Rand Fishkin
Born 1979 · Age 46
American entrepreneur, cofounder of Moz and SparkToro, author and speaker best known for work in SEO, audience research, WhiteBoard Friday series, and the book Lost and Founder.
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Life & Career Timeline
Attended Newport High School
Rand attended Newport High School (attended in 1993 per sources).
Dropped out of University of Washington (approx.)
Rand left the University of Washington to work full-time in web design; sources cite 2000 (sparktoro) or 2001 (other sources).
Company debt grows (~$150,000 in loans)
By the early 2000s Rand and his mother's consultancy took on large amounts of debt (~$150k) from cards and equipment loans while trying to scale.
Joined mother's firm (Outlines West) as web designer
Worked for his mother's marketing/web firm managing design, development and marketing for clients; described as several years of work that contributed to early debt and learning SEO.
Created the SEOmoz blog (internal origin)
Rand started the SEOmoz blog as a repository for his SEO learnings to help pay down debt and to document research and advice.
Co-founded SEOMoz (public company formation)
Rand and his mother Gillian Muessig formally founded SEOMoz, evolving from blog/consultancy to a company focused on SEO resources and tools.
Published 'Beginner's Guide to SEO' and gained mainstream attention
Moz's Beginner's Guide to SEO (published/expanded) struck a chord and Moz was featured in Newsweek, accelerating growth of the blog and brand.
Started WhiteBoard Friday video series (approx.)
Rand launched the WhiteBoard Friday video series on SEO education which grew slowly at first then became highly influential in the SEO industry.
Proposed to Geraldine DeRuiter in a TV commercial (public proposal)
Rand proposed to his longtime girlfriend via a TV commercial (publicized and later noted with an Oprah appearance).
Raised $1.1M seed funding led by Ignition Partners
Moz raised a $1.1M investment round led by Ignition Partners as the company began shifting from consultancy to a SaaS/tools business.
Recognition: BusinessWeek '30 Under 30' (reported)
Sources list Rand as included in BusinessWeek's '30 Under 30' list though the exact year isn't specified in the provided text; likely mid-2000s.
Married Geraldine DeRuiter
Rand and Geraldine DeRuiter married in 2008.
Recognitions: Puget Sound Business Journal '40 Under 40' (reported)
Rand was profiled/named in Puget Sound Business Journal's '40 Under 40' (source lists the recognition though the year is not explicitly given in text).
Co-authored 'The Art of SEO' (book)
Rand was a co-author on The Art of SEO, a major industry book published by O'Reilly in 2009.
Co-author: 'SEOMoz Guide to Inbound Marketing' (co-author credit)
Rand co-authored the SEOMoz Guide to Inbound Marketing (listed among his bibliographic credits).
Co-founded Inbound.org
Rand co-founded Inbound.org, a community platform for marketers to share insights and content.
Reported sale of some Moz share to HubSpot (reported)
Sources indicate Rand sold some share/engaged with HubSpot in 2014; reports vary on exact stake and timing.
Stepped down as Moz CEO; Sarah Bird promoted
Rand stepped down from the CEO role at Moz and moved to a non-executive/founder role; Sarah Bird became CEO.
Moz reached ~$40M annual revenue (public figure)
Moz reported growth to roughly $40M+ in annual revenue while still known for a large audience and tools.
Attempted sale discussions & missed earlier offer (internal)
Rand tried to convince Moz's board to sell after a 2017 2x-revenue offer came to him personally; board declined to pursue.
Avoided VC - published SparkToro investment docs publicly (reported)
Rand publicly discussed avoiding traditional VC and made investment documents for SparkToro public to attract alternative investors.
Published 'Lost and Founder' (book)
Rand published Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World (Penguin/Random House).
SparkToro early funding: ~$1.3M raised (reported)
Multiple sources report SparkToro completed a non-VC funding round of roughly $1.3M to support R&D; dates reported in 2018–2019.
Cofounded Snackbar Studio (indie game dev) (bio note)
Rand is listed as cofounder/owner of Snackbar Studio, an indie game developer, per his SparkToro bio (date not specified).
Angel & accelerator investments (TinySeed, LegUp, TeamSportz, Techstars Seattle, Backstage Capital)
Rand and Geraldine became small investors in startups/accelerators such as TinySeed, LegUp, TeamSportz, Techstars Seattle and Backstage Capital (years reported across 2018–2022).
Announced SparkToro (first day posts)
Rand announced he was founding a new company, SparkToro, with cofounder Casey Henry; blog post public Feb 28, 2018.
Last day as Moz employee; publicly left Moz
Rand left Moz as an employee on February 27, 2018 and published 'My Last Day at Moz. My First Day at SparkToro.' the next day.
2019 potential Moz sale (term sheet) fell through
Moz hired bankers and signed a term sheet with a private equity buyer in 2019 for a suboptimal price (~$90M reported), but the buyer later pulled out before closing.
Left Moz board of directors
Rand left Moz's board of directors in 2020, appointing Asia Orangio and Tara Reed to board seats; formally disengaged from company governance.
Paid off 111-year-old house mortgage and made family support gifts
Used proceeds from Moz sale to pay off mortgage, create college funds, help family buy a house, and invest in friends' startups.
Received proceeds from Moz sale to private equity (deposit)
Moz was sold to private equity in 2021 and Rand (and Geraldine) received a life-changing deposit in June 2021; sale terms not publicly disclosed by Rand.
Gave away ~$700,000 to former/current Moz employees
Rand and Geraldine wrote just north of $700,000 in personal checks to Moz employees and ex-employees whose options didn't pay out fairly.
SparkToro profitable and repaid investors (company milestone)
Rand reports SparkToro stayed profitable, repaid investors, and grew responsibly; noted in his company reflections that SparkToro 'kept being profitable'.
SparkToro released free Fake Followers Audit tool (press)
SparkToro launched a free tool to audit fake followers, reported in coverage of SparkToro's expanding toolset.
Net worth reported ~$20M (public estimate)
Public sources (Wikitia / AffiliateBay summaries) reported Rand Fishkin's net worth around $20 million as of August/September 2022.
SparkToro product launched publicly
SparkToro's audience research software launched (product launch publicly noted April 2022), after ~2 years of R&D.
Keynote: 'Building a Startup Without Burning Out' (HubSpot 2023)
Rand delivered a keynote/presentation with lessons from SparkToro at HubSpot and other industry events in 2023.
Documentary filming / company culture event (SparkToro)
Rand and Amanda gave Casey a hug during a SparkToro docuseries filming in January 2023; company continued to expand team and culture.
Keynoted 100+ events (milestone)
By this point Rand had keynoted over 100 events around the world on marketing, technology, and startups (stated on his bio).
Keynote: 'The Future of Digital Marketing' (Demand 2024)
Rand presented on major industry stages about the future of marketing, continuing to keynote widely (listed speaking credits include 2024 events).
Keynote: 'Zero-Click Marketing' (Turing Fest 2024)
Rand gave keynote presentations such as Zero-Click Marketing at Turing Fest and other major marketing conferences in 2024.
Booking policy: accepting travel-required speaking invites after Dec 2025
Rand's public booking page states he is accepting travel-required speaking invitations after December 2025 (booking requirement listed).
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