All good bloggers “go green” this time of year by recycling their greatest hits.  Who am I to argue with conventional wisdom?  Here are my Top Five Blog Posts in 2021 (based on readership).

#5:  2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites

Gartner Magic Quadrant posts are always a hit.  Everyone loves a free Magic Quadrant and any post that mentions a bunch of companies where I know people generates readership!  I still find it amazing that Gartner does not provide a more dynamic version of this tool–e.g., changes over time, size of the circle representing a third attribute (NPS?), etc.  But Gartner is getting rich selling analysis, so perhaps they know better than I do!

#4:  Greensill Revisited

My friend, Peter Lugli, who is a truly gifted writer as well as an observer of all things B2B payments wrote this post.  Who can resist a “rags-to-riches-to-alleged-fraud” story?   The downfall of Greensill is as close to Theranos as we get in B2B software and payments.  It’s a cautionary tale that caused real damage and will mean new accounting rules.

#3: ACV Auctions: A Masterclass in B2B Marketplaces

I would not have predicted this post would be so popular, though B2B marketplaces are a hot topic.  I attribute the popularity of this post to the robust metrics AVC provided, as well as interest in their balanced business model of auction fees, value-added services, and embedded insurance.  Alas, as with many stocks in the Russell 2000, the stock has not held up since going public.  ACV’s stock is down more than 50% from its peak.

#2: Marqeta Files for IPO

I expected this post to be popular.  After all, in the world of B2B payments, this IPO was a pretty big deal with a $15 billion valuation.  If you are interested in how interchange works and the difference between gross and net interchange, I highly recommend this post.  I go into detail about how the interchange Marqeta earns from issuing is split among various parties:  customers, networks, sponsoring banks, etc. By the way, Marqeta’s stock price mirrors ACV’s in its decline since the IPO.

#1: Top 50 B2B Marketplaces-Q1 2021 Applico Report

I should have guessed this post would be one of the most popular in 2021.  The post had three things going for it:

  • B2B Marketplaces are out-of-proportion popular relative to their success to date.
  • Any post that names 50 companies gets passed around quite a bit!
  • This post was from relatively early in the year, so it had more time to rack up views.  (The opposite of recency bias?)

If you missed them the first time, I hope you will enjoy these posts and your holidays!

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