get paid. And that starts with adding flexible payments, not as a replacement, but as a smarter layer on top of what you're already running. Escape these subscription illusions with flexible payments. If subscription models are the foundation of B2B SaaS, flexible payments are how you make them work for you, not against you. Buyers can pay monthly in installments or on a deferred basis to fit their budget, but you receive payment upfront. That's where B2B BNPL with a financing partner comes into play. It lets you offer extended terms while getting the full contract value upfront. Imagine a representative closing a $120,000 annual deal. The buyer asks to pay quarterly to fit their budget. Normally, this would slow down the deal or force a discount just to get it over the line. But with embedded BNPL, the rep can offer flexible terms. The buyer pays $30,000 quarterly, covering a financing fee for flexible terms, while the seller still receives the full $120,000 upfront, eliminating cash flow concerns. With that, the old illusions start to break down: • Deals close faster. Flexible terms reduce friction. You hold the price. No more discounting just to get it done. • Cash shows up on day one. Even if buyers pay later, you don't wait, and growth isn't held back by cash flow. • Customers stay longer. When payment terms align with how they budget and ramp, onboarding is smoother, retention goes up and expansion actually happens. Modern B2B BNPL platforms can make this easier, plugging into your CRM, automating billing and underwriting buyers in real time. Achieve growth that pays off, literally. The smartest SaaS companies aren't just changing how they sell; they're changing how they get paid. These companies are done acting like a bank, fronting capital for customers, absorbing cash risk and relying on fundraising to plug liquidity gaps. Because in SaaS, every sale is a financing call. The only question is, are you funding growth or just deferring it? Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Business Insider
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Here are 10 stocks Goldman Sachs expects to be winners after a wild first half for the market
Goldman Sachs just updated one of its stock baskets with its picks for the highest risk-adjusted returns. The basket has outperformed the S&P 500 so far this year, gaining 3% year-to-date. The S&P 500's overall risk-adjusted return has been lower than usual so far this year, strategists said. It's been a volatile year for stock traders, but there are a handful of new winners in the S&P 500 that could be poised for big gains over the next 12 months, according to Goldman Sachs. In a note to clients on Friday, the bank said it updated its Sharpe Ratio basket, a list of 50 stocks with the highest expected risk-adjusted returns. So far, the basket has gained 3% year-to-date, edging past the S&P 500's 1.7% gain. The S&P 500's overall risk-adjusted return has been "lower than usual" so far in 2025, the strategists said, pointing to increased volatility and lower-than-average returns stemming from fears around tariffs. The bank rebalanced its portfolio by choosing stocks with a high prospective Sharpe Ratio, a gauge for risk-adjusted returns calculated by dividing a percentage return to a stock's consensus 12-month price target by its six-month option-implied volatility. "Currently, the median S&P 500 stock is expected to post an 11% return to its 12-month consensus price target with a 6-month implied volatility of 28, yielding a prospective risk-adjusted return of 0.4," the bank wrote. Here are the top 10 newest additions to Goldman's Sharpe basket. 1. Moderna Ticker: MRNA Return to consensus price target: 88% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.3 2. Viatris ELSA BIYICK/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Ticker: VTRS Return to consensus price target: 61% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.5 3. Enphase Energy Ticker: ENPH Return from consensus price target: 45% 4. PG&E Corp Ticker: PCG Return to consensus price target: 45% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.1 5. Thermo Fisher Scientific Return to consensus price target: 42% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.2 6. Fiserv Ticker: FI Return to consensus price target: 37% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.2 7. Cooper Companies EyeEmTicker: COO Return to consensus price target: 37% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.2 8. Salesforce Ticker: CRM Return to consensus price target: 37% Expected return over implied volatility: 1.1 9. Lennar Corp Ticker: LEN Return to consensus price target: 34% Expected return over implied volatility: 0.9 10. EPAM Systems Return to consensus price target: 33%
