Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World
Written by Rand Fishkin
Narrated by Rand Fishkin
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Rand Fishkin, the founder and former CEO of Moz, reveals how traditional Silicon Valley "wisdom" leads far too many startups astray, with the transparency and humor that his hundreds of thousands of blog readers have come to love.
Everyone knows how a startup story is supposed to go: A young, brilliant entrepreneur has a cool idea, drops out of college, defies the doubters, overcomes all odds, makes billions, and becomes the envy of the technology world.
This is not that story.
It's not that things went badly for Rand Fishkin; they just weren't quite so Zuckerberg-esque. His company, Moz, maker of marketing software, is now a $45 million/year business, and he's one of the world's leading experts on SEO. But his business and reputation took fifteen years to grow, and his startup began not in a Harvard dorm room but as a mother-and-son family business that fell deeply into debt.
Now Fishkin pulls back the curtain on tech startup mythology, exposing the ups and downs of startup life that most CEOs would rather keep secret. For instance: A minimally viable product can be destructive if you launch at the wrong moment. Growth hacking may be the buzzword du jour, but initiatives can fizzle quickly. Revenue and growth won't protect you from layoffs. And venture capital always comes with strings attached.
Fishkin's hard-won lessons are applicable to any kind of business environment. Up or down the chain of command, at both early stage startups and mature companies, whether your trajectory is riding high or down in the dumps: this book can help solve your problems, and make you feel less alone for having them.
Rand Fishkin
Rand Fishkin is CEO and co-founder of Moz, a Seattle-based startup focused on building software for marketers.
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Reviews for Lost and Founder
22 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very usefull. Rand tolds his story as a founder from a never seen before perspective. Most founders should do this,
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thank you Rand Fishkin for sharing your experience building MOZ. This book was eye opening and very helpful, I would truly recommend it for any entrepreneur. Good luck on your next venture.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book. Really insightful and helpful for tech startup entrepreneurs. Made me lrealized and learn a few things about my journey as a Founder. Thanks Rand!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantastic book. Very honest and highly insightful about what it means to start a company
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredibly insightful book with many solid lessons that all first time and serial entreprenuer should learn from. Way to go Rand for putting transparency to the front lines and providing us with a clear set of expectations of what to expect in the future.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The technical details about valuation and VC funding are extremely helpful.