Rand Fishkin's presentation on lessons learned building SEOmoz.

1. 12 Lessons Learned
Building SEOmoz
Rand Fishkin, CEO
Download at http://bit.ly/mozlessons2012

2. $450K+ in personal debt sucks… a lot.

3. On track for $20mm+ this year

4. #1: Establish Core Values
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-we-believe-why-seomozs-tagfee-tenets

5. #2: Stick to Your Values,
(Especially When It’s Hard)
“The core values embodied in our credo might be a
competitive advantage, but that is not why we have
them. We have them because they define for us what
we stand for, and we would hold them even if they
became a competitive disadvantage.”
- Ralph S. Larsen, CEO of Johnson & Johnson
http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html

6. #3: Build a Team that Matches
Your Values
http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/never-ever-compromise-hiring-for.html

7. #4: Marketing Matters as Much
as Product
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/i-disagree-with-fred-marketing-is-for-companies-that-have-great-products

8. #5: Make Customer Acquisition Cost a
Competitive Advantage
Paid Channels
Only 15% of Moz’s customers come via paid
channels; hence our cost to acquire customers
is ~$73 and payback period is 0.7 months! This
Inbound meant we could grow and invest, even when
we couldn’t raise outside funding.

9. #6: Don’t Be Afraid of Letting People Go

10. #7: You Are Not the Customer.

11. #8: Don’t Let Outliers Become a
Yardstick or a Trend
AKA: You are not these five companies

12. #9: Humility is the Most Overlooked,
Undervalued Trait in Startupland

13. #10: The Price of Success is Failure
After Failure After Failure.
This is when Geraldine started her blog

14. #10: The Price of Success is Failure
After Failure After Failure.
This is where people usually give up.

15. #10: The Price of Success is Failure
After Failure After Failure.
Past 3 months are averaging 3.5K visits/day

16. #11: Best Way to Get Startup
Experience – Join a Startup

17. #12: Don’t Go It Alone

18. Download this deck:
http://bit.ly/mozlessons2012