213: Overcoming Depression and Starting Over: Behind the Scenes With Rand Fishkin, Moz Founder

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

You may know former Moz CEO Rand Fishkin from his characteristic curly mustache, Whiteboard Friday videos, or his SEO mastery. But this interview isn’t about linking, Google rankings, or gray-hat practices. Or mustaches.

In our chat with Fishkin, he opens up about his battle with depression and how it has shaped his past decisions and guided his current ventures. He sympathizes with the many entrepreneurs who have also succumbed to loneliness and wondered why their business success wasn’t enough to make them happy.

Fishkin also talks about his new book, Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World. In it, he shares the conversations entrepreneurs have about their challenges and hardships, whether personal or in their businesses. Fishkin also shares details on his new software project and why he decided to venture into another startup.

If you want to be inspired, encouraged, and take away some great advice from a long-time founder, don’t miss this interview. We hope you find it as moving as we did!

Key Takeaways

• Why striving to emulate Silicon Valley startup culture can negatively affect your business growth
• How and why Moz’s customer acquisition costs went down after laying off half of his marketing team
• How to know when to sacrifice profit for growth
• The dark side of entrepreneurial leadership