Financial issues are often difficult to address, but they are especially difficult when the issues are negative. For this reason, many businesses and startups keep this information very private. Rand Fishkin, the CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz, however, does not fit into this “typical” pattern. He believes in total transparency, which is being open with the bad as well as the good.

Fishkin spoke with WebProNews and told us about his experience with almost raising $24 million in investment capital. The investment firm the company was working with backed out of the agreement just days before the money was supposed to be deposited into SEOmoz’s account.

Because SEOmoz has always strived to be a transparent company, Fishkin openly blogged about their VC experience. He told us that he hoped other startups and entrepreneurs would read it and learn from it.