The years you spend creating a startup is often time filled with regret, joy, pain and — hopefully someday—success. In this presentation, Rand Fishkin, founder and former CEO of Moz, will talk about how his company, which started as a personal blog while he was deeply in debt, evolved into a $40m+ revenue/year software business. Rand won’t pull punches or hide the truth. Instead he’ll offer an unvarnished, transparent look inside the hardest and rarely-talked-about aspects of building a company.

1. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com
The Story of Moz
2001-2016: What I’d Change, Keep the Same, & Don’t Yet Know

2. 9 Things I’d
Change

3. #1: Learn Software Engineering

4. #2: Spend Time atAnother
Startup or Two

5. #3: Reject No-Touch Onboarding

6. #4: Push My Investors to Be Tougher With Me

7. #5: Only Launch EVPs, Not MVPs

8. #6: Hire Less. Build Less. Focus More.

9. #7: Pay More for Fewer, Proven Hires

10. #8: Multiple Products vs. Singular Focus
2007-2014 2015-2016

11. #9: Sell Early. Start Again.

12. 7 Things I’d
Keep the Same

13. #1: Geraldine

14. #2:

15. #3: IC vs. PW Tracks

16. #4: Marketing First. Product Second.

17. #5: Live Our Customers’ Lives

18. #6: Raise Capital (at least this time)

19. #7: Choose a Sector Other StartupsAvoid

20. 5 Mysteries I
Don’t Yet Know

21. #1: Whether the Juice
is Worth the Squeeze

22. #2: Whether I’m any good at designing software, or just
got lucky a few times early on.

23. #3: Self-Service vs. Enterprise SaaS (source)

24. #4:Acquisitions vs. Build-In-House

25. #5: Making Work Personal

26. I urge you to make your own 3 lists:
What you’d change.
What you’d keep the same.
Mysteries you don’t yet know.

27. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com
Bit.ly/storyofmoz