About Dmitry Dragilev — Criminally Prolific

— The Exit Playbook, in order

2022–2025

TopicRanker / SERP Gap Analyzer

Acquired by Semrush · Oct 2025

My fourth venture was a direct response to the noise in keyword research. I built and launched it as an app on the Semrush App Center called SERP Gap Analyzer — designed to find easy-to-rank keywords by identifying where competitors were weak. It rapidly became the top-performing app in the entire Semrush App Center, which led to its acquisition by Semrush in October 2025. Semrush was itself acquired by Adobe shortly after.

2021–2023

Smallbiz.Tools

Acquired by Semrush · 2023

I founded my third venture to help entrepreneurs navigate the crowded world of business software. We focused on building a trusted affiliate review site with honest, in-depth reviews — all powered by SEO targeting comparison and alternative keywords, zero paid ads. The site quickly became a go-to resource and was acquired by Semrush in 2023.

2014–2020

JustReachOut

Acquired by SEOJet · 2020, then ChatRank.ai · Jan 2024

I founded JustReachOut to help small businesses handle PR without a PR firm. Over six years I built it into an AI-powered SaaS used by 5,000+ customers including Airbnb and HubSpot. The company was acquired by SEOJet in 2020, then re-acquired by ChatRank.ai in January 2024.

2012–2014

Polar Polls

Acquired by Google · Sept 2014

My journey started as the only marketer on a 5-person team at Polar Polls. I used PR outreach and SEO to grow from zero to 40 million pageviews/month. That growth captured Google's attention, leading to an acquisition in September 2014 — Google's 166th acquisition.

The Getaway Car

How a Soviet Immigrant Said No to Google, Sold Four Companies, and Reclaimed a 3-Hour Workday

Dmitry Dragilev

New Book

The Getaway Car

You're hitting your numbers. You're grinding. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a quiet voice keeps asking: is this actually what I want? This book is for founders who are winning by every metric — and still feel like something is off. A raw account of how one immigrant kid figured out that the only metric worth optimizing for is the life you're actually living.

Writing for the world's top publications since 2009.

I'm a contributor for Forbes, Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, TheNextWeb, Moz, Mashable, WIRED, HuffPost, AListApart, Intuit, and SEMRush. I also founded the ZURBsoapbox speaker series, where I've personally interviewed Tim Ferriss, Neil Patel, Dan Martell, the Winklevoss Twins, and the founders of LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, Dribbble, Eventbrite, Pandora, StackOverflow, and many more.

View press & articles →

Clients & Results

500+ companies ranked #1 on Google.

I've helped market leaders dominate Google and LLMs since 2009 — taking companies from hundreds of visitors to tens of thousands within months.

Dow Jones Realtor.com Nextiva Aura Pipedrive Wistia CultureAmp Backlinko Help Scout HubSpot Airbnb

See case studies →

— Interviews I've Hosted

60+ candid conversations, one soapbox at a time.

Back in 2010 I founded ZURBsoapbox, a monthly speaker series where I sat down with founders, investors and designers for unscripted, hour-long Q&As — no scripts, just a stool and a microphone. Over the years I got to interview Tim Ferriss, Neil Patel, the Winklevoss Twins, and the founders of LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, Stack Overflow, Eventbrite, Pandora, Second Life, Box and dozens more. Here's a look back at a few of my favorites.

Featured Conversation

A Lesson in Self-Promotion with Tim Ferriss

Author, "The 4-Hour Workweek" · Entrepreneur & Investor

Tim's launch order for any startup: marketing & messaging first (find your 1,000 true fans), then conversion, then PR — hitting big outlets before you're ready wastes the one shot most publications give you.
How he built buzz for The 4-Hour Workweek by getting to know 10-15 target bloggers in person at conferences, then mailing them review copies instead of ever pitching them directly.
His zero-tolerance policy on abusive comments, borrowed from "Broken Windows" theory, and why he believes building an online community is the community's job, not the host's.

Read the full recap & transcript →

Neil Patel

Co-founder of NP Digital, Crazy Egg and Ubersuggest — one of the most recognized names in SEO and content marketing. Neil joined me to talk growth, traffic and building an audience from nothing.

Janice

"We like simplicity — things that can be understood in one or two sentences." Cameron Winklevoss, Winklevoss Capital

Read the recap →

The Full ZURBsoapbox Archive

60+ conversations recorded over the years — click any name to listen to the podcast or read the recap on ZURB's site.

Ben Parr · Author, Captivology Rand Fishkin · Moz Amanda Linden · Asana Tina Chen · Slack Katie Dill · Airbnb Brian Balfour · HubSpot Sandi MacPherson · Quibb Guy Kawasaki · Canva Jessica Hische · Letterer & Illustrator Jacob Jaber · Philz Coffee Randy Hunt · Etsy Tim Van Damme · Dropbox Geoff Koops & Mike Towber · Rdio Braden Kowitz · Google Ventures Wesley Yun · Lytro Marissa Louie · Yahoo Jared Spool · UIE Nir Eyal · Author, Hooked Brian Taptich · Bitcasa Brian Wong · Kiip Michelle Dennedy · McAfee Brad Garlinghouse · YouSendIt Howard Lindzon · StockTwits Doug Mack · One Kings Lane Jeff Lawson · Twilio Joe Gebbia · Airbnb Sahil Lavingia · Gumroad Winklevoss Twins · Winklevoss Capital Evan Williams · Twitter Hiten Shah · Kissmetrics Ade Olonoh · Formspring Jeff Atwood · Stack Overflow Robert Scoble · Rackspace Aaron Levie · Box Patrick Byrne · Overstock.com Dave McClure · 500 Startups Ron Conway · Angel Investor Sachin Agarwal · Posterous Matt Mickiewicz · 99designs Kevin Hartz · Eventbrite Kevin Hale · Wufoo Matt Mullenweg · WordPress Philip Rosedale · Second Life Irene Au · Google Julie Zhuo · Facebook Tom Conrad · Pandora Peter Skillman · Palm Konstantin Guericke · LinkedIn Nate Bolt · Bolt \ Peters Luke Wroblewski · Bagcheck Bill Scott · Meebo Alex Faaborg · Firefox Justin Kan · Justin.tv Richard White · UserVoice John Marshall · MarketMotive Dave Sifry · Technorati Luke Wroblewski · Yahoo Bart Decrem · Tapulous Mrinal Desai · CrossLoop

I build businesses that serve my life.

The Getaway Car

Writing for the world's top publications since 2009.

500+ companies ranked #1 on Google.

60+ candid conversations, one soapbox at a time.

A Lesson in Self-Promotion with Tim Ferriss

Neil Patel

Janice

The Full ZURBsoapbox Archive

Let's work together.