A Healthy Dose of Fear is Appropriate When Dealing with the Press
by randfish on April 16, 2012
This past Friday I read Ben Huh’s post entitled Don’t Fear the Press. He writes:
I often see very puzzling behavior from some entrepreneurs when it comes to dealing with the press and media. Either they are desperate for it and would kill to get a press write up, or they vilify the press and hate them for whatever happened.
As far as I am concerned, there are two ways to behave towards the press: 1) Treat them with respect and make sure you are open, real, and fair. OR 2) Shut up and let them know you’re not ready to talk about it.
Despite the fact that I generally think Ben Huh is a genius and he’s proven to be far more adept in garnering great press than I, I’m going out on a limb and saying that I think this simplistic, bimodal approach is bad advice for most in the startup world.
My interactions with the press – both mainstream and tech-centric – suggest that more critical thinking, a strategic approach and, yes, a healthy dose of fear, are all smart ways to approach press interaction.
Making Email More Scalable
by randfish on February 8, 2012
UPDATE: This experiment in productivity didn’t work; more details at the end.
If you’ve been referred to this blog post in an email reply, first off, hello! and second, I’m sorry. If I were a less busy or more efficient person, I would have (and should have) responded to your request individually, rather than through this post. You deserve more personal attention, and I’m kind of a butthole for sending you here. That said, I think I can still be a helpful butthole.
Here’s the rub. I receive triple digits of email messages each weekday that require a response (and a considerable amount on weekends, too). I love email as a productivity tool and run as much of my personal and professional life as possible from it, using a modified version of the Inbox 0 philosophy. Those numbers are going up, and I’m worried that I may fall behind and need to have regular declarations of email bankruptcy.
Thus, this blog post exists to answer some of the most common questions I get over email, in the hopes of scaling my efficiency AND helping you by being a more comprehensive, consistent resource than what I might shoot off in a two line response. If your question isn’t one of those below (or wouldn’t be answered by the resources provided), my apologies. You can certainly email me again and hopefully I’ll get to it, but no guarantees.
Fear of Ignorance
by randfish on November 20, 2011
This past week, I was interviewing a candidate for a VP role along with two of our engineering leads. Everyone in the room excluding myself was classically “technical” – they could write code, had experience solving hard software problems and a background in computer science. I wrote my last line of PHP in 2004, and it had to be rewritten by a real programmer within 6 months. 
During the interview, we had the following exchange (due to an imperfect memory, I’ll paraphrase):
Misadventures in VC Funding: The $24 Million Moz Almost Raised
by randfish on August 29, 2011
Over the course of this year, I’ve written a couple times about raising a potential round of venture financing for my company, SEOmoz. At last, the saga’s over, I’ve been released from terms of confidentiality and I can share the long, strange story of how I first rejected, was eventually persuaded, but ultimately failed to raise a second round of investment capital.
My hope is that by sharing, others can learn from our experience and possibly avoid some of the mistakes, pitfalls and pain we faced.
Inflection Points: Bravery vs. Foolishness
by randfish on July 4, 2011
Inflection points in startup life technically happen every day, but in my experience, there’s a difference between the once-a-week variety and the truly BIG decisions – to sell the company, to raise funding, to pivot on business models, to expand into a new location or new product. Sometimes these happen organically as a result of turning the flywheel, but on occasion, outside events force your hand.
The toughest part for me is knowing when/whether a big decision is exciting and brave or simply foolish. And usually, the answer won’t be apparent for months or years.
Day after day. Alone on a hill. The man with a foolish grin is sitting perfectly still.
Just Keep Going
by randfish on May 23, 2011
In 1997 I was just graduating from high school and started to design small business websites using Microsoft Frontpage and a variety of amateurish HTML hacks. In 2001, I dropped out of college, two classes away from graduating to work full time at a tiny web consulting business with my Mom. That didn’t go very well.
Approx. debt load from credit cards, personal loans, lines of credit, etc.
From 2001-2003, we took out nearly $150,000 in loans, mostly from credit cards and a few equipment lenders, ostensibly to help “grow the business.” Instead, it made us foolish investors in low ROI projects, contractors, office space and a variety of too-good-to-be-true salespeople.
By 2004, we could no longer pay the minimum dues on our bill and our debt skyrocketed. Credit cards with $30,000 limits quickly ballooned to $75,000 in “total owed,” thanks to nasty penalties + fees. After 4 years of attempting to make our consultancy work, the only logical move was to quit.
But, of course, we didn’t do that.
Sometimes VC Just Ain’t Enough
by randfish on May 7, 2011
We’ve gotten a lot of interest from venture capital, private equity and other types of investment firms lately at Moz. Nearly every week features a phone call or two to answer some of that inbound interest. I suspect it’s due to multiple factors, but the current, hot investment environment and upward slope of the search marketing sector combined with some growth on our end probably creates a lot that demand.
SEOmoz Financial Overview from 2007-2011 (EBIDA is not a typo; we calculate taxes separately)
And yet, despite my prior advice to myself that this situation is a potentially ideal one in which to take venture capital, I’m leaning against taking another round.
The Dangerous Hubris of the Startup World
by randfish on January 31, 2011
Students of history will almost certainly be familiar with the 7 Deadly Sins – the list of human vices that are, purportedly, the source for much of humanity’s evil. Of these, one in particular stands out:
In almost every list Pride, or hubris, is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and the source of the others. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self.
Despite age-old recognition regarding the folly of pride, it remains pervasive in politics, culture, media and enterprise – and it’s definitely with us in the startup world, too.
Here’s Quora’s Charlie Cheever (emphasis mine):
…Investors appear to be convinced that it will (gain popularity): Quora snagged $11 million in Series A financing, largely thanks to former Facebook colleague Matt Cohler, who is now with Benchmark Capital. It helps that Quora’s closest competitors are sites full of poorly articulated and often unreliable answers (think Yahoo! Answers, Formspring, Mahalo, Ask or Answers.com). Cheever dismisses the notion that there is a direct competitor for Quora.
Really? Quora has no competition?
Why I’m a Conference Whore
by randfish on December 29, 2010
Mark Suster, whose blog and tweets I enjoy and whose investments strike me as innovative and smart wrote a blog post in October, Be Careful Not to Become a Conference Ho, that’s been grating on me. The central tenet seems wrong, or at the least, myopic.
via XKCD
Granted, the Internet is filled with content I find disagreeable. But, in this case, it came from a source I nearly always agree with and one who’s clearly influential. Thus, I felt presenting an alternative viewpoint could help those considering the choice and possibly even change Mark’s perspective (though, the chances of him reading this post are probably slim).
“You Can’t Do It” is Powerful Motivation
by randfish on December 4, 2010
From age 20-26, I was, quite possibly, the world’s worst entrepreneur. I dropped out of college two classes away from graduating. In a typically low financial risk business – consulting – I managed to rack up hundreds of thousands in debt building, well, nothing. Wracked by credit card and equipment loan debt I had no idea how to pay back, pursued by collectors, living off my girlfriend (now wife)’s paycheck, logic dictated declaring bankruptcy, going back to school and finding a job. So why keep at it?
At the time, I had no idea what a “startup” was, what “entrepreneurship” entailed, what it took to start a business or even how being a “tech co-founder” could make someone money. But I damn sure knew what to do when people (in particular, my Dad) told me to quit this “silly game” and get a real job.
The Algorithm + the Crowd are Not Enough
by randfish on November 29, 2010
In the last decade, the online world has been ruled by two, twin forces: The Crowd and The Algorithm. The collective “users” of the Internet (The Crowd) create, click, and rate, while mathematical equations add scalability and findability to these overwhelming quantities of data (The Algorithm). Like the moon over the ocean, the pull of these two forces help create the tides of popularity (and obscurity) on the Internet. Information is more accessible, useful, and egalitarian than ever before.
But lately, at least to me, the weaknesses of this crowdsourced + algorithmic system are showing, and the next revolution feels inevitable.
Bolster Bolts on Flickr
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Let’s start with some examples of the crowdsourced, algorithmic advances:
A Cautionary Tale from the Startup World
by randfish on November 21, 2010
A few years back, several close friends of mine worked for a remarkable startup. Their trajectory was incredible, growing from $0-$75+ million dollars in their first 4 years and becoming a recognized brand name in the process. At its height, the company employed more than 130 people and their products reached customers in dozens of countries. After being featured in hundreds of publications, online and off, they were both national media darlings and the envy of the local community.
But, tragically, 3 years after their apex, this firm sold for less than their annual revenue, laid off nearly the entire staff, and left common stock shareholders, my friends included, with nothing.
What happened? How? Why? And, most importantly, can we learn from the pain and heartache this company went through in its final few years?
What I Learned About Sales But Foolishly Forgot When Raising VC
by randfish on November 13, 2010
I hate selling – both the players and the game. But, for the first 6 years of my career, I ran a consulting company. That meant making sales or going home hungry. I did plenty of the latter before I found a tolerable way to do the former.
Early on in our consulting business, we found clients the traditional way – networking, pitching and responding to RFPs (Request for Proposals). If you’ve ever watched the television show “Mad Men,” you’ve seen this process in relatively accurate detail.
A pitch on the television show "Mad Men"
“You Earned that Bump Like a MotherF—er”
by randfish on November 9, 2010
I’m not partial to expletives in my writing, but I’m making an exception with the embedded video below, which you should watch before reading the rest of the post (don’t worry, it’s enjoyable as well as instructive):
What I Wish I Knew Before I Started My Company
by randfish on November 8, 2010
Every year that I’ve run SEOmoz, I’ve thought to myself “Who was that idiot they let run this place last year?”
Oh right... that guy. Doh.
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It’s not that every decision I’ve made has been terrible, or that I’ve brought the company to the brink of destruction, but it is true that the quantity of unexecuted opportunity has outpaced our growth substantially, and that’s frustrating. Thus, this post will explore some of the hard-won experience and advice I’ve received over the last 6 years – the kind I wish I’d known ahead of time. I’m also going to try focusing on things I haven’t heard repeated in hundreds of other “startup advice” articles.
The Irony of the US Economy in 2010: No Jobs + No One to Hire
by randfish on November 7, 2010
There can be little doubt that the US unemployment rate is at historical highs. The US Labor Department does a good job compiling these statistics (though nuances certainly exist) and Google’s Public Data charts visualize this nicely:
Rise of the Celebrity Investor
by randfish on November 7, 2010
Nearly everyone in the startup space has recognized the rise of a new class of VC and angel investor over the last few years. I’ll call them the “celebrity-investor” because much of their reputation stems not necessarily from their accomplishments (though most have achieved and invested in remarkable things) but from their personal brand – often centered around a popular blog.
6 Lessons Learned from a Frank M+A Discussion
by randfish on November 5, 2010
As a first-time entrepreneur, many of the issues I face with my startup are “for the first time.” Acquisitions definitely fit into that bucket. While I don’t have first-hand experience, I recently received some advice that resonated strongly and am sharing it here.
This information and my takeaways/perspectives come (mostly) via an excellent dinner panel discussion this week hosted by Ignition Partners’ Chris Howard and Estately‘s Galen Ward (who just closed a second round of funding). The panel featured David Liu of Jefferies Investment Bank and a distinguished group of 5 entrepreneurs representing companies that had recently gone through the M+A process – TellMe/iLike, Picnik, A Place for Mom, Oversee.net and Jambool (aka SocialGold).
Relevance
by randfish on October 17, 2010
For the last 7 years, I’ve blogged regularly on the SEOmoz blog. But I find that there are dozens of topics each week that aren’t relevant to search marketers but I find interesting enough to warrant some mention. Many of these I can casually cover on Twitter 140 characters at a time, but others require a longer form and hence, this blog exists.
