Episode 07 - Rand Fishkin (MOZ)
In this episode we speak with SEO genius, author and serial entrepreneur Rand Fishkin. Rand built MOZ a 45 million dollar a year venture that’s a b2b software for marketers helping companies rank well in Google. He’s recently founded a new company called SparkToro. He’s also published a new book called Lost and Founder, which is basically a cheat roadmap for entrepreneurs. It’s PACKED with experience based tips on what actually works without BS. It’s egoless and transparent at almost unbelievable levels, and as you’ll hear, such is Rand. We discuss: The irony of founding a company that makes millions in revenue but not being able to become rich due the complexity of being venture backed How so called “lifestyle businesses” are underestimated and essentially only one path is marketed to entrepreneurs, making it appear as if there’s only one choice - to be venture backed “all of the attention and all of the accolades go to a handful of companies that grow fast and have big exits and big fundraising events. You never read in the newspaper in the tech press about a company that makes 2M dollars and 500K of that is profit for its owners, even though that’s a great story that’s wonderful for the founders, that’s never talked about, never read about, reporters don’t investigate. BUT someone raises 2M dollars - that story is everywhere even though 90% of venture outcomes don’t return enough money to be considered a success for the fund”. The complexity of working with family. The risks of becoming overconfident and turning down acquisition offers under the assumption that you can do better. “In this world where dollars are chasing, not dollars, not profitable businesses, not sort of good survivable businesses but growth and growth alone, you should recognize that even at small revenue numbers, having a high growth rate is potentially your most exciting asset. And when you have a very high growth rate, even when you’re small, that might be a great time to market and sell your business” The power of vulnerability. And so much more.. We hope you enjoy this and learn from him as much as we did!