On this episode of the Rise Seattle podcast, Tyler and Phil sit down with former long-snapper for the Seattle Seahawks, Clint Gresham, to discuss his time in the NFL and what it has taught him about life. He shares his experience as a player in the Super Bowl and breaks down a very common, yet dangerous mentality that the NFL spreads to its employees. Gresham also discusses how the tutelage of his former coach, Pete Carroll, has influenced his personal philosophy, changed his views of God, and led to the creation of his book, Becoming: Loving the Process to Wholeness.
S2 E5: Geraldine DeRuiter: The “Everywhereist” Herself on Traveling, Writing, & Getting Through Life
If you’ve ever wanted to know what not to do while traveling, Geraldine DeRuiter is your top resource. On this episode of the Rise Seattle podcast, Tyler and Phil sit down with DeRuiter to discuss the creation of her award-winning travel blog, the Everywhereist, as well as her process in transitioning from blog writing to book writing. DeRuiter also shares a glimpse of her oddball sense of humor as she relays her experience with being diagnosed with a brain tumor back in 2012 and declares her stance on the political issues that are occurring in our country today.
S2 E4: Andrea Dunlop: Writing in Seattle, Self-Publishing vs Traditional and Writing Routines
Do you have a dream to one day write a book? On this episode, Tyler and Phil sit down with Seattle Author, Andrea Dunlop to discuss her journey from working at a NYC publishing firm to becoming professional author here in Seattle. Dunlop shares her insights in the areas of marketing and self-publishing vs. traditional publishing. We also discuss her writing process and routine, as well as what makes Seattle’s writing scene different from other major cities.
S2 E3: Matt Carter: Bad Christians in Seattle
In this episode Tyler and Phil sit down with musician and podcaster Matt Carter to discuss the “Bad Christian” podcast and his opinions on Seattle’s Christian scene following the infamous Mars Hill movement. We also hit on his now decade long career as the lead guitarist in the band, Emery. They also discuss how Carter handles being self-employed in the fastest growing city in the US.
S2 E2: Laurie Frankel: Local Author on Parenting Transgender Kids
On this episode, Tyler and Phil hear Laurie Frankel’s perspective on being an author in Seattle, including her feelings about the general writing process and her thoughts on Seattle’s writing community in particular. They also discuss Frankel’s experience as a parent to a transgender daughter, her opinion on the recent transgender bathroom bill legislation, and her advice on navigating the transgender world (both as a person and a parent). They wrap up with Frankel’s hopes and concerns for the future of Seattle, and how you can win a copy of her newest book, This is How it Always Is.
S2 MINISODE 2: Seattle Summer, Co-Working Spaces & Real Estate Smells
Tyler and Phil discuss the current and future Seattle real estate market as well as share a few fun stories from the field.
S2 E1: Rand Fishkin: MOZ, Activism, Depression & Writing a Book
We're back! Season 2 kickoff! Local tech founder, Rand Fishkin of Moz goes deep on the struggles of starting a company; what venture capitalists REALLY want to see and his personal struggle with depression. If you live in Seattle, you must hear from this super smart and super awesome man who describes himself as a feminist. Did you just attend MozCon? Hear more about what makes your favorite SEO wizard tick.
What You’ll Learn…
- How Rand Fishkin came to create the global company Moz, what Moz does, and what SEO (search engine optimization) really means today.
- How venture capitalism works and what VCs are really looking for when deciding to back a startup company.
- Fishkin’s opinion on the novel Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and the message it sends to women in today’s job market (especially in tech).
- How Fishkin’s role as CEO of Moz played a part in his struggle with depression and why h3 ultimately stepped down from the position.
- A bit on Fishkin’s activism and personal life, his SEO tips, and his hopes and concerns for the future of Seattle.
As a leader in search engine optimization, or SEO, Rand Fishkin knows what it takes to be seen online. Started as a blog in 2004, his marketing company Moz has helped companies around the globe develop tactics for becoming more visible within algorithmic search engines like Google. Fishkin originally dropped out of the University of Washington in order to help his mother build websites for clients. When this venture failed and they could no longer afford to pay subcontractors to provide SEO services, it was up to Fishkin to learn SEO himself. Through this, he discovered how truly secretive the SEO world was at the time and had a strong desire to get this information out to people on a more open and transparent basis. He wanted sites like Google to be kept in check and wanted to be able to get information out to people that others were trying to keep under wraps. Thus, Moz was born.
For those who are unfamiliar with search engine optimization, Fishkin explains it as the ability to earn a top position on search engines organically. There are two basic types of search results that pop up anytime someone types something into the Google search bar: paid advertisements (which only receive about 2.5% of the clicks on mobile devices) and results pulled through Google’s sophisticated algorithms (which account for about 60% of mobile clicks). Fewer than 5% of Google users ever click through to the second page of a search, so being as close to the top of the first page as possible is certainly desirable for a greater chance of visibility. Through software, blogging, and other services, Moz gives companies necessary inside information in order to better their odds of receiving traffic to their sites and getting that coveted first page position. Fishkin is all about being himself and this is the mentality he built into Moz’s transparency model.
In 2007, Moz received its first bit of venture capital: $1.1 million from a firm called Ignition Partners (firm partner Michelle Goldberg is now a Moz board member). Moz also received $100,000 from Kelly Smith of Curious Office. This was Fishkin’s first foray into the world of VCs, and he has since learned quite a bit about how they operate.
Last year, Moz grew about 10% from the previous year and while this may be amazing for a private company in general, from a VC standpoint it is equivalent to “knocking on Death’s door.” According to Fishkin, the basic VC model is that if you are a company that is not going to break through and make millions of dollars, it would be best if you’d just fade away. This is because venture capitalism is a high risk market, so VCs are not allocated a lot of funds to begin with. Place on top of that the desire to have a VC return a profit of 150-1,000% in an average fun life cycle of 7-10 years, it is no wonder why they are more apt to want to put their money into a company that is quickly skyrocketing. In an average VC investment, if there are 10 companies, it is safe to assume that by the end of the funding cycle 7 will be dead, 2 will be doing okay, and 1 will be skyrocketing. If you are not that one company, the unfortunate truth is that you will probably not receive the attention you deserve.
Another conflict Fishkin notes is the tendency for VCs to want to invest in high risk situations in order to possibly attain a high reward. Though no longer the CEO, Fishkin still sees Moz as his baby and believes that it can make a lot of money, without the risk of investing everything into one area only to have it go belly up. A lot of people often wonder why VCs back so many seemingly insane entrepreneurs and Fishkin’s answer for that is that because while sometimes they tank a company, there’s always that 1% chance that they can produce a moonshot.
Since gaining capital and building Moz up to where it is today, Fishkin has certainly received notable attention. For example, he mentions an email he received that invited him to Sheryl Sandberg’s house for dinner. Sandberg is the COO of Facebook and the author of the popular book, Lean In, which discusses women and the job market. While Fishkin thinks it’s great to encourage women as this book does, he feels that it also puts far too much pressure on women to work harder to improve their lot without mentioning the social, historical, and other factors that systematically work against them.
Fishkin describes a conversation he had with a female engineer at Moz wherein he expressed his concern that she was not being taken as seriously as she should have been in meetings and wondered if that was because she is a woman. He notes that this employee agreed and seemed unsurprised by this fact, as it has probably happened to her before at other jobs. He also notes the socalled Weird Science theory, which explains that prior to many movies of the 80s like Weird Science appearing and depicting the engineering field as primarily made up of men, the percentage of women entering Computer Science fields was on par and even rising above the percentage of men. However, following these films that percentage began to drop precipitously. When we think of software engineers, we immediately default to the image of a young white or Asian male, highlighting a key problem in the tech industry that needs to be addressed.
Moz began very much in the style of a family company, as both Fishkin’s mother and grandfather worked with him. Through this experience, Fishkin’s grandfather taught him an important lesson in humility. As a CEO, it would have been easy for Fishkin to assume that he should be trusted and could speak haughtily simply because he owned a popular blog. Instead, he has learned to take a more humble approach to how he presents things, making him much more personable and down-toearth.
It was previously mentioned that Fishkin is no longer the CEO of Moz. Fishkin’s step down as CEO was precipitated by a period of depression that caused concern among board members. Fishkin notes that people who start their own projects are more likely to experience severe bouts of depression and anxiety than those who do not and for Fishkin specifically, he felt that Moz was beginning to slide downhill (especially when the company’s growth went from 100% to 50%) but couldn’t tell anyone, for fear of worrying his employees. As a CEO, there is the constant pressure of feeling like everyone’s job is in your hands and you have to keep the balance between not doing anything stupid to lose people their jobs and doing enough stupid stuff to keep the VCs satisfied. Fishkin admits that he has never been good at hiding his emotions, so upon a conversation with one of his investors, he decided to step down and promote Sarah Bird to the position of CEO. Fishkin hopes to describe the expectations of being a CEO in his next book, so as to give people some insight so they can be better prepared to handle such a difficult role.
While Fishkin does attend numerous events and conferences and speaks on podcasts, he notes that he hates acting like he has some sort of fame or recognition. He is simply a guy who loves to write and help people better understand the world of SEO. When he attends conferences and events, he does not expect payment, but if the venue does offer payment, he asks that it be given directly to those in poverty who need it the most. While many don’t believe that giving money directly to the poor makes a difference, statistics show that only 4% of donated money goes to personal vices, whereas the rest goes toward education, shelter, and other necessities—surprisingly, Fishkin notes, poor people are actually quite good at recognizing what they need to improve their lives and communities. Outside of work, he is a passionate liberal on many topics and attends protests (such as the recent protests against President Trump’s travel ban on refugees).
Fishkin has three basic tips on how to use SEO to your advantage for your website. His first tip is to type into Google words and phrases that you believe people may type in to find you and see what comes up. The results and auto-complete mechanism will give you insight into what people are searching for most often and will help you better plan out SEO-friendly titles for webpages or blog posts. His second tip is to ask friends or colleagues you know to link back to you on their sites; the more links you can have out there, the more likely you are to be bumped up on the search results page. Fishkin’s final tip is to get your brand name locked down on social media sites, even if you don’t think you will ever use them; you never know where the future of this technology may end up.
As the economy continues to rise, Fishkin has big hopes for the future of Seattle. He wants to see Seattle invest in density, continue the liberal path in terms of making efforts to redistribute income, and possibly become more diverse in the coming years. He encourages others to check themselves when they see new buildings go up and wish for the “good old days;” do we want stagnation or a growth of opportunity and equality? Finally, Fishkin is concerned that certain areas of Seattle are becoming too dependent on one or two companies (like Amazon, for example). He encourages city planners to be cautious in how much power they give a single company, as past success does not always guarantee future success.
About the Interviewee
Rand Fishkin is the founder of the Seattle-based SEO company Moz. He was born in New Jersey and raised in Seattle since he was 3 months old. He currently lives on Capitol Hill with his wife who runs a travel blog called the Everywhereist and has written a book called All Over the Place. In 2009, Fishkin was ranked among the “30 Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs Under 30” by BusinessWeek. Fishkin is currently writing his own book, which he hopes to have published by April of next year. You can find Fishkin at @RandFish on Twitter and @randderuiter on Instagram. You can also find out more about Moz at www.moz.com, @Moz on Twitter, and @moz_hq on Instagram.
Links
S2 MINISODE 1: Seattle Real Estate Update
Tyler and Phil are back with a brand new season of Seattle stories and a few surprises as well! This season will periodically have mini episodes discussing local Seattle real estate, business and political news. This episode is the first of many. Enjoy!
The BEST OF Season 1: Rise Seattle Podcast
In this season finale episode of “Rise Seattle” podcast, Phil and Tyler recap eight of thier favorite moments from episodes throughout the first season. From stories of survival to new perspectives on issues affecting Seattleites, each of these interviews encapsulate Rise Seattle's mission and show the true depth of the ways people contribute to the community everyday.
#1.15 Nate Strong: Commuter Hacks, Seattle Marketing & Engaging in Local Issues
Nate is a Seattle transplant and digital marketing guru who cares deeply about his community of North Seattle. By day Nate works as the Customer Success team lead at Socedo a marketing technology company in Seattle and by night he’s the owner and Blogger of ournorthseattle.com a North Seattle community blog that has blown up in popularity, by focusing on infrastructure issues, local politics and economic trends affecting North Seattle. In this episode, we discuss the Seattle tech marketing scene, North Seattle hacker commutes and how Nate’s community blog ournorthseattle.com is activating North Seattleites to engage in local issues.
#1.14 UW Prof. Jeff Shulman: Pro Growth Vs Resisting Change
Jeff Shulman is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, and the host of the “Seattle Growth” podcast. On this episode, Tyler and Phil sit down with Jeff to discuss the lessons he's learned exploring the tension between pro growth developers and Seattleites resistant to change. We also talk about how local podcasting brings people together and whether the Seattle Supersonics will ever come back to Seattle.
#1.13 Mayor Mike McGinn: How Trump's Travel Ban Affects Seattle
WIth the recent executive orders from President Trump regarding the travel ban and sanctuary cities, our nation is in the middle of a polarized debate. Many Seattle residents are asking themselves how this affects our city. Who better to provide clarity on what’s at stake than former Mayor Mike McGinn.
Join us as, Mayor McGinn shares his thoughts on the new presidential orders, what you as a resident of Seattle can do to impact your community and how citizens of our city and our nation can unify despite our differences. We also couldn’t help but ask him about the possibility of a Seattle NBA team.
#1.12 Kelly Dole of Growler Guys: Craft Beer in NE Seattle
Kelly Dole is the co-owner of Growler Guys in NE Seattle. Living in Maple Leaf for 22 years, Kelly has a passion to offer high quality craft beer and food to NE Seattleites. The Growler Guys building is in the old Ying’s Drive-in on LCW, which was designed by legendary Seattle architect, Roland Terry. n this episode Kelly shares his story of opening an already beloved Seattle business, where he got the huge tree trunk that sits out front and of course his favorite beers.
#1.11 Nathan Bowling: 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year on Seattle Education
Nathan Gibbs-Bowling is the 2016 Washington State Teacher of the Year. In the last year, he’s met President Barak Obama; lectured at Harvard University and taught Bill Gates about Civil Rights and Star Wars. In this episode, we discuss with Nate how Seattleites can create a better future for our kid's education.
#1.10 Jonathan Kumar: Using Technology to Help Seattle's Homeless
When it comes to Seattle homelessness, most people want to help in some way but don't know where to start. Do we give a few dollars? Do we not? And if we do, where is the money being spent? One tech entrepreneur in Pioneer Square believes that technology can fix this dilemma we all face.
Join Tyler and Phil's conversation with Jonathan Kumar, founder of GiveSafe. A smartphone app designed to bridge the giving gap between people living on the streets and those who want to pass along a few dollars when asked.
#1.9 Marguerite Giguere: Are People Really Moving From Seattle to Tacoma?
Since the market crash of 2008, Seattle has rebounded in a major way. Rental rates and home values have rocketed to all time highs. And those who want to live in the city of Seattle are definitely feeling the pressure. Finding affordable housing in the city is a big challenge and we are seeing a trend of moving outside the city. One popular destination is Tacoma, WA. On this episode Marguerite Giguere discusses how people are opting out of Seattle and moving to Tacoma.
#1.8 Jill Killen: Running Three Small Coffee Shops in a Big Coffee Town
In 2002 Jill Killen saw a need for a family-friendly, community space in the northeast Seattle neighborhood of Maple Leaf. Armed with a passion to provide quality food and coffee, Jill opened the beloved Cloud City Coffee on Roosevelt and 88th. Since it’s inception, Cloud City has evolved into the “town hall of Maple Leaf” with a following of regular customers who make each day feel like home.
Since then Jill purchased El Diablo on Queen Anne and recently started Royal Drummer in Ballard. While her menus have expanded, and the coffee program has evolved, the mission and spirit to provide a place for Seattle to call home remains the same.
Join our coffee conversation with Jill Killen as we discuss the Seattle coffee scene, her favorite at home coffee drinks and what it’s like to run three beloved coffee shops in the city of coffee.
#1.7: Jeff Lilley, CEO of UGM: Seattle Homelessness, Clearing "the Jungle" and Camping Rights
Jeff Lilley is the President of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. UGM has been providing emergency care and long term recovery services to hurting and homeless people in the greater Seattle area for over 80 years. In this episode we talk to Jeff about his journey to becoming the CEO of UGM, UGM's work towards clearing the homeless encampment underneath I5 known as "the Jungle" and the homeless camper’s rights vote currently before Seattle city council.
#1.6: Suzie Burke: The Land Baroness of Fremont
Suzie Burke has been given the title "Land Baroness of Fremont", as she owns over half of Fremont’s industrial commercial space. It’s because of her work that Fremont boasts some of the most powerful businesses in existence. Businesses like Google, Brooks, Adobe and Tableau just to name a few.
The Seattle skyline has changed dramatically in the last decade. In this interview we’ll meet a big hearted, energetic, passionate and sometimes a bit pushy woman tell the story of how she single handedly changed the landscape in Fremont into the center of the universe. Acquiring this much land in Seattle doesn’t come without its challenges. Here Suzie unapologetically tells stories of her battles with competitors and Seattle governing authorities.
#1.5: Sarah Adler: Simply Real Health in Seattle
In 2012, Seattle native Sarah Adler created the company Simply Real Health with a mission to help more people live a healthy daily lifestyle. Through her programs and services, Sarah teaches a simple approach to a healthy life. In this episode, Sarah shares a few simple tips on how to eat healthy, her favorite recipes and how to make a healthy cocktail. We also discuss the Seattle health food scene, and so much more!