How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode features James Cadwallader, co-founder and CEO of Profound, discussing how AI is fundamentally changing the way consumers discover and interact with brands. The conversation explores how companies are losing control of their brand narrative as users shift from Google search to AI platforms like ChatGPT and Anthropic for information discovery. (03:00) James explains that the "front door of the Internet has changed for the first time ever" as people now talk to the Internet through AI rather than simply searching for information. Ilya Fushman from Kleiner Perkins joins to discuss the broader implications of this platform shift and the competitive landscape emerging around AI-native companies.
- Main Theme: The transition from traditional search to conversational AI represents the biggest platform shift in Internet history, creating urgent needs for brands to understand and control their AI visibility
Speakers
James Cadwallader
Co-founder and CEO of Profound, James is a British entrepreneur who started his career trading gold door-to-door in 2009 instead of attending university. He later built and sold Kyra, a B2B software company, before founding Profound to help companies control their presence in AI-powered search and discovery platforms.
Ilya Fushman
Partner at Kleiner Perkins, Ilya is an experienced venture capitalist who has been deeply involved in evaluating and investing in AI-native companies. He brings extensive experience in understanding platform shifts and helping startups navigate competitive markets during technological transitions.
Key Takeaways
Build for AI-Native Architecture from Day One
Companies that integrate AI deeply into their core product architecture have significant advantages over those trying to retrofit existing solutions. (31:58) James emphasized that "LLMs are native to the architecture of our product" and that it's "very hard for companies that existed pre-LLMs to kind of retrofit that technology into deep into their workflows." This represents a fundamental shift where the underlying primitives of software development have changed, requiring companies to rebuild from the ground up rather than simply adding AI features to existing products.
Market Timing Requires Aggressive Execution
When obvious opportunities emerge in technology cycles, success goes to the most aggressive teams willing to move fastest. (02:30) The competitive landscape around AI visibility became intensely crowded as the market opportunity became obvious, with James noting "the prize goes to the most aggressive, basically." This means companies must be prepared to scale internationally, hire rapidly, and execute at unprecedented speeds to capture market share before competitors can catch up.
Consumer Behavior Changes Create Permanent Market Shifts
The shift from Google search to AI platforms for information discovery represents a one-way behavioral change that won't reverse. (40:05) James stated his belief that "this behavior, the consumer behavior...won't walk backwards from here" and that "the adoption of AI as an alternative to search is only going to increase." Companies must recognize this isn't a temporary trend but a fundamental change in how consumers interact with information, requiring long-term strategic adjustments.
Talent Competition Intensifies During Platform Shifts
During major technology transitions, there's a limited pool of experts who understand the new paradigm deeply, creating intense competition for top talent. (33:37) Ilya explained that "building something that works as a performing product in this space time and time again requires people who have been actually immersed in it very deeply. And simply put, the number of those people at the early beginning of every cycle is very small." The best talent often comes from non-standard backgrounds and prioritizes mission and impact over pure compensation.
Brand Control Shifts from Content to AI Perception
Marketing is evolving from creating content for humans to distributing information that AI models can understand and retrieve accurately. (18:59) James described how "you're going to have to become comfortable with this concept of building marketing for machines instead of humans" because "bots don't particularly enjoy storytelling. They don't care about your opening hook. They don't care about the narrative rhythm. They just want the information." This requires a fundamental rethinking of marketing strategies and content creation processes.
Statistics & Facts
- Profound has hired approximately 80-90 employees in less than a year of operation, demonstrating unprecedented scaling velocity for an early-stage startup. (05:58)
- Companies are seeing integer percentage levels of referral traffic starting to come from AI platforms, representing a measurable shift in how consumers discover brands and products. (13:39)
- The team revised their business forecast by 4x between their Series A in January/February and April/May of the same year, indicating explosive market demand. (23:06)
