Post

@randfish.bsky.social raised $29M for Moz and grew it past $50M ARR. By venture math, it was a disappointment. He spent 17 years learning why, then built his next company to break every rule that got him there. Link to full recording in 🧵:

Every founder has heard that venture is wrong for 99% of companies, but you could be the 1%. Rand went looking for the data. Of 1,120 venture-funded companies: → 77% written off as a loss → 20% acquired below 3x → 0.9% became unicorns

Founders raising fear that companies that don't take venture get crushed by companies that do. Moz was beaten by Semrush and Ahrefs. Semrush didn't raise until it passed $60M in revenue, and Ahrefs never raised at all.