Learn from Rand Fishkin about his SEO journey, transitioning from consulting to software, battling depression as a founder, and his 3-step framework for startup success. Discover marketing strategies for startup founders in 2023, the future of marketing in the age of privacy, impactful marketing in ad tech, and a founder's encounter with Oprah Winfrey.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Early Marketing Journey and SEO
Rand Fishkin started in marketing without a specific career plan, learning SEO out of necessity for a client project.
He enjoyed challenging Google's stated SEO rules by experimenting and proving them wrong.
insights INSIGHT
Consulting Vs. Product Reality
Consulting businesses have higher survival rates than product startups and can be more reliably profitable.
The popular belief that product businesses always outperform consulting is misleading and biased.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Choose Marketing Channels Wisely
Choose marketing channels where you are passionate and skilled, and where your audience actually pays attention.
Have a unique value proposition that differentiates your marketing from competitors in that space.
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Rand Fishkin is cofounder and CEO of SparkToro, makers of fine audience research software. He’s dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his writing, videos, speaking, and his book, Lost and Founder. When Rand’s not working, he’s usually cooking a fancy meal for the love of his life, author Geraldine DeRuiter. If you bribe him with great pasta or fancy cocktails, he’ll pull back the curtain on big tech’s dark secrets.
👉🏼 About the Host:
Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generates $30k ARR which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 20,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community at Threado and runs a newsletter called Sharath's CliffNotes alongside hosting this podcast.
Timestamps:
0:00 | Episode highlight
0:48 | Intro to Rand Fishkin
2:56 | What drew Rand to a career in marketing?
6:20 | Rand's SEO mentors
10:09 | What made Rand bet on SEO?
16:01 | Moving from consulting to software
19:41 | The non-scalability of consulting vs the omnipresence of tech
28:47 | Rand's experience with depression as a founder
37:03 | Rand's 3-Step Framework for startup founders
43:08 | The mistakes founders make while marketing
46:43 | Community's role in marketing
52:42 | The secret to an uber-profitable 3-person startup team
59:48 | Building the 'contentment' muscle
1:07:11 | Marketing trends from 2023
1:11:01 | Rapid Fire 5: Rand's favorite marketing person to meeting Oprah for the first time
FTC Proposes Rule to Ban Noncompete Clauses, Which Hurt Workers and Harm Competition: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/01/ftc-proposes-rule-ban-noncompete-clauses-which-hurt-workers-harm-competition
The Undefeated Underdogs 
