Getting painfully honest about the life of a startup founder with Rand Fishkin

We all know the myths. Scrappy founders creating something out of thin air, raising millions of dollars, becoming an overnight success, and exiting with wealth beyond their wildest dreams. And if you’re happy with those myths, then you can stop reading, right here. But if you’d like to hear the not-so-pretty-and-often-unhappy truth about being the founder of a venture funded startup, then you’re going to want to join Rand Fishkin when he swings by Portland to talk about his new book.

If you’re not familiar with Rand, he’s the cofounder and former CEO of Moz, a venture funded startup in Seattle that boasts Ignition Partners and Foundry Group among its investors. The company has revolutionized and demystified SEO for nearly 40,000 customers and more than half a million community members.

And his book? It’s doing the same kind of demystifying for founders. It’s called Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World.

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.

And his talk is sure to be just as valuable. So join Rand and other folks from the Portland startup community on Monday, June 11, 2018 at 6:30PM at WeWork Custom House. The event is free.

For more information or to RSVP, visit Lost and Founder: Rand Fishkin’s Startup Cheat Code Fireside Chat.

Originally published at siliconflorist.com on June 5, 2018.