Rand Fishkin is the Founder of SparkToro and Moz, author of Lost and Founder, loves whisky, travel, and helping people do better marketing.

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Resources

Your Big Idea: Successful Entrepreneurs have One Big Idea. Follow JLD’s FREE training & you’ll discover Your Big Idea in less than an hour!

Sparktoro – Rand’s website

Lost and Founder – Rand’s Book

Rand’s Twitter – Follow Rand on Twitter

3 Value Bombs

1) “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” – Warren Buffet

2) Don’t kick yourself. At some level, we are always trading time for dollars, so just don’t have this dreamy notion that just stops happening at some point.

3) You can get some folks who are very talented at what they do and they’ll be a very poor fit for the company.

Sponsor

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Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Audio Master Class Show Notes

Today Audio MASTERCLASS: How Silicon Valley Biases Startups to Do a Lot of Dumb Shit with Rand Fishkin

[01:39] – Rand shares something about himself that most people don’t know.

[04:16] – What we’re going to talk about today…

Rand’s opinion of how Silicon Valley pressures startups to do a lot of dumb stuff.
The comparison between product business versus consulting business.

[08:46] – Why the Minimally Viable Product (MVP) can really stink sometimes

Find out what Rand’s perspective is re: launching an MVP as a new business compared to doing it as a well-known business.

[11:30] – What are we if we are not our brand? What do we stand for? What happens when we drop stinkers?

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” – Warren Buffet

[12:39] – Why a service business might actually be better than most product businesses.

This is one of those areas of entrepreneurship where Rand thinks Silicon Valley start up thinking and venture capital thinking has really biased a lot of our thinking as entrepreneurs.
He establishes a comparison of trading time for money into renting / buying a home.
The service/consulting business can do many of the same things a product business can do, but also, there are things that they can’t do.
Many of the things that Silicon Valley is trying to recommend are designed to give someone a shot at being that billion dollar unicorn, and for most of us, that is the wrong thing to pursue.

[21:14] – The pros and cons in JLD’s and RF’s businesses

Rand shares his personal experience in his business around hiring the right people
In his experience, you can get some folks who are very talented at what they do, but they will be a very poor fit for the company.

[26:46] – Let’s talk about numbers. Rand shares his numbers in terms of hiring people.

Rand has hired 60-70 people directly and 400-450 people indirectly!
Out of all the people he has hired, whether directly or indirectly, he only has around 7 of 150-ish people who have stayed up to this date

[28:49] – A key takeaway from Rand that will absolutely help entrepreneurs about hiring people – tune in to hear this, Fire Nation!

[30:04] – Why does a Singular Focus win?

The huge advantage of being very, very focused: you do one thing and you do it better than anyone else in the world. You get to build brand association, recall, and a memory with people that is extremely powerful.

[33:38] – How can growth hacks bring you failure, and what you should do instead?

The thing to remember about a growth hack, or any type of hack, is that it’s called a hack for a reason: it’s not a well thought-through long-term solution.
Rand’s great alternative to growth hacks: create a big marketing flywheel that scales with decreasing friction.

[38:15] – Lost and Founder —How Rand came up with the title of his book.

[40:54] – Fire Nation, get excited about learning THIS from Rand’s book!…

This book tells a side of the entrepreneurial journey that most folks would rather keep quiet.
The two things Rand hopes you can do after you read his book:
- Avoid a lot of painful missteps, and
- When you encounter that pain, know that the rest of the people suffer, too.

[43:37] – Rand’s parting piece of guidance: “Anytime there is common wisdom or a best practice out there, I have found value in questioning it.”

Killer Resources!

1) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!

2) Your Big Idea: Follow JLD’s FREE training & you’ll discover Your Big Idea in less than an hour!

3) Funnel On Fire: Learn how to create a funnel that converts!

How Silicon Valley Biases Startups to Do a Lot of Dumb Stuff with Rand Fishkin

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