Ethan Smith is the CEO of Graphitethe leading SEO growth agencyand my go-to expert on SEO. After 18 years of mastering traditional SEO, Ethan has been at the forefront of what is called AEO: answer engine optimization, or, more simply, getting your product to show up in ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini/Perplexity answers. He's discovered that ChatGPT traffic converts six times better than Google searchand most companies are completely missing this opportunity.
To sell or not to sell. That's the major dilemma founders around the world face: Once they've started to get big enough to attract the attention of buyers, they face the decision of whether to cash out now, or use the compliment as fuel to go even bigger. While it may seem like a no-brainer to say yes to an acquisition to the tune of millions-or even billions-it can be hard to later rest easy thinking about how much more you could have made independently.
Startups often make the mistake of hiring a growth team far too soon, said Meta's chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz. Schultz, speaking on an episode of the "Twenty Minute VC" podcast published Saturday, said that founders often rush to delegate growth when it should be their top priority. At companies with only a few hundred employees, the entire team should be focused on driving growth - not a specialized unit.
After three decades in capital markets and entrepreneurial ventures, I've learned one hard truth: Most founders wait too long to think about their exit. They're focused on growing the business, product-market fit, hiring the right people or raising their next round, and understandably so. But here's the reality: The companies that scale, endure and lead are the ones built with the end in mind.
GAIA is transforming the legal industry through AI, streamlining legal work, and supporting legal professionals in achieving enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.
Melamud stated, "In my 16 years of investing, I had never come across such an enormous TAM (total addressable market) of greenfield opportunity," highlighting the potential for growth in unmanaged travel bookings.
Entrepreneurs chasing rapid growth often pour energy into product-market fit, scaling strategies, and fundraising. But there's an unspoken truth in the digital age: None of that matters if your marketing talent can't match the speed of your ambition.
In May 2023, Olympia, an AI-powered assistant service for solopreneurs, began with a minimal viable product (MVP) aimed at supporting small teams without large marketing budgets.
Technology must align with customer needs, serving as an enabler for business objectives. A product-led approach prevents the creation of solutions that may be technically impressive but commercially irrelevant.
After nearly three years as CEO of Donkey Republic, I have decided to step down. This has been my own decision, and earlier this year, I began a constructive dialogue with the Chairperson of the Board to plan a smooth transition.
Anysphere, maker of AI coding assistant Cursor, is growing so quickly, it's not in the market to be sold, even to OpenAI, a source close to the company tells TechCrunch.