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Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World
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 an 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, makers 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.
Everyone knows how a startup story is supposed to go: A young, brilliant entrepreneur has an 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, makers 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.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published April 24, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews
May 14, 2018
As a big fan of Rand's work on Moz (especially his pro tips on Twitter and Whiteboard Friday's), this book was a great look behind the curtain on the true nature of running a venture backed SaaS business.
When I first started reading this book, I thought it was amazing. The first few chapters of this book reminded me of the type of radical honesty and insight of something written by Derek Sivers. I really enjoyed how Rand shared his story, gave his perspective on the difficulties of starting a business, and was completely transparent (my favorite part of the book was when he discussed his personal finances and how much he could have really made if he had a large exit and how he regretted not taking the out).
The main reason I'm not giving this a higher rating is I found Rand's attitude a bit obnoxious and not truthful to his own values. One example of this is how one of his values he mentions a lot in the book, is being empathetic and looking at things from someone else's point of view. The first sign of trouble for me in this book, was when just after quoting Scott Adams (someone who is an amazing thinker of our time, who is very often strawmanned) he calls him a "shitburger of a person" and told people to never read his writings. I was shocked when I read this. He didn't criticize anything about him, he wasn't making any points about his arguments, he just called him a name, and that really took me out of the book.
In general though, if you can get past the minor sections of Rand's self righteousness, this book gives a candid honest look at the behind the scenes of scaling a software startup, and I did enjoy it.
When I first started reading this book, I thought it was amazing. The first few chapters of this book reminded me of the type of radical honesty and insight of something written by Derek Sivers. I really enjoyed how Rand shared his story, gave his perspective on the difficulties of starting a business, and was completely transparent (my favorite part of the book was when he discussed his personal finances and how much he could have really made if he had a large exit and how he regretted not taking the out).
The main reason I'm not giving this a higher rating is I found Rand's attitude a bit obnoxious and not truthful to his own values. One example of this is how one of his values he mentions a lot in the book, is being empathetic and looking at things from someone else's point of view. The first sign of trouble for me in this book, was when just after quoting Scott Adams (someone who is an amazing thinker of our time, who is very often strawmanned) he calls him a "shitburger of a person" and told people to never read his writings. I was shocked when I read this. He didn't criticize anything about him, he wasn't making any points about his arguments, he just called him a name, and that really took me out of the book.
In general though, if you can get past the minor sections of Rand's self righteousness, this book gives a candid honest look at the behind the scenes of scaling a software startup, and I did enjoy it.
May 13, 2018
Deeply impressed by transparency and honesty of Rand Fishkin, the Founder of Moz. In this book, he shares the true story of how he successfully started Moz and then at some point failed with its growth, why he recently left the company, and what he learnt during these 16 years. He turned down the $25 million acquisition offer from HubSpot and is not afraid to publicly regret this. What’s most important he analyses all the details and outcomes of such decision.
This is not only a startup story but also a practical guide to marketing management based on genuine numbers and real names. Why MVP is not the best idea in SaaS business, how multi-products line can damage the brand, the story of how he switched the roles with his client for a while and was performing his functions to better understand the needs of Moz’s customers. And many, many more.
This is not only a startup story but also a practical guide to marketing management based on genuine numbers and real names. Why MVP is not the best idea in SaaS business, how multi-products line can damage the brand, the story of how he switched the roles with his client for a while and was performing his functions to better understand the needs of Moz’s customers. And many, many more.
September 13, 2018
Similar concepts to "Anything you want" by Derek Sivers. An honest description of the journey from early idea to startup.
Unfortunately, I think many of the lessons in this book can't be taught via books. The book highlights the softer parts of running a tech startup - parts that are usually ignored as they fall behind more urgent tasks. I, for one, wouldn't have got to the realization of the importance of these elements, had I not experienced the pain resulting from neglecting them - clear values, mission and a clearly defined culture, just to name a few.
The book includes some very valuable perspectives on different kinds of investors and the pros and cons from a founder's perspective. These may be valuable regardless of where you are in your founder journey - assuming you are on the brink of bringing in external capital or at least consider it.
Unfortunately, I think many of the lessons in this book can't be taught via books. The book highlights the softer parts of running a tech startup - parts that are usually ignored as they fall behind more urgent tasks. I, for one, wouldn't have got to the realization of the importance of these elements, had I not experienced the pain resulting from neglecting them - clear values, mission and a clearly defined culture, just to name a few.
The book includes some very valuable perspectives on different kinds of investors and the pros and cons from a founder's perspective. These may be valuable regardless of where you are in your founder journey - assuming you are on the brink of bringing in external capital or at least consider it.
February 4, 2019
Deeply thankful - this is how I feel for this book, for Rand's incredible effort to write it and for the lessons it shares with disarming honesty.
It's a rare opportunity to be able to learn so much of what goes into difficult decisions the people we admire make. This book is exactly this opportunity, delivered with grace, sincerity, and incredible self-awareness.
It inspired me to reflect on important issues, both professional and personal.
It gave me ideas for topics that I believe are valuable to talk about.
It encouraged me to pursue my vision in spite of the difficult decisions I might face.
Rand's book is a practical, transparent guide into building a startup and the responsibilities and unsuspected challenges it comes with. It is especially important because he talks about its most difficult stages, using hindsight to evaluate them.
If you're interested in any of the topics above, from decision-making, to management, to organizational culture or product management, read this book. It's worth spending some time with.
PS: Don't let my lazy reading habits trick you into thinking this is a difficult book to read. I just got a bit distracted by life along the way but once I dove back into it, I couldn't put it down.
It's a rare opportunity to be able to learn so much of what goes into difficult decisions the people we admire make. This book is exactly this opportunity, delivered with grace, sincerity, and incredible self-awareness.
It inspired me to reflect on important issues, both professional and personal.
It gave me ideas for topics that I believe are valuable to talk about.
It encouraged me to pursue my vision in spite of the difficult decisions I might face.
Rand's book is a practical, transparent guide into building a startup and the responsibilities and unsuspected challenges it comes with. It is especially important because he talks about its most difficult stages, using hindsight to evaluate them.
If you're interested in any of the topics above, from decision-making, to management, to organizational culture or product management, read this book. It's worth spending some time with.
PS: Don't let my lazy reading habits trick you into thinking this is a difficult book to read. I just got a bit distracted by life along the way but once I dove back into it, I couldn't put it down.
December 6, 2018
The bad: Although fair and raw and truthful, Fishkin’s book is at points riddled with hate and distrust of certain figures in the startup scene “just because”. We get the feeling there’s a deeper story there, but we just read insults and the towards these figures without justification. Even if truthful, I believe every accusation should include ones version of the story. It’s the least you can do.
The good: A refreshing book with a raw and truthful perspective on the problems that plague founders and that SV has chosen to hide for long. Lots of kudos to that.
The good: A refreshing book with a raw and truthful perspective on the problems that plague founders and that SV has chosen to hide for long. Lots of kudos to that.
October 3, 2021
One of the best and most real startup guides I have ever read. Came at an opportune time for me while I was navigating and making important choices from my own startup. I will re-read this over the years to keep the lessons in mind.
April 20, 2019
I am the CEO of a small company and even though it's not a start-up (btw, I worked for a year in a startup), I was able to take a lot away from this book. First and foremost - everybody makes mistakes and sometimes they result in really bad things. That actually was a huge relief. No kidding. It's so uplifting to hear that it's not only me who that happens to.
Rand Fishkin is very open and honest about success and failure. In the end he states that the "not so much fun times" happened much more often, which is something I can relate to. However, I would still not go back to work for someone else and this seems to be true for the author as well.
I may listen to the audiobook again in the future. This is well worth spending some more time with.
Rand Fishkin is very open and honest about success and failure. In the end he states that the "not so much fun times" happened much more often, which is something I can relate to. However, I would still not go back to work for someone else and this seems to be true for the author as well.
I may listen to the audiobook again in the future. This is well worth spending some more time with.
January 7, 2019
The stories in this book are worth 5 or 6 stars. Very well told and candid, and they touch topics that are not often visited in tech/business/startup literature. A true peek behind the scenes and good business lessons told and learned.
But at times Rand shares general if not basic information about the way certain parts of tech companies work, and these bits really slowed the book down for me. So it’s a 4-star review but I still recommend to read it.
But at times Rand shares general if not basic information about the way certain parts of tech companies work, and these bits really slowed the book down for me. So it’s a 4-star review but I still recommend to read it.
Read
January 13, 2021It makes more sense to learn about building a business from someone who has real-life experience in starting and running one. Lost and Founder is one of that kind of startup books. The author, Rand Fishkin, founder and former CEO of Moz, the online search engine optimisation (SEO) firm, brought to bear his experience in building a business from scratch to a multi-million in valuation. He also smashed some long-held myths about startups and Silicon Valley.
January 27, 2022
An essential read for creators and entrepreneurs
I found this book profoundly helpful and revealing for my work as the founder and CEO of a small but quickly growing online education business. We are facing many of the same pitfalls that Rand faced, and were heading towards some of the same mistakes before I picked this book up. Highly recommended for anyone building a company who wants to learn from the wisdom of someone who came before them.
I found this book profoundly helpful and revealing for my work as the founder and CEO of a small but quickly growing online education business. We are facing many of the same pitfalls that Rand faced, and were heading towards some of the same mistakes before I picked this book up. Highly recommended for anyone building a company who wants to learn from the wisdom of someone who came before them.
October 30, 2023
If you are in the startup world, you definitely read this book. From start to end you will find every details about startup world with examples and stories. Project ideas, funding, people management, bad situations like layoffs etc. I suggest everyone that is thinking about starting a new company, creating a project maybe startup to read this book.
October 31, 2021
This has just landed on the top of the best books about Startups "from Founders to Founders". I feel deep appreciation for the author for sharing his story and insights.
October 1, 2018
As someone that's been familiar with the story of Moz and Rand for the last few years, Lost and Founder wasn't a surprise. It's exactly what I expected it to be: transparent, to the point, straight-forward and incredibly useful. The purpose of Lost and Founder is similar to what a number of other entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley success stories (like DHH) are trying to push, which is that startups don't have to be crazy, massively funded, chaotic and run by tyrants.
A very small percentage of businesses have been built on the back of the chaotic, messy formula, but a thousandfold more have catapulted into nothingness. Lost and Founder isn't as much a "warning" story about the state of the startup industry, but is more of an honest look from a founder who was part of that industry, saw what was happening, made some mistakes, and is happy to own up to them and provide simple advice to people looking to run their own companies.
I'd put this in the Top 10 list of reads for anyone that's looking to start a company, but more importantly - wants to do it right.
A very small percentage of businesses have been built on the back of the chaotic, messy formula, but a thousandfold more have catapulted into nothingness. Lost and Founder isn't as much a "warning" story about the state of the startup industry, but is more of an honest look from a founder who was part of that industry, saw what was happening, made some mistakes, and is happy to own up to them and provide simple advice to people looking to run their own companies.
I'd put this in the Top 10 list of reads for anyone that's looking to start a company, but more importantly - wants to do it right.
October 14, 2018
Reading this book is like spending a day with Rand and having him tell you about his journey with Moz. It's a rare opportunity to dive into one founder's experience.
What makes the book work is that Rand is super honest and talks openly about his successes, failures and the tough decisions he had to make.
Don't mistake the 5-star review for an endorsement of Rand's views. I disagree with a lot of what Rand thinks. The guy seems pretty damn sour about the fact that he didn't accept an early acquisition offer for Moz and is broadly shifting blame onto Silicon Valley culture.
To me these biases are part of the appeal of the book, because you get to see his world view rather than an attempt at an objective reality.
What makes the book work is that Rand is super honest and talks openly about his successes, failures and the tough decisions he had to make.
Don't mistake the 5-star review for an endorsement of Rand's views. I disagree with a lot of what Rand thinks. The guy seems pretty damn sour about the fact that he didn't accept an early acquisition offer for Moz and is broadly shifting blame onto Silicon Valley culture.
To me these biases are part of the appeal of the book, because you get to see his world view rather than an attempt at an objective reality.
August 9, 2023
Must read for people in the Silicon Valley startup echo chamber
December 26, 2019
After Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things", if there's another business book that I'd recommend people, it'd be this. Because if the former talked about how to deal with precarious situations in business, the latter talks about how to deal with the precarious yourself while leading a business.
As people have proclaimed about it, it's truly a painfully honest, unadulterated and transparent take by Rand on building Moz. Covering everything from his unhealthy decisions, his own unstable self and the mistakes he committed while building. He has very brutally laid out all in open and I couldn't help but appreciate his honesty.
As opposed to how it's populated, building a startup is a murky adventure, marred with serious mental health repercussions. It's not so rosy and always rewarding as it's proclaimed and Rand has done a wonderful job of breaking those stereotypes with this book.
While there are a few arguments against his bashing of some of the other public figures, I'm really compelled to believe that someone who says out loud in public that he might not know how to build a startup and that his company and his career might have just been an accidental success, even an undeserving one, I think there might be some substance in the former part as well.
It goes without saying that now not everything Rand says should be bible for the startup founders. It should be the things that they feel most connected to and then try to emulate them into their organizations.
Al in all, it was a really good, refreshing, back of the curtains take on startups.
As people have proclaimed about it, it's truly a painfully honest, unadulterated and transparent take by Rand on building Moz. Covering everything from his unhealthy decisions, his own unstable self and the mistakes he committed while building. He has very brutally laid out all in open and I couldn't help but appreciate his honesty.
As opposed to how it's populated, building a startup is a murky adventure, marred with serious mental health repercussions. It's not so rosy and always rewarding as it's proclaimed and Rand has done a wonderful job of breaking those stereotypes with this book.
While there are a few arguments against his bashing of some of the other public figures, I'm really compelled to believe that someone who says out loud in public that he might not know how to build a startup and that his company and his career might have just been an accidental success, even an undeserving one, I think there might be some substance in the former part as well.
It goes without saying that now not everything Rand says should be bible for the startup founders. It should be the things that they feel most connected to and then try to emulate them into their organizations.
Al in all, it was a really good, refreshing, back of the curtains take on startups.
February 16, 2020
With no intention to start my own business anytime soon, I still enjoyed myself a lot reading the book., partly because the book confirms many of my doubts about popular startup quotes about the fake it until you make it mentality, and about the go big or go home mentality, by giving examples based on the author's startup experience as an ex-CEO, partly because the book is written in a very light and personal tone, so it's very easy and fun to read for me.
The book introduced about the reality of what it really means to start your own business (mentally and financially), how VCs work, the maybe false beliefs in pivots and MVPs, what types of growth hacks work well, and more importantly to me, about what is important in building a great team.
The book introduced about the reality of what it really means to start your own business (mentally and financially), how VCs work, the maybe false beliefs in pivots and MVPs, what types of growth hacks work well, and more importantly to me, about what is important in building a great team.
March 4, 2021
Tremenda guía para las personas que quieran crear un emprendimiento tecnológico.
Rand explica, de manera muy honesta, cuáles son las ventajas y desventajas de las inversiones, de no vender tu emprendimiento pronto o tarde, la importancia de los valores fundamentales y por sobre todas las cosas lo valioso que es estar enfocado. Convertirse el mejor en una sola cosa.
Rand sin duda es un tipo mega exitoso, capaz de manejarse con cualquier "élite", pero su manera de explicar tan cercana hace que sus enseñanzas sirvan a cualquier nivel.
Rand explica, de manera muy honesta, cuáles son las ventajas y desventajas de las inversiones, de no vender tu emprendimiento pronto o tarde, la importancia de los valores fundamentales y por sobre todas las cosas lo valioso que es estar enfocado. Convertirse el mejor en una sola cosa.
Rand sin duda es un tipo mega exitoso, capaz de manejarse con cualquier "élite", pero su manera de explicar tan cercana hace que sus enseñanzas sirvan a cualquier nivel.
March 21, 2020
A highly recommended read for any startup founder. And a must-read for any SaaS founder/manager.
The refreshingly down to earth, no bullshit and, even though written by American, non repetitive advice on how to build and run a business. It's told through honest and reflective recount on Rand Fishkin's own triumphs and, more importantly, failures building Moz - a leading company in field of SEO marketing with millions in revenu.
This is a book I'll probably read parts of over and over again.
The refreshingly down to earth, no bullshit and, even though written by American, non repetitive advice on how to build and run a business. It's told through honest and reflective recount on Rand Fishkin's own triumphs and, more importantly, failures building Moz - a leading company in field of SEO marketing with millions in revenu.
This is a book I'll probably read parts of over and over again.
January 20, 2022
I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook version of this; author was refreshingly frank and emotional at times. The advice was helpful and made sense, although nothing earth-shattering. May have been helpful for author to put lessons he's taking into his next start up in beginning as well, so we could look out for red flags with traditional VC backed approaches from start. Great read, especially if you're building something new and thinking about scale.
July 1, 2018
Some interesting stories, just not “my kind of book”
I really admire Rand and Moz, and follow both for several years now. I love his transparency, but I tend to think he just sees stuff in a somewhat pessimistic way, most of the time. I also think the moment in which he wrote the book left a “unfinished tale” taste in it. Anyway, I’ll buy the next one. #gomoz #gosparktoro
I really admire Rand and Moz, and follow both for several years now. I love his transparency, but I tend to think he just sees stuff in a somewhat pessimistic way, most of the time. I also think the moment in which he wrote the book left a “unfinished tale” taste in it. Anyway, I’ll buy the next one. #gomoz #gosparktoro
September 16, 2018
I’ve followed Rand Fishkin’s content and have used Moz in the companies I co-founded. His transparency and knowledge sharing is visible in all of that content, Moz’s software and now this book. This is a candid memoir of all things a founder goes through at a personal and professional level. Highly recommended read.
July 22, 2018
You may not always personally agree with Rand or have made different decisions, but this book is refreshingly honest. There is a lot to be learned from this amount of transparency.
Personally I applaud the focus on values and diversity.
Personally I applaud the focus on values and diversity.
February 28, 2019
A unique and fresh take on building startups by Rand Fishkin, CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz. Honest, funny and more down to earth and closer to what an average successful start-up journey looks like - his company is a very successful business, but it's not Facebook or Google.
Enjoyed it a lot.
Enjoyed it a lot.
October 8, 2019
Factful guide to the start-up world. Honest analysis of hyped tools & techniques and Silicon Valley pop culture. Insightful part on fundraising and the diverse consequences for a business and the founders. Sometimes a little dark, overall definitely a good read.
January 16, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. Usually I find founder books moderately interesting and obviously ghost written (in a bad way). This was very different Fishkin is very candid and transparent throughout the book, I felt like I was genuinely learning things that apply to the startup I work at. Definitely would recommend this to anyone working in the startup world.
October 29, 2018
A very honest story and enlightening. A bit of a bleak view on his situation. But a good contrast to the great amazing view that is always presented by other successful startups.
February 15, 2019
Probably the best book to understand how startups *really* work.
April 27, 2019
Para quienes quieren emprender o están comenzando
Me gustó mucho la transparencia con la que Rand cuenta las historias y principalmente los aprendizajes que sistematiza de cada situación. Hay capítulos más lentos que otros pero se digiere bastante fácil.
Me gustó mucho la transparencia con la que Rand cuenta las historias y principalmente los aprendizajes que sistematiza de cada situación. Hay capítulos más lentos que otros pero se digiere bastante fácil.
December 2, 2020
Deeply respected and appreciated the transparency from Rand. I wish there were more books like this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews