
My Last Day at Moz, My First Day at SparkToro - freddier
https://sparktoro.com/blog/last-day-moz-first-day-sparktoro/
======
Roedou
I don't know how well known Rand or Moz are on here, but it's great to see
this posted.

I feel like SEO has been an area that gets looked down upon from certain
sectors. In the 10+ years that Rand built up the company, the industry changed
a lot - and he's been a voice for consistently doing things authentically and
in a way that makes the internet better.

You'd also be hard pressed to find anyone who has been so transparent in
sharing everything they've learned along the way - a LOT of folks in digital
marketing began learning from his blog posts and videos.

I'm pretty excited for all his next ventures, and looking forward to the book
for his take on advice for startup founders.

Plus, the 'safer-events project' is in response to incidents that one would
hope no one has to experience again.

(And despite some harder times, Moz seems to be on the up again; they have
some top-class products, should have some interesting new tools over the
coming year.)

Good luck to Rand and SparkToro!

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andrea_sdl
Rand has been an inspiration way before the topics of honesty and empathy were
trendy.

He was the spark that ignited my interest towards getting out of the usual
"let's not discuss difficult topics", and as usual his post is a fantastic
example of how to be honest without being a jerk.

Aside from this, it's great to see him on a different journey, although I'm
sure leaving Moz must've been hard.

------
mooreds
When I was at a company that one of the founders departed from a few years
back, one of the generous gestures the remaining founder offered was to keep
the departing founder's email address alive "forever" (I left a few years
later, not sure how long that was).

A simple gesture that cost the company near nothing and acknowledged the long
history of the departing founder.

I don't know if Rand asked, but it seems a simple item to offer.

~~~
zacharycohn
This is actually pretty complicated and messy.

A founder's email address is still tied to a lot of accounts. Either as a
login, or the contact email address, or the password reset email address.
Sometimes you can't disassociate the email address with the account.

People who missed the memo about them leaving reach out to that email address
looking for the founder/executive, and instead they reach someone who no
longer works there.

If you're using something like Google Docs, a founder who retains their email
address still has access to virtually all of the most important company
documents - OR someone has to go through every document and manually remove
them (but not even that will get them all).

If the founder leaves on good terms, it seems like not a big deal, but it ends
up being a huge liability.

[I'm on the board of a non-profit who just switched executive directors, and
we had to have a big discussion about this.]

~~~
mooreds
Well, I spent a lot of time before the founder departed making sure that all
accounts were tied to a generic alias (admin@... or something similar). This
is good practice whether or not the account is kept open, because if you close
the account and then the password reset email bounces, what then?

If you convert a google account to an alias, you can solve the google doc
issue (delete the account, which lets you transfer all the docs to another
google account, then set up the alias).

Good point about missing the memo, but that could happen even if there was no
email setup.

But I appreciate the comment and it does shed some light on the complexities
of this. I still think it'd be worth it.

I'm sure it is bittersweet/complex for the departing founder as well--they get
to continue to have folks email them at the same address they've had for
years, but every email they receive is a reminder of the company they've left.

~~~
zacharycohn
"if you close the account and then the password reset email bounces, what
then?"

You don't close the account - you have it forward all email to someone else.

"Good point about missing the memo, but that could happen even if there was no
email setup."

You set up an auto-responder. "Hey! I'm no longer with XYZ. If you are trying
to reach a founder/the CEO, hit up abc@xyz.com. If you'd like to reach me for
things unrelated to XYZ, email me at me@personalemail.com

Everyone has to make their own call, of course. I think the biggest factor is
how long the organization has been around and (somewhat related) the
complexity of the org.

Is it a 3 employee person shop that's been around for a year? Not as big of a
deal. Is it a 40 person company that's been around for 10 years? Way more
complex, way more things that could go wrong.

"I'm sure it is bittersweet/complex for the departing founder as well--they
get to continue to have folks email them at the same address they've had for
years, but every email they receive is a reminder of the company they've
left."

You're also asking them to do free work. They now can't take a vacation from
email without worrying they got an urgent email from a customer that was meant
for the CEO... but went to them instead. If they're off email for a week, that
could be catastrophic for a business relationship. By letting them keep their
email, you're asking them to be on-call for you... forever. By taking their
email away, you're relieving them of that responsibility and letting them move
on with their life.

------
weinzierl
Say what you will about Rand, but he is a terribly good writer - and man is
that guy productive.

Honest question: How can you get basically fired [1] as an employee while
still being the chairperson.

[1] The message is cryptic, but I read it that way. Here is the quote: „On a
scale of 0-10, where 0 is “fired and escorted out of the building by security”
and 10 is “left entirely of his own accord on wonderful terms,” my departure
is around a 4. That makes today a hard one, cognitively and emotionally. I
have a lot of sadness, a heap of regrets, and a smattering of resentment too.„

~~~
tomhoward
The chairperson doesn't have dictatorial powers over the company. They are
just the leader of the board of directors.

Any employee still needs the support of their managers and colleagues in order
to retain their role, and if that becomes lost beyond redemption (which it
clearly has in this case), your role as an employee is over.

But influence over the board is still determined by the size of your
shareholding, so as long as Rand has enough shares and support from other
directors, he can remain as chairperson.

The board and executive may indeed want him to continue as chairperson long-
term, as he's still the identifiable figurehead of the company and knows its
history better than anyone. Being a director/chairperson vs being a manager in
a growth-stage company require very different credentials and abilities.

------
orliesaurus
Rand has been a huge influence on thousands of people, and if you ever
launched something on the web, at some point you must have used their tool for
a reason or another. Personally I really loved the way he explained complex
things with his whiteboard in those weekly videos. These are great starter
points to understand the heavy cog of SEO world. I don't know how many times I
directed people to their blog for self-study/research etc. I am sure their
success wasn't due just to him, but also an incredible team of people with
him, but he was the face of the company at Moz until now - I wish him well!

Weird that in his goodbye piece he says he did not leave entirely of his own
accord: > "On a scale of 0-10, where 0 is “fired and escorted out of the
building by security” and 10 is “left entirely of his own accord on wonderful
terms,” my departure is around a 4...” That is something that the piece
doesn't answer, probably something going on, but he still has major shares and
influence in the company i am sure!

------
elliotec
I can't help but be curious of his leaving circumstances.

>>> On a scale of 0-10, where 0 is “fired and escorted out of the building by
security” and 10 is “left entirely of his own accord on wonderful terms,” my
departure is around a 4.

~~~
jorblumesea
He's been on his way out for quite awhile, having stepped back from day to day
operations in July '17\. He wasn't the most professional leader and was widely
blamed for promoting and perpetuating a toxic culture within Moz. This
included publicly attacking people in the industry, openly mocking and
punishing customers for criticizing his product(s), and politicizing honest
feedback. In addition, blew a ton of money on pie in the sky ideas that led
nowhere while letting the core product stagnate, only having to lay off 30% of
their workforce.

Never worked there, take this with a grain of salt, just the word on the
street in startup land :)

~~~
webwright
I've been in the Seattle startup scene for ~12 years and haven't ever heard
him blamed for "promoting and perpetuating a toxic culture within Moz", so
"widely blamed" doesn't seem accurate. I've also never heard of the other
stuff you mention. If he was openly mocking/punishing customers, maybe you can
provide a link where he did that?

Moz did spend a bunch of $ on new stuff vs. core stuff-- but I think that was
after Rand stepped away from the CEO chair. Certainly the layoffs were after
that by several years. Not saying he bears ZERO responsibility, but hanging
that on him seems pretty unfair. Here's his post about the strategic zigs/zags
and layoffs: [https://sparktoro.com/blog/moz-returns-to-
seo/](https://sparktoro.com/blog/moz-returns-to-seo/)

Here's a quote from the post:

"I’m also really thankful that I wasn’t in a managerial position and didn’t
have to make what were, I’m sure, insanely tough calls about who stayed at Moz
and who didn’t. I feel guilty and awful for all who were in that position, and
all those who are seeking jobs now. I remember what it was like when Geraldine
and many of her coworkers were laid off and the feelings of doubt and fear,
resentment and confusion that washed over us. My empathy and my heart are with
everyone on both sides of this heart-wrenching process."

------
VectorLock
Not 'Mozilla' before you get too far into reading this.

------
Narkov
Pardon my ignorance, but who is this? I can't find a name anywhere in the
article?!

~~~
edude03
Rand Fishkin according to this article [https://searchengineland.com/rand-
fishkin-announces-new-comp...](https://searchengineland.com/rand-fishkin-
announces-new-company-sparktoro-leaving-moz-company-co-founded-293204)

------
dhruvkar
Any links on how the company started?

I had no inkling of its origins till reading this article.

~~~
Roedou
The company has been around since 1981, but you wouldn't recognize it as the
same company before ~2004.

[https://moz.com/blog/the-history-of-seomoz](https://moz.com/blog/the-history-
of-seomoz)

------
aetherspawn
Moz /= Mozilla was a click bait for me, if I'll be honest.

I know there's nothing that can be done. Tagging [Not Mozilla] would be
stupid.

