Rand Fishkin

Founder/Wizard of Moz

SparkToro CEO. Author of Lost & Founder. Feminist. I love underdogs, cooking, & helping people do better marketing

In 2018, I started SparkToro, software that makes audience research accessible to everyone. I'm also cofounder of indie game maker, Snackbar Studio, author of Lost and Founder: (2018), prev founded & led Moz (2001-17) and am a frequent keynote speaker on marketing and entrepreneurship. But, I'm probably best known as the amateur chef husband of renowned author, Geraldine DeRuiter.

Cofounder & CEO

I co-founded SparkToro (with Casey Henry) to enable high quality audience research for marketers, PR folks, entrepreneurs, and product builders without the need for expensive, time-consuming, inaccurate surveys or impossible-to-scale manual research.

I'm calling it. Britney Muller's post here yesterday is the most important short piece on AI you'll read this year. Why? 👇👇👇

Cofounder of SparkToro, Alertmouse, & Snackbar Studio. Author of Lost & Founder. Feminist. I love underdogs, cooking, & helping people do better marketing

The marketing "funnel" isn't dead, at least not from the perspective of site owners seeking an analogy of the business-side experience. BUT... if you're seeking analogies for buyer behavior, the funnel really doesn't work anymore.

IMO it's more like a pinball machine. Potential buyers bounce between sources of influence, researching, observing, asking, searching, and browsing before, after, and during the decision-making process. This week's new #5minutewhiteboard breaks down how this works (and hopefully convinces your boss/team/client to stop thinking of buyer journeys as linear, funnel-like processes) 👇

If you somehow missed our joint report with Datos, A Semrush Company from 2 weeks ago:
 - AI tools continue to grow
 - But they're not taking market share from traditional search
 - Zero-click searches continue to rise (based on this + the recent Pew study, I suspect we're now >2/3rds of Google searches ending without a click)
 - Gemini and ChatGPT appear to be the breakout winners in AI. The other LLMs' growth has stalled.
 - The EU continues to adopt AI faster than the US (still surprises me!)
Full report link below 👇

KeySavvy

KeySavvy is the peer-to-peer transaction platform for vehicles. We eliminate payment and title fraud in private party transactions and guide buyers and sellers through a complex process with ease. As a result, it's easier than ever for sellers to get more than dealer trade-in and buyers to pay less than dealer retail.

If you're a marketplace or lender looking to provide an end-to-end vehicle transaction experience for your customers, contact me!

Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder

Amazon

I led an org (20+ full-time headcount) whose services delivered all personalized recommendation content for Amazon retail. As one of a handful of core services for the retail stack, my org was attributed to tens of billions in annual revenue and I more than doubled its size in two years.

In my spare time (yes, I had spare time at Amazon), I also personally built an internal tool that helped hundreds of teams across the company analyze their operational costs. The application was acquired by AWS in 2022.

Software Development Manager, Personalization

TRED

(Acquired by Cox Enterprises, Inc.)
Tred is an online used car marketplace and peer-to-peer transaction platform. As Tred's CTO, I built one of the industry's first fully remote financing platforms and automated many traditional dealer capabilities to increase the security and efficiency of the private party used car market. I also led our digital marketing team and launched integrations with Ally Financial, BECU, First Tech Federal Credit Union, Westlake Financial, Cars.com, AAA, and others.

Chief Technology Officer

Variat

Variat is software-as-a-service that provides manufacturers a simple way to collect inspection data on the shop floor, use that data to improve quality through real-time statistical process control, and monitor their supply chain performance.

As CEO, I assembled the team, raised a pre-seed round, and built a large portion of the technology stack. Variat's solution won "Best Industry Innovation Award" in Changchun, China at an event held by Microsoft and FAW in June, 2015.

Genesys | Interactive Intelligence

Senior Software Engineer

Continental Automotive

Senior Algorithm Development Engineer

John Deere

Software Engineer

Link-Belt Construction Equipment

Design Engineer Intern

I'm a hands-on technology leader who is mediocre at enough things to be dangerous. 

I have a track record of leading teams of teams while still writing a significant amount of code myself (even at FAANG). I can both set high level marketing team goals and implement campaigns across SEM, content/SEO, retargeting, and email channels. I work hard to align myself with people I can learn from (direct reports, advisors, investors) and companies I respect.

Outside of work, I enjoy skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and bouldering. Basically any sport that has a high risk of personal injury.

Andrew Crowell

👏 Now that the longest-ever government shutdown has just ended, I want to highlight credit unions for once again stepping up for their members. While furloughed workers were going without paychecks—many joining long lines at food banks—CUs provided real relief.

As reported by NPR, Veridian Credit Union quickly approved more than $55,000 in Government Advance Loans—short-term, interest-free loans—for members affected by the shutdown. Others, like Westerra Credit Union and Redwood Credit Union, provided nearly $100,000 in similar loans within days. “Putting members first” isn’t just a slogan for these and many other CUs.

Especially during such times of financial stress, every dollar counts. For many members, their car is one of their biggest financial assets and selling privately can add thousands in value. But when there’s still a loan on the car, the process gets messy, risky, and slow for both sides.

Credit unions partnered with KeySavvy can make selling easier for their members. We handle lien payoff, title transfer, secure payment, and more, so members can safely sell their cars for more money, often receiving payment in their account in minutes.

Helping members make good financial choices—particularly in tough times—strengthens loyalty, builds trust, and benefits the entire community. It’s a small but meaningful way we can help credit unions keep on putting members first.

#FinancialWellness #AutoLoans #CreditUnions

CEO @ KeySavvy | Powering worry-free vehicle transactions

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Rand Fishkin

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The Battle

Rand Fishkin

Andrew Crowell

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rand Fishkin's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreRand Fishkin's LinkedIn Performance