Lost and Founder
A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World
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Lost and Founder
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Narrated by:
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Rand Fishkin
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Written by:
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Rand Fishkin
About this listen
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 15 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 audiobook can help solve your problems, and make you feel less alone for having them.
©2018 Rand Fishkin (P)2018 Penguin AudioYou may also enjoy...
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 375
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4 out of 5 stars
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- Written by: Sebastian Mallaby
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 17
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 983
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 770
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What the critics say
"This is a truly courageous book. It's one part business-building guide and two parts Indiana Jones-style adventure memoir. And if you've ever wondered if the 'timeless wisdom' you often hear about startups is bullsh*t, here's the proof." (Chris Guillebeau, author of Side Hustle and The $100 Startup)
"You won't find a more honest, raw, and helpful look into the trenches of founding a tech startup than this book. Rand Fishkin shares the rare hard-won insight no one else dares tell you." (Nir Eyal, author of Hooked)
"Most books on founders and entrepreneurship sell a Silicon Valley perspective. Yet the inclusive, egalitarian vision of tech that Rand shares is the one that will truly dent the world." (Nilofer Merchant, author of The Power of Onlyness)
What listeners say about Lost and Founder
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emrah
- 2018-11-24
Must read if you are starting a business
The author shares the raw and untold story of most startups. from transitioning between services to products, the author lists many challenges and opportunities.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Raha Seyed
- 2019-09-02
Learned a lot -- enjoyed it
he doesn't get distracted explaining his failures which I really appreciated. It's easy in a book like this to focus on theoretical what if scenarios. because he doesn't do that, he is able to stay focussed on his goal which is steering future would be entrepreneurs away from his mistakes. I enjoyed the book I do recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- T. Petryshen
- 2018-09-27
A refreshingly honest view of startup life
It's as though Rand is sitting next to you while he shares his story. He offers valuable advice important whether you're a first time founder or embarking on another go.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Khaled Nakawa
- 2019-07-30
A great book that takes existing concepts and reflect personal experience
The book deserves 5 stars for taking existing concepts and reflecting the author personal experience on them. This brings great unique value of the book.
It captures many key points starting with validating a potential market for new business ideas.
VC funding reality check specially in the private equity world. With a quick handbook of what needs to be done before engaging VC funding.
Brings outstanding point about quick convergence and the poor reflection on loyalty.
Also how important for corporate values to be truthful and avoid miss-labeling as they attract like-minded employees. Emphasizing the impact of miss presented values.
I don’t agree with the Author about his perspective of MVP with well established companies and how important it is to use EVP of which building a product that is basically fully mature and enhanced(Hearing the term EVP for the first time in the book). There was a reference to the lean startup which is one of the best books and personally I believe that is not fully understood.
MVP doesn’t necessarily means a sacrifice in features instead it could be a sacrifice in scalability or performance. Example doing some work manually in the background before spending time and energy to build certain capability. It is by giving the feeling of fully working product without actually building it. Eric Ries proposal isn’t to sacrifice viable features.
You have to remember that you as product owner decides what “Minimum” is while the customer is the one that decides what “Viable”. Building a product that lacks the features that qualifies “Viable” in the customers’ eyes means that you have’t built MVP. My message to Rand if you get to do the experience you had again maybe you want to try focusing on what makes the product viable to customer through initial feedback loop. This feedback loop can start before even building the product as that will help capturing it correctly. I know it is easier said than done however that is what it takes to build successful product.
The problem of building a fully mature product isn’t only that they would take longer time than MVP but also the fact that perfecting something doesn’t allow room for quick and dirty work arounds. That mindset will stop you from finishing the product on time and you will continuously be pushed behind schedule as new issues come up. Then you are two years in while showing up with a product that either the market doesn’t want or the product is late and competition has taken good share of the pie. Basically a product that is heavily built on LOFA “Leap of Faith Assumption”
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 2020-02-06
A MUST Read for any start up or Founder
I seek mentors, not consultants, because they've walked the path and share their experiences. Rand reads and delivers an insightful business book for entrepreneurs. It's dripping with practical knowledge, experience and an honest transparency that I've not encountered often. He is inspirational in the guided tour of his life's journey.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2018-09-14
Unfiltered startup journey
Really enjoyed listening to this book over the summer. It gives some perspective on the sacrifices made by founders of highly visible startups. This account gives some perspective and good insights on when founder interests align or not with VCs. #Audible1
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MattMorrison
- 2021-04-25
Loved everything about this book
Rand is incredibly vulnerable, direct, experienced and has so many gems to dish out throughout this book. Have a tough time imagining any entrepreneur not being able to get a lot out of this book. Easy 5 stars.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ian R Clark
- 2019-08-13
A must read for anyone interested in Startups
The best book I have read about tech startups. Well written and performed. A real eye opener.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nathanael Henry
- 2023-10-26
Great book
Narrated amazingly and a great read. Loved the part at the end about focus especially!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ben West
- 2019-09-08
Rand is the kind of tech founder we need more of
I was already interested in what Rand had to say about SEO and wasn't sure if I needed to read this book but it was refeshingly honest and charming and insightful. I hope a lot people thinking about raising money and startng a business read this book first. Even if that's not you right now (like me) you will still get a lot out of this listening experience. It was nice hanging out with Rand for a while and hearing his story. Exciting now for the next chapter with Spark Toro. Good luck Mr. Fishkin.
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