Ross Hudgens is the founder and CEO of Siege Media, a content-led SEO agency he built from a one-person freelance operation in 2012 into a 100-person, Inc. 5000 honoree (six consecutive years) backed by private equity at an eight-figure valuation. A Chapman University marketing graduate, he cut his teeth as the first employee at Single Grain before going solo after Google's Penguin update reshaped the industry. Today he advises brands like Zapier, Casper, and Airbnb on organic growth, co-created the GrowthComet agency training course, angel-invested in SparkToro, and in 2026 published 'Generative Engine Optimization: The Definitive Guide to AI SEO' with Wiley — cementing his position at the forefront of AI-era search strategy.
Amanda Natividad is VP of Marketing and Chief Evangelist at SparkToro, the audience research platform co-founded by Rand Fishkin. She coined the term 'zero-click content' — the practice of creating platform-native content that delivers full value without requiring a click — and turned it into a framework, a podcast, a consultancy, and a forthcoming book. A trained chef and former tech journalist before she was ever a marketer, Amanda brings a rare blend of narrative discipline, culinary generosity, and data-driven rigor to a field that often settles for one of the three. Her newsletter 'The Menu' reaches 16,000+ subscribers and was named by Forbes among the top marketing newsletters. She has 200,000+ combined social followers and has guest lectured at Columbia Business School, Cornell, Stanford, and the University of Washington.
Rand Fishkin is the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, an audience research platform that helps marketers understand where their audiences spend time online. Previously, he built Moz into the world's leading SEO software company before stepping down as CEO in 2014 after a public battle with depression. Author of 'Lost and Founder' (Penguin/Random House, 2018), he is known for radical transparency about the messy reality of startup life, pioneering the Whiteboard Friday video series, and championing a 'chill work' philosophy that rejects hustle culture in favor of sustainable, sub-30-hour work weeks.