Startup Marketing Without VC: Rand Fishkin’s Playbook

Most founders underestimate how expensive “venture-scale growth” really is—not just in dollars, but in optionality.

Rand Fishkin lived the full VC-backed arc at Moz: hypergrowth, a board with unicorn expectations, and the strange limbo of building a real business that still isn’t “good enough” for venture returns. Then he did something that matters for this US Startup Marketing Without VC series: he built SparkToro with a small team, non-VC funding terms, and marketing channels he can actually control.

This post reframes a conversation from Startups For The Rest of Us as a practical case study: how a well-known SaaS founder launches, funds, and grows without relying on venture capital—and what you should copy if you’re building a bootstrapped (or lightly funded) B2B SaaS in the US.

VC growth expectations can break perfectly good SaaS businesses

Venture capital isn’t “bad” in the abstract. It’s just a very specific financial instrument with a very specific requirement: a small number of outcomes must return the entire fund. That forces a strategy where “pretty good” businesses become problems.

Rand describes a scenario that a lot of founders don’t see coming:

• A SaaS company can be profitable, doing tens of millions in revenue, growing ~10% YoY, and serving customers well.
• For many owners, that’s a dream outcome.
• For VC investors, it’s often a frustration: it consumes attention but doesn’t produce unicorn-level returns.

That mismatch creates downstream chaos: pressure to replace leadership, recapitalize, merge with portfolio companies, or attempt risky pivots. Even if you survive, the company culture can get weird fast.

A bootstrapped founder can optimize for sustainability. A VC-backed founder must optimize for an exit size.

If you’re building a US startup without VC, this matters because it reframes your marketing plan. You’re not trying to “win the category” in 18 months. You’re trying to build repeatable acquisition that supports profitability and retention.

SparkToro’s launch is a clean template for non-VC SaaS

Rand and his cofounder Casey launched SparkToro into the worst timing imaginable: early 2020, with COVID disruption, layoffs, and buyers freezing.

Their response is the part to copy. They didn’t pretend the world was normal.

They made the product easier to try when buyers were hesitant

When conversion rates fell and emails started bouncing (Rand saw ~17–18% bounce rate from layoffs), they made a strategic call:

• Increase free-plan generosity so “try it” became a lower-stakes decision.
• Launch anyway because runway and learning mattered more than perfect timing.

For founders marketing without VC, there’s a simple lesson: a strong free experience is a distribution strategy, not a pricing debate.

They didn’t A/B test themselves into paralysis

SparkToro didn’t have massive traffic early, so they avoided long, inconclusive tests. Instead, they made cohesive improvements based on customer input.

This is a useful stance:

• If your tests will take 90 days to resolve, you’ll stop shipping.
• If you’re early-stage, the biggest gains come from obvious fixes: positioning, onboarding, pricing clarity, and better first-use experience.

I’ve found the same thing: before you optimize, you need a baseline that’s not confusing.

The “tripled conversion” moment came from fundamentals, not hacks

By September 2020, SparkToro implemented a package of conversion work (with outside help) and saw conversion rates nearly triple.

They couldn’t attribute it to a single change (no clean A/B), but the ingredients are repeatable:

1) Use customer surveys as your conversion roadmap

They surveyed:

• Their first ~100 customers
• A large set of free users

Then they used the answers to decide what to build next: messaging, pages, onboarding emails, and education.

If you want a practical survey prompt that works, use this set:

1. “What problem were you trying to solve when you signed up?”
2. “What almost stopped you from paying?”
3. “What alternative did you consider?”
4. “What result would make this a must-have?”

Those four questions usually reveal the real positioning.

2) Fix pricing as a positioning move

SparkToro adjusted pricing and packaging (including a stronger annual-plan approach). Two specific tactics worth stealing:

• Default to annual on the pricing page (it nudges commitment without forcing it).
• Offer a clear annual incentive (they used ~30% off).

This isn’t about squeezing users. It’s about matching how B2B buyers behave—budgets, approvals, and “set it and forget it” subscriptions.

3) Improve the “first search” experience

SparkToro is a research product. The first successful use matters more than fancy feature depth.

A lot of B2B SaaS founders market the product before the “aha moment” is obvious. If your time-to-value is long, your marketing has to be heroic. If your time-to-value is short, your marketing can be simple.

A realistic growth model: small team, contractors, and repeatable channels

At the time of the interview, SparkToro was:

• Profitable around $40,000/month
• ~30,000 free users
• 500+ paid subscribers
• Team of two founders, using contractors and agencies

That’s a very “US Startup Marketing Without VC” pattern: a lean core team with specialists on-demand.

Why contractors can be a better incentive model early

Rand makes a point founders don’t say out loud often: agencies are closer to performance-based incentives.

• If an agency doesn’t perform, you end the contract.
• If an employee doesn’t perform, you often coach for months (which is humane, but expensive).

My take: early on, you want speed and focus. Contractors help you buy that without permanent overhead.

A good structure looks like:

• Founders own product direction + customer discovery
• Contractors handle design, UX polish, conversion pages
• A specialist supports data tasks, onboarding flows, or paid acquisition experiments

The biggest marketing shift: stop “renting” your audience

Rand’s most actionable marketing stance is also the most unpopular: SEO and social aren’t as reliable as they used to be.

He points to clear platform incentives:

• Social networks suppress posts with links because they want users to stay on-platform.
• Google answers more queries directly in results (featured snippets, instant answers), reducing click-through.
• Keyword data disappeared years ago, making organic optimization less transparent.

So what’s the alternative?

Build an owned hub: website + email

Rand centers growth on:

• Blog content hosted on his own site
• Email lists from free users and subscribers
• Onboarding and educational sequences

Social becomes the distribution layer, not the foundation.

Here’s a simple weekly cadence that works for bootstrapped SaaS:

• 1 helpful piece on your site (a tutorial, teardown, or benchmark)
• 3–4 social posts that build “engagement streaks” (insight posts with no links)
• 1 link post that drives back to your owned content
• 1 email to your list summarizing what changed, what shipped, or what you learned

If you do nothing else, do this. It compounds.

Podcasting as a high-leverage channel (when you do it right)

SparkToro benefited from podcast marketing in a way many founders miss:

• Don’t pitch cold.
• Use audience research to find shows connected to your buyers.
• Ask for warm intros from mutual connections.

This is where tools like SparkToro (or even manual research) matter: you’re not trying to “get on podcasts.” You’re trying to get on the right podcasts.

“People also ask”: common founder questions, answered

Do I need VC to grow a B2B SaaS in the US?

No. If your market isn’t winner-take-all, profitability beats fundraising. A small round from aligned angels can fund product and early marketing without forcing unicorn economics.

Should I focus on SEO if I’m marketing without VC?

Yes, but don’t make it your only pillar. SEO still works, but it’s less generous than it was. Treat it as one channel inside an owned-audience strategy.

When should I start conversion optimization?

Once you have steady traffic and you understand your buyer. Early on, prioritize clear positioning and a fast time-to-value. Testing too early can waste months.

What to do next if you’re building without VC

Most companies get this wrong: they copy venture-backed playbooks (hire too early, spend too early, chase vanity metrics) while not having venture-backed risk tolerance.

A better approach is simpler:

1. Choose funding that matches your desired outcome (profitability is a valid outcome).
2. Build an owned channel (email + website) so platforms can’t rug-pull you.
3. Use customer research to drive conversion improvements.
4. Treat contractors as force multipliers, not as a last resort.

If you’re following this US Startup Marketing Without VC series, the point isn’t to avoid investors forever. It’s to avoid the kind of capital that forces you into strategies you don’t actually want.

What would your marketing look like if your only goal was to become sustainably profitable—without betting the company on a single channel?