Ask Me Anything with
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
17 Dec 2024 9:00 AM MST
VP of SEO & Content at Turn/River Capital for a set of portfolio companies in the B2B SaaS space with a "friendly but persistent" personality in getting projects done. My industry interests converge on public speaking, AI, ranking factor studies, and running a local SEO meet-up association (BayAreaSearch.org).
Noah
12/17/2024, 8:59:42 AM
@channel Let’s Go!
Welcome to our inaugural AMA that we’re doing in this channel so the entire community can take part.
We are so lucky to be joined today by @Micah Fisher-Kirshner who has graciously offered to answer your questions for the next 60 minutes. If we’re lucky, he might answer some throughout the day.
Micah is the VP of SEO & Content at Turn/River Capital for a set of portfolio companies in the B2B SaaS space with a “friendly but persistent” personality in getting projects done. His industry interests converge on public speaking, AI, ranking factor studies, and running a local SEO meet-up association (
BayAreaSearch.org).
He can help us all get a little smarter about most things SEO including any of these in conjunction with:
• SEO
• AI
• B2B SaaS
• working in a PE (private Equity or Venture Capital) firm
• Building up your career.
:alert: Keep all question in one THREAD!!!
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:01:21 AM
Hi all and thanks for having me!
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:01:25 AM
Alright, I’ll get us started. What the heck is it like working inside a PE company? How is it unique? What is the work like day to day?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:04:43 AM
@Noah - Straight into it!
It's quite unique TBH. I've called noted it as a mix between being in-house and being in an agency. Almost like an internal consultant in some ways as well.
My day to day is about how I can implement best practices across similar industry companies (B2B SaaS) that I have seen work in one area to another. Ideally less granular fixes and more across the portfolio company changes.
So, more about the best practices of how to implement internal linking, Title Tags, content workflow processes, etc.
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:05:36 AM
rad. How the heck does one get a job like that?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:05:49 AM
What I love about it is that I can work in areas that lead to revenue improvements as well as process efficiencies (where I've historically found one or the other in-house or agency roles discourage it).
Richard Gargan
12/17/2024, 9:06:00 AM
When you guys buy an existing SaaS company, what kind of content do you focus on scaling/improving first and why?
Bottom of the funnel “product vs competitor” pages, top of the funnel content like an industry glossary, or something else?
Paul Skirbe
12/17/2024, 9:07:42 AM
Hey Micah - I'm curious what you would attack first with a new saas product that hasn't yet validated its product-market fit. would even start with SEO? or would you recommend waiting until X is first in place.
Dylan Jones
12/17/2024, 9:07:43 AM
What do you think will be the next advancement in AI that will impact the SEO industry in a big way?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:08:44 AM
@Noah - Experience and a whole lot of luck. There's nearly no other roles like it.
Most PE firms are very cost or financial oriented when it comes to their core competence. Turn/River is an exception where it's focused on growth optimization; we have marketing, sales, and customer service experts who, upon the purchase of the companies, go in and work to improve the companies internal operations as a result. I wouldn't be able to have this job if it wasn't for that fact of how Turn/River is focused.
So, what got me there was SEO experience, speaking at a conference (where the person who hired me saw me at - MarTech), a realization of what PE has in opportunity to take the risk, and an ability to think about how to scale horizontally (instead of vertically in size).
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:09:54 AM
@Richard Gargan - Definitely BOFU is the main focus of what I look for starting at (product/comparison pages), however, the need for unlocking growth is also key --> basically means I look to see if there's any technical issues that can block growth in the areas I need to push for the company to grow their SEO.
James Wirth
12/17/2024, 9:10:08 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner: what has been the response from PE firms re: GenAI? Build it in as fast as possible? Stay the course and wait for some dust to settle? In between?
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:10:29 AM
that’s rad. So talking about embedding SEO into PE at a conference might lead to something? :thinking_face:
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:10:29 AM
I still look to see what else needs to be done, but it's prioritized on the "bang for the buck" and resources available.
Natasha Post
12/17/2024, 9:11:33 AM
What was your first speaking engagement for SEO and how did you land the gig?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:11:35 AM
@Paul Skirbe - Ooh, so a point I should make is that we generally focus on companies that are already growing at 10MM+ and have a decent product already. Think of it as companies that are growing despite not having the best internal processes.
Paul Skirbe
12/17/2024, 9:12:13 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner totally makes sense.
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:12:23 AM
@Natasha Post, did you see that @Micah Fisher-Kirshner also founded BaySearch? I’ve always to speak at / attend that.
JL Faverio
12/17/2024, 9:12:42 AM
hey dude, what are 3 free or paid tools you use in your workflow on a daily basis?
Natasha Post
12/17/2024, 9:12:52 AM
@Noah that is epic!
John O'Hanlan
12/17/2024, 9:13:12 AM
When writing blog content for B2B SaaS, what % of the content do you believe should be primarily focused on product-led content (where the software) is the solution? Kind like how Semrush does it.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:14:11 AM
@Noah @Natasha Post - Yes, the value of speaking at a conference can happen! I definitely recommend trying that out when you can.
I first started in the agency world speaking at SMX Nanjing (yes, in China), as I was having a vacation there anyway and timed it so I could get permission to speak without the agency having to spend a lot of money to send me there. Win-Win so to speak. Leveraged that to then speak at other conferences in the US thereafter.
Claudia
12/17/2024, 9:14:25 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner i had a decent size client that was bought out by PE and they moved away from using me. The majority of the marketing team left and I can't seem to get a meeting to discuss the services. Any suggestions? Or is it a loss cause. I work with another PE company...i know the game.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:18:26 AM
@Dylan Jones @James Wirth - I can't speak for all PE firms, but generally the view is about taking the best practices we have and doing the same thing elsewhere. So, GenAI is just as disruptive with PE firms than any other business IMHO because many of our processes were created without the benefit of GenAI in the first place.
I'm a big fan of it, within the right reasons/areas, and expect a lot of big value to come once it's easy enough to use in an agentic/assistant way (the latest ChatGPT Projects is _very_ close to that, but not automatically there quite yet). The minute I can have GDocs/MWord/etc/ connected to ChatGPT (non-trained versions) and ChatGPT knows everything up to date that I or others can ask, it'll make notes/tasks/project updates so much easier to ask about.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:19:52 AM
Personally, I can't wait to have all my notes or home documents uploaded and having a record in one place to remind me or let me know if something needs to be fixed/replaced/maintained... but I'm not uploading my notes to do that manually everytime ????
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:21:12 AM
So you like Star Trek. What’s the best movie? Wrath of Khan?
Richard Gargan
12/17/2024, 9:21:17 AM
Do you actively do email outreach to reporters in an industry niche for PR? eg to promote a study. Or emails to other relevant SaaS company content marketers?
Garrett French
12/17/2024, 9:21:40 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner hey! thanks for doing this! I'm curious about how/if you're enabling founder-led thought leadership/community engagement!!! (I invest in Louisville, KY startups and I always always love to see when my founders are active in their industries, speaking etc... CURIOUS if you've found a way to manage/engage your founders in this way at scale)
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:21:43 AM
@JL Faverio -
1. SEORadar (so much a time saver on watching for when mistakes are made with changes on a website)
2. Clearscope for content optimization wrt SEO (less "HiPPO" of an SEO to content team and more Google SERPs oriented)
3. ChatGPT Teams version - personally love the API for building products in-house, but that's more dev oriented version one-off work
Boyd Norwood
12/17/2024, 9:22:11 AM
How long have you been involved with running BayAreaSearch and what are 2-3 things of value you've gained from running a local SEO meetup?
Gyi Tsakalakis
12/17/2024, 9:24:01 AM
How does PE think about brand in the context of SEO?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:24:59 AM
@Claudia - Yeah, most PE firms have a network of people/agencies they already use, so they'll often swap the groups out rather than work with what's there. (We generally prefer to work with the people alreayd in a company than replace unless it's super duplicative/pointless).
If you're able, find the people within the PE firm you can reach out to directly on that team - usually it's some Growth person that will be making the decisions. If you reach out to the "head office" so to speak, you'll have better luck.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:26:00 AM
@Noah - Star Trek: First Contact was my favorite movie. Used to be TNG for hte TV shows (Picard fan), but now it's definitely Lower Decks (hence the pic with the USS Cerritos & my name).
Natasha Post
12/17/2024, 9:27:29 AM
What are your top must-have SEO extensions for your browser?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:28:23 AM
@Richard Gargan - Not normally because I'm usually working with companies that need basic marketing help knowing how to do SEO properly. So, the quickest wins is usually on-site fixes and processes. Essentially Technical SEO and Content production/optimization.
Only if we hold a company for a number of years do we begin looking at more creative solutions with off-site work such as PR, viral tactics, etc. Though, that may change TBH with SearchGPT & AIOs now...
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:29:01 AM
What 3d printer do you use? And what ones would you buy for a good, better, best, ultimate levels? How pricey are they? How long does it take for them to run?
Answer any / none of the above.
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:29:35 AM
> Only if we hold a company for a number of years do we begin looking at more creative solutions with off-site work such as PR, viral tactics, etc. Though, that may change TBH with SearchGPT & AIOs now...
This is super interesting to me. I’m surprised that Digital PR isn’t more of a parallel early strategy to build up the brand.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:32:13 AM
@Boyd Norwood - Since... 2016 I think? Things get fuzzy pre-Covid ???? When I was Head of SEO at Zendesk.
To me it's getting more confident at running something versus being behind the scenes. I'm still shy/uncertain about many of things regardless, but just a little less so!
Definitely far more appreciation of people like @Noah and other organizers of events, meet-ups, etc. because I totally get how much work and personal initiative it is to do these things. SOOOOO much respect for those that have been able to build and take it to the next level. It's fracking hard.
John O'Hanlan
12/17/2024, 9:32:23 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner - I think you missed my question. All good ????
JL Faverio
12/17/2024, 9:33:52 AM
do you or your company ever touch client websites? if so, what's one of the biggest pain points for you and/or the client?
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:34:29 AM
@John O'Hanlan This is an AMA not an Answer Your anything! HAHAHHAHA.
Richard Gargan
12/17/2024, 9:35:24 AM
Thanks for all these responses :))
Any thoughts or opinions on G2, Capterra, Gartner etc losing so much traffic?
Paul Skirbe
12/17/2024, 9:35:32 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner sounds like a plumb job. Fixes technical issues all day.
Paul Skirbe
12/17/2024, 9:35:36 AM
????
Paul Skirbe
12/17/2024, 9:38:17 AM
Do you see a difference in content strategy working between a enterprise-driven saas model vs. a self-assist, mid-market model?
When you were at Zendesk, did you see a the product-led or "land and expand model" working and how did you support with SEO?
Heyzed
12/17/2024, 9:38:19 AM
So what is the best way to learn seo and content as a beginner.
And how can we leverage Ai in our day to day activities as a Content and seo professional @Micah Fisher-Kirshner
Boyd Norwood
12/17/2024, 9:39:17 AM
> Definitely far more appreciation of people like @Noah and other organizers of events, meet-ups, etc. because I totally get how much work and personal initiative it is to do these things. SOOOOO much respect for those that have been able to build and take it to the next level. It's fracking hard.
Some guys who used to run a meetup in Salt Lake City have told me that it is a labor of love for sure. It definitely looks like it takes a lot of time behind the scenes to make sure the 2-3 hour event goes well.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:39:29 AM
@John O'Hanlan @Gyi Tsakalakis - Just seeing where I can merge some questions together to answer. I'm flagging them as "remind me to answer" with Slack's function. ????
Most of our focus is very weekly (versus say a Quarterly view) that most VC companies tend to work on. So we think how we can move things on a weekly basis with metrics or the metrics before the metrics. Then step back out every quarter to see where things are.
I say this as it's naturally harder to directly care/focus on brand because it's harder to measure, but generally we don't want to change brand names or do migrations because that's very disruptive and risky, plus it's not our core competence on the whole. I still track with SEO (though need to do more again with the advent of SearchGPT related things), but unless it's Home page, pricing, contact, demo pages.... generally less so unless I notice a large number of leads dropping on brand type pages.
As for the % of content between software as the oslution versus elsewhere... I don't have a set number in mind, but I do like to make sure we're targeting known search volume/what people are interested in as my primary SEO focus. If the team wants or still does software related topics, then I have them keep that too, but need to include targeting the content where the competitors are as well. Want to leave no gaps between us and our competitors in the end.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:41:26 AM
@Natasha Post - I'm not the biggest extension person TBH. I like simple ones such as LinkResearchTools (LinkRedirectTrace) and a screenshot tool. I try to keep myself not distracted by too many things in my browser bar #tabzero
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:42:26 AM
> Some guys who used to run a meetup in Salt Lake City have told me that it is a labor of love for sure. It definitely looks like it takes a lot of time behind the scenes to make sure the 2-3 hour event goes well.
Our Boardwalk Bash took a combined 100+ hours to pull off. lots of meetings, emails, conversations, research, list management, recruiting volunteers, sponsor discussions…..
Natasha Post
12/17/2024, 9:43:42 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner Top three books you would recommend. Can be on anything.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:45:03 AM
@Garrett French - There are folks in the company that have done various founder-led or women-led initiatives and I know we try to work with various major cities to build an HQ if there isn't one already.
Our investment team is more attuned to working with foudners, early stage folks, etc. than I am on the operations side TBH. We have also at times hosted webinars or invited a few folks to our internal conferences to give them a sense of what they can build toward (and of course showcase how we're unique/special for future working relationships).
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:46:06 AM
And, if the founders are SUPER good, we've even hired them to work internally at T/R as well. Rare, but it does happen. More often we see if we can pull them (or other amazing workers in past portfolio companies) in into new portfolio companies at a later point (usually with a higher title).
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:46:24 AM
great job with the questions all. @Micah Fisher-Kirshner you are so fast. Are you dictating? I know I would be.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:46:52 AM
@Noah - nah, grew up in the SIlicon Valley, been typing away fast since I was in Jr. High? ????
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:47:02 AM
(read: nerd)
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:47:56 AM
are you bullish on solving for search for the next 3, 5 years?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:51:28 AM
@JL Faverio - I try very hard not to have to log-in and make the changes myself. I mean, I will if I have to, but often I will assign that to the website owner (dev, marketer, content person, etc.)
Biggest pain these days is:
• Cookie Management (2024 is the year I learned to hate Cookies)
• GA4 (need I explain that?!)
• Having to double-check people's work on their implementation (you can only build so many recs/best practices before a better idiot comes along), but honestly always a learning on how I can be better at communicating
After that it's the usual prioritization/bandwidth issues. Though fortunately TR has a way to align the teams internally on this so it gets done better, but it usually takes awhile to get that going.
James Wirth
12/17/2024, 9:51:53 AM
With a weekly goal/measurement loop, how are you measuring success since some actions would likely take longer than that week to see any outputs/outcomes. Does the measurement of that weekly 'sprint' focus more on whether they inputs were made? And then measure the outcomes over time? What does that weekly cycle look like?
Garrett French
12/17/2024, 9:54:12 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner ah! so I should be pitching my founders to your investors then ???? JK - that all makes sense THANK YOU for the perspective!
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:54:50 AM
@Richard Gargan - Fun fact. I told/warned Kevin Indig about his role back then on how it was very likely Google was going to "Panda" the software review space in due time.
I'm kinda sad by it because it partially gives me nightmares (I used to work in Comparison Shopping at
Become.com so I know what it was like), but also get it.
I personally believe that marketplaces shouldn't be offering their own product in lieu of competitors that grow up around it, or at least have a competitive ability in whatever tools they build to pull it up. But... that's not the world we live in. Nonetheless, it was only a matter of time as they don't hold themselves to a solid quality level over time (and the usual caveat of never put all your business into one channel).
Ryan Mendenhall
12/17/2024, 9:56:37 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner My fav ST has def been TNG, but haven't seem much of the later stuff, aside from movies. Is Lower Decks the one with the Thermians?
My Q before this gets wrapped up (thanks for all your answers so far, been really interesting), is this:
When I was at Disney Parks & Resorts Online, were were essentially an internal agency, so I had internal bosses and external stakeholder "bosses", really like clients.
Does your role have the same dynamics?
It seems like you're ultimately answerable to the PE firm, since the "clients" can't fire you (since you've purchased them). Or do you feel like you're really working for the SaaS companies? Or more of a consultant?
Ryan Mendenhall
12/17/2024, 9:57:32 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner I know we'll talk more about this too, but give us the top 3 ways you're using automation or AI to step it your SEO game.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:58:31 AM
@Noah - I've used AnyCubic for both PLA and for Resin 3d printing, 4MAX and Photon Mono SE
I used those because it was cheap and a way to push myself from buildling my own PC to trying new things. But it was tough and recommend having folks helping you along! it's sitll not user-friendlhy.
I'm excited to see what Bambu keeps doing... they're interesting though.
Honestly, prices range between $200-$1,000. Go with your budget and how much time you're willing to invest. My suggstion is to find how it can help supplement a hobby so it doesn't because another dusting desk thing. I used it for 3d printing inserts for board games as my way to help supplement my board gaming hobby.
PLA (plastic) = 5-30 hours dpeending on the size
Resin = 1-5 hours
Resin is fsater but more brittle.
Noah
12/17/2024, 9:59:25 AM
wild.
Noah
12/17/2024, 10:00:07 AM
Hey all Thanks for a great AMA! @Micah Fisher-Kirshner you are amazing. AMAs like this will be held weekly in the Campfire and we’ll occasionally run them in the main community too.
We’ll be running our next AMA the first week in January and our Guest will be announced later this week.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 10:00:18 AM
@Paul Skirbe - ahaha, we've used that phrase internally at TR as a joke in fact! We really do act as plumbers to figure out what is going wrong. We "walk the mile" and treat everything as a funnel.
We almost never believe that leads/revenue drops are "seasonality" it's more often that someone stopped doing something or broke some small but very impt thing. Outside of obvious holidays of course.
Garrett French
12/17/2024, 10:00:36 AM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner we got a 3d printer for xmas - I'm egregiously non technical and terrified! YAY! how have you stayed engaged with it? Also - what genres of board games are your favorites? what are your tops in those categories?
Victor M Pan
12/17/2024, 10:00:46 AM
Heyyy looks like I missed a lot here b/c of a conflicting meeting, but....
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 10:01:06 AM
I'll still be answering questions today, just not as fast ???? So feel free to ask away @Victor M Pan
Noah
12/17/2024, 10:03:25 AM
Can we get little applause for @Micah Fisher-Kirshner?
Claudia
12/17/2024, 10:03:37 AM
????
Noah
12/17/2024, 10:03:43 AM
applause
Ryan Mendenhall
12/17/2024, 10:04:31 AM
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 10:09:24 AM
@Ryan Mendenhall - Yes. Basically something we have to be careful about on the TR side: The portfolio company folks having two bosses so to speak and creating conflicting priorities/asks/goals.
We work to make sure that doesn't happen and I personally tell all the SEOs/folks I work with that their boss in the portfolio is priority over me in times of conflict.
I try to make sure that any conflicts are rolled up the TR chain and then aligned back down so the portfolio people aren't additionally stressed / confused.
We like to have it as a "velvet glove" kind of approach. We have the power to remove folks, but we don't want to do that as usually people know their business and it's easier to work with them than find new people.
Garrett French
12/17/2024, 10:10:03 AM
Mika Lepistö
12/17/2024, 10:21:31 AM
Also late, cause time zone and sleeep! Yay, but @Micah Fisher-Kirshner I really want to know:
1. does SEO potential play into the acquisition process when your firm is looking at acquisitions - are you involved there?
2. I know the score is like 327-1 (and only because you timed out that once) but do I at least occasionally give you any headaches chasing down the king in chess? Aka am I getting any better?
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 10:32:03 AM
@Heyzed - I'm so far removed from beginner SEO these days, but my general rec has been:
•
Moz.com's learn section on SEO is a good start to read about the various areas
• Join in the SEO Slack groups (this and others) to learn from more advanced folks
• Follow the right SEO experts on social (was Twitter, not sure now), but avoid the salesy/pitchy ones (avoid the scams/hype folks basically) until you can find the gems in their talks
• Go to SEO conferences and network
• Use AI to modify your processes - I've often switched from using Google to ask my question to ChatGPT. It's good enough for specific areas that don't require hard facts.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 10:34:41 AM
@Natasha Post - Surprisingly, the good books are the ones that have been made into really good TV shows!
• The Expanse
• Silo
• The Foundation
I'm a bit biased toward Sci-Fi... ????
Natasha Post
12/17/2024, 12:21:21 PM
@Micah Fisher-Kirshner I hear you. I don't read as much Sci-Fi as I used to, but loving The Ark and The Beacon. Thanks for the insight!
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 2:16:53 PM
@Paul Skirbe - Very much so with the content strategy. Enterprise is so very politics oriented and low search volume that the things you can do is usually more limited. I feel like there's more fun/opps with mid-market/self-assist models. Enjoy them more, because you can target both ends of the market whereas it's much harder to justify an enterprise-driven one to target "free" or "open-source" areas.
That said, the product-led kinds are fun in of itself when you get to work on them (like I did at Zendesk) even at the enterprise level. I worked with the teams to figure out what the likely new category would be called and figure out what the search terms would be (was wrong, but it was fun trying). And when we bought new companies to expand our business how the internal linking/navigation/product lines should be built from a website architecture.
Still the most fun was when the brand design changed. It was an amazing experience to see a fun/good brand team work their magic at Zendesk.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 3:12:52 PM
@Noah
*Re: Digital PR*
Most of them are already brands (within their niche), that's why it's less of a focus/strategy for me. Essentially good brands/products already, just focused on fixing their processes/internal work.
*Re: Solving for search within 3-5 years*
Ooomph, such chaotic times that I'm not quite sure yet. I feel like what we call 'Search' may really evolve to being (insert whatever name you want to call it) split among the work with do for "search engines" and "GPT services." There's a very large overlap with traditional SEO that I think we'll get to expand beyond just search engines/Google to more 'organic' areas (and more than what we claim we do but really don't).
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 4:28:28 PM
@Garrett French - Nice! Feel free to ask us around here if you hit any stumbling blocks. Been through the ropes enough to have some clues or tips of where to look (beyond ChatGPT stuff).
For myself, well, admittedly I've been on a creative block as of late. But I stayed on it by trying out different 3d printing (went from PLA to Resin) and then pushing myself to do 3d designing. Trying to go to painting miniatures... but not sure why I haven't been able to yet? Thinking of either going back or doing some wood ones (cutters or wood PLA).
Board game genres:
• Ameritrash types like *Galaxy Trucker* in particular - love the randomness that can happen, just like *Chaos in the Old World*
• War games like *Star Trek Ascendancy* (even my Star Wars friends enjoy it, it's a good fighting game. Not as long as *Twilight Imperium* and not as time-consuming. I'm hoping that the upcoming Stellaris board game will have the similar feel
• Other odds and ends of games like Suburbia, Small World, Sentinels of the Multiverse
Even did a presentation theme on it for TechSEOBoost:
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/ranking-factors-going-causal-regressions-machine-learning-and-neural-networks/204971155
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 4:35:21 PM
@James Wirth - Great questions. Basically I try to look at up-funnel to metrics before the metrics (or micro-metrics even) that likely indicate the numbers will go up in the way we have seen correlated historically/elsewhere.
As an example, if my end goal is pipeline generated, then I try to break it down into Clicks or Rankings for specific page groups as an up-funnel metric.
Weekly sprints are more on inputs/tasks/project progress toward the overall goal of the quarter, while still making sure that the numbers are generally trending on a rolling average in a good direction (to avoid low number issues).
We meet each week and align our goals across the market team with the main stakeholders and the head of marketing (TR and portco) so that they're aware and can make sure the team isn't going off-track on bigger projects (while still allowing for small things).
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 7:59:39 PM
@Ryan Mendenhall on AI and automation:
Been testing content generation with AI (additional, not replacement), now preparing toward testing multi assistant genAI content.
I18n testing where any English page can be translated into another language with proper context given in advance and QA
Sanity check my SEO work and processes to make sure I'm not forgetting anything when I make recommendations.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 8:01:23 PM
@Natasha Post oh I had forgotten about Beacon 23! That was an okay one tbh... Really wish they eventually get to some David Brin series...
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 8:10:48 PM
@Mika Lepistö
Acquisitions: Yes! When needed, our investment teams will come to me about whether there is an SEO opp for companies to buy. It's a multistage process (simple to complex) depending on how early on it is for maybe buying the companies, including at some point, what the likely lead generation lift will be.
Chess: There's been a few situations where I need to consider whether to push my luck with unsound moves where I know if you mess up I will win versus a safe but certain draw. Mostly I've had to remind myself not to get cocky or I will lose and it's getting harder to play less sound openings against you. When you see me stop playing 1. e4, then you'll know you've nicely improved.
Micah Fisher-Kirshner
12/17/2024, 9:02:59 PM
I think that's all the questions. If I've missed any or didn't answer it completely, feel free to slack me directly! Happy to chat more.
Mika Lepistö
12/17/2024, 9:09:08 PM
Thanks for the AMA @Micah Fisher-Kirshner! I know those I made a mistake moments all too well. I'll be watching for that hint ????