Brendan Hufford

Director of SEO

Growth Sprints

We Help Take SaaS Companies From $10M to $100M ARR. Using our SaaS Growth Sprint Framework, we help Saas companies increase revenue from Google through short, focused marketing sprints.

Founder

ALL IN (allinhouse.co)

The #1 community for career-focused in house SaaS marketers.

Founder & Community Lead

Growing Up

A weekly SaaS marketing newsletter curing CMO FOMO for current and future marketing leaders.

Navattic

Advisor

SEO for the Rest of Us

Banzai

Strategic Advisor

Copy.ai

Adobe

This diverse group includes top executives, industry experts, major media correspondents, contributing journalists and pioneers in technology.

Adobe Insider

SparkToro

Interim Head of Marketing

The Blueprint Training

Head of Agency Coaching

Exploring how SaaS companies *actually* get customers

Getting results via my 4-part SaaS growth framework is what I do.

Having led and scaled growth teams at two agencies, most of the clients I worked with didn’t want (or need) 6-12 month marketing engagements. I knew there was a better way, so I created this service.

My best clients could be incredibly successful if only they just had a little help guiding them along the path of making sure they had a strong website and were perfectly positioned to rank in Google.

It’s why so many of them double, or even triple leads and MQLs after working together:

📈  +2,750% MQLs for ETL Software company

📈  Launched content marketing campaign that brought in 100k site visitors, 1,000 new backlinks and  $130,000 in monthly traffic value for Cloud Operations software company

📈  Led strategy for a multi-pronged SEO and content marketing campaign for an established software company resulting in +100% website traffic in only 3 months.

Sam Altman just asked for enough money to buy Japan.
He wants...

$7 trillion (more than Japan's GDP).

The biggest financial ask in human history.

And we don't even know... why?

Here's what's breaking my brain:

Kennedy's moon money? Gotta beat the Soviets.

The Manhattan Project? End the war.

Bank bailouts in '08? Prevent collapse.

$7 trillion. For what enemy? What crisis? What future are we building?

"AGI will change everything."

Cool story, bro. Change it how? For who?

And when Altman gets pressed on it in interviews?

He defends it with the arrogance of a Gringotts goblin.

This is me handing my kid 13 bucks for allowance and him holding out his other hand for 7,000.

Stone-faced. Like it’s normal.

Also a 13X multiple (Google is only 6x).

But we're not united around... anything.

Not a mission. Not a villain. Not even a clear promise.

Apple said "1,000 songs in your pocket."

Google said "organize the world's information."

OpenAI says "give us $7 trillion or get left behind."

Venture capital fanfiction.

At this scale, real marketing HAS to do one thing: unite us.

⚡️

PS - What's the Content IP (named problem) for OpenAI?

I genuinely can't think of it without drifting into Theranos/WeWork/FTX territory.

For those of us bad at math (me), 7 trillions would end world hunger for the next 175 years.

So the problem's gotta be bigger than that?

SaaS Marketing - Content, AEO & SEO | Newsletter: How SaaS companies *actually* get customers

Middle school. Elementary. Preschool. 4 kids. 3 schools. 1 dad slowly losing his mind.

7:42am - Drop off oldest at middle school. He forgot his project. Again.

8:20am - Preschool drop-off. Different school. Different side of town. "Dad, you're going the wrong way."

8:46am - Elementary. Third school. Third parking lot. Third sign-in process. I've written the wrong kid's name twice this week.

9:23am - Finally at my desk. Call in 7 minutes. Would've loved more prep time.

Here's what you see on LinkedIn:

Me at conferences. Speaking on stages. "SaaS marketing" in my bio.

48K followers watching me share frameworks and hot takes.

What you don't see:

My wife, Liz, does the above routine 99.999% of the time.

Liz handling the 12:30pm classroom party I didn't even know existed.

Liz managing three different school calendars while I'm "building my brand."

The 47 text messages she sends daily coordinating our chaos while I worry about clients.

Last week at Adobe Max, someone said: "Must be nice having that flexibility."

I laughed.

Because at that exact moment, Liz was simultaneously:

- At a parent-teacher conference
- Coordinating tomorrow's early dismissal  
- Explaining to our 5-year-old why dad's in LA again

Behind every thought leader is someone actually leading the thoughts at home.

I talk about work-life balance.

While my partner actually creates it.

Perspective is a hell of a drug.

Bad news: I don't have a framework for this.

Just a partner who makes my "flexibility" possible.

Who never gets the credit she deserves.

Who somehow makes three schools, four boys, and one chaotic business look manageable.

While I get the LinkedIn likes for talking about it.

⚡️

PS - Liz doesn't have LinkedIn. Probably because she's too busy actually running things while I'm here talking about running things. If you see her, tell her she's the real MVP. She already knows, but still.

I turned down 3 clients last month. Not because I don't need the revenue (I do).

But because they failed my 3-question test.

(note: your entire marketing team should also know the answers to these - make sure they do)

Here's the framework that saves me (and clients) from checkbox marketing doom every single time:

1. Do you know your ICP?

What did they do at work yesterday?

If you can't picture their actual workday, you're guessing at their problems.

2. Do you know their pain?

Can you tell me what keeps them stuck at work at 5pm when they wish they were with their kids?

The problem they can't quite articulate but know is slowly ruining their work

Last week a founder told me their customers need "better ROI."

That's not a pain. That's a checkbox.

The pain? Their CFO just cut their budget by 40% and they're trying to hit the same targets.

See the difference?

3. Are you willing to own one problem?

This is where 90% bail.

"But we solve 17 different problems!"

Cool. So does everyone else.

Content IP isn't about being everything to everyone. It's about being THE solution to one specific problem.

Sendoso owns digital fatigue.

UserEvidence owns the evidence gap.

One problem. Deeply owned.

Honestly, these aren't just client qualification questions.

They're the difference between content that changes businesses and content that just... exists.

Between building actual authority and playing checkbox marketing games.

So before you hire anyone (including me), ask yourself these 3 questions.

Because if you can't answer them clearly, no amount of content strategy will save you.

⚡️

PS - Marketers: Bookmark this. 

Next time someone asks you to "just create more content," run them through these questions first. 

Watch what happens.

Boomers got pensions.
Gen X got stability.
Millennials got gaslit.
Gen Z went, “lol never again.”

We labeled an entire generation "entitled" without asking the one question that matters.

And that question is: Where did that come from?

I worked my butt off, then asked for a job - or a raise.

Their generation asks for the raise upfront.

And we're shocked.

But here's what the boomers missed:

Gen Z watched their parents get laid off from profitable companies.

Not for screwing up. 

Because they only grew +28% that quarter, missing projections by 2%.

Gen Z saw "shareholder value" become the only value.

Gen Z learned loyalty was a one-way street.

Company demands it. Offers none.

The gold watch became a pink slip.

Job security? Never heard of him.

So when they say "pay me first, then I'll show you what I can do"...

They're not entitled.

They're adapting.

To the world we built.

So do I love it?

No. But i can sure empathize with it and realize whose fault it is.

I get being cynical - thinking working hard guarantees nothing and Excel decides your fate.

Corporate execs burned the social contract and wonder why they won't sign the ashes.

So they're playing by the new rules.

And I gotta be honest...

I respect that.

⚡️

PS - I really hope this helps marketing leaders navigating hiring young talent right now.

They aren't entitled.

It's just my job, your job, OUR job... to make sure we attract and retain them better than anybody else.

The debate about SEO vs AEO is missing the point entirely.

For software buyers, Google search starts are UP from 42% to 79% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, AI tool usage sits at 58%.

You know what that math tells me?

People are using both.

Not either/or. Both.

Yet every week I see another "SEO is dead" post or "AI search will kill Google" prediction.

Here's what's actually happening:

Your buyers aren't choosing sides. They're doubling up.

They ask ChatGPT for recommendations.

Then verify on Google.

They Google for options.

Then ask AI for comparisons.

They find you through SEO.

Then ask AI about your competitors.

I use Ahrefs Brand Radar to measure AI discovery and visibility.

It shows you how your brand (and your competitors) appear in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot… right alongside the Google data you already track.

The smart play isn't picking a lane.

It's owning both highways.

YOU HAVE TO OWN BOTH, PEOPLE.

Because while everyone's debating which one wins, your buyers are already using both to make decisions.

And if you're only optimizing for one?

You're invisible to half your market.

The brands winning tomorrow aren't choosing between SEO or AEO.

They're dominating both.

Simple as that.

⚡️

PS - If you haven’t checked how AI already describes your brand, Brand Radar will probably surprise you.

Ionio

I run Ionio - We are a GPT4 & LLM, AI consulting company. We specialize in training, integrating & deploying LLMs (GPT4, ChatGPT, Alpaca) and other generative AI technologies into existing products and services - enabling up to 20x increase in efficiency and up to 90% operational automation.

Our end-to-end solution covers everything from ideation, development to seamless integration in 6-10 weeks. Value-based billing. 10x ROI Guarantee.

• We built Pumice.ai for Width.ai, a GPT4-powered E-Commerce taxonomy SaaS built with Python - React, Celery, Django, Redis, AWS & Docker in ~10 weeks.

• We helped ClearlyTrained with the strategy, research, ideation & product design of their in-house GPT4-powered eLearning Content solution in 4 weeks. GPT4, Python & NodeJS.

• We built Revvyco.com, an AI-powered revenue optimization platform in for a real-estate consultancy in Utah. Revvy runs on Django, React, Celery, Redis, AWS & Docker and was built in ~16 weeks with a team of 3.

• We built HypeMail.io, an AI-powered cold emailing SaaS built with Python - Flask, React, Celery, Redis, Docker, and AWS in ~12 weeks with a team of 5.

• We built FIT24TW Platform, a fitness startup based in Taiwan - 2 iOS/Android apps & 3 websites based on NodeJS, Flutter, Webflow & Docker in ~12 weeks per entity with a team of 4.

Send me a DM to brainstorm your AI strategy! 🛠

Founder & CEO

SmartCow

• Lead architectural, database, AI/DL and UI/UX design on various Full-stack Applications, built with Python and JavaScript
• Contribute to engineering efforts from planning and organization to execution and delivery to solve complex engineering problems.
• Manage individual projects priorities, deadlines, and deliverables
• Enforcing and maintaining code quality, and limiting technical debt through code reviews.
• Promote a culture of learning within the company, by mentoring, training colleagues, creating learning paths - modular projects which can be used to learn, teach, sharpen skills and then be integrated into production.

Senior Software Engineer

• Architect, develop and optimize the middleware, UI and storage microservices for edge systems.
• Design, build, test, and deploy software for internal and external use
• Ensure the continuous availability and throttling the downtime of core internal frameworks. 
• Design and implement scalable APIs and web services 
• Build dependable test cases and robust CI pipelines for multiple codebases

Software Engineer

Pseudtech Technologies Pvt.Ltd .

• Head research on the entire software side of several pilot-projects.
• Work with Python's leading web frameworks - Django and Flask with Heroku, AWS - S3, RDS and Google Cloud's App Engine to create software products to drive growth
• Work on Computer Vision and Deep Learning projects using OpenCV, Tensorflow, and Keras.
• Design several embedded Linux products including a (Facial Recognition Doorbell) using the Raspberry Pis and Python
• Work with AWS, Google App Engine, Angular and S3 to bootstrap a simple web application to monitor employee productivity
• Creating Facial Recognition POVs utilizing Microsoft Azure's Cognitive Services
• Contacting vendors and suppliers to acquire the resources needed for projects
• Work with Motor Drivers, Servos and Relays to create IOT devices which integrate seamlessly with the company's internal infrastructure. - IOT SwitchBoard
• Creating numerous software POCs and beta projects to meet the requirements.

• Understanding the workflow and commonly faced business problems
• Maintaining existing web apps and routine maintenance.
• Developing small tools and utilities for the upper management to help them automate office tasks.

Junior Software Engineer

Self-Employed

• Developed a Java and JavaFX Desktop App to manage a database of Fixed Deposits of Customers, added SMS integrations, encryption, and FTP Backups

• Created a corporate website for an investment firm using BootStrap, HTML, CSS, configured DNS, CPanel, and optimized it for SEO

• Created a desktop automation software using AutoIT that automated a BPO job of 3 Shifts of unskilled workers working 24x7, saving the client 33% in expenses and increasing efficiency by 50%

• Developed a Python Application to preprocess data received over the network and display it on the screen using PySide and PyQT.

Helping non-tech businesses build software products in 8-12 weeks | DM me your app ideas | Owner - Ionio |

Hi, I'm Rohan! I run Ionio. We are an AI consulting company specialized in LLMs training & deploying, building AI agents & Generative AI. We publish research on our site. Google "Ionio Research"

Our end-to-end solution covers everything from ideation, development to seamless integration in 6-10 weeks.

We are currently doing exactly this for our clients in the SaaS, eLearning, real-estate, fitness & lead generation space. 

Here's what they have to say :)

“We’ve had the opportunity of working with best full stack software engineering company in the biz.  Ionio makes it happen”.
- Greg Warner - Founder - Revvy 🏢

"Working with Ionio has been a game-changer for my business. The way they can take my vision and turn it into a reality better than I imagined is second to none".
- Thomas Manwaring - Founder - HypeMail 📧

“The Ionio team is just fire. Want something done fast? “Yep Yep”. Want something cool and innovative? “We can do that”. Nothing is beyond their reach....”.
- Brooke Daye - Founder - FIT24 🏋🏽‍♂️

Case Studies 👇🏽

• We built a Revvy, a revenue optimization platform in 4 months with a team of 3 engineers for a real-estate consultant in Utah. Property management companies pay a monthly recurring fee to use it. Saved +7.5 hours/week/client, automated 85% of the service

• We built the entire technical infrastructure for FIT24, a fitness startup based in Taiwan - 2 iOS/Android mobile apps & 3 websites in 5 months with a team of 4. Automated away +25 hours/week at the reception desk, saved +40 hours/week total

• We built HypeMail, an email outreach tool for small digital agencies with our client Thomas Manwaring. Took us 5 months & a team of 3. Agencies now pay a monthly recurring fee to use it. Automated away 7.5 hours/week of sales

Drop me a DM if you'd like to brainstorm your AI strategy. 🤖

Previously, I worked as a Software Engineer at SmartCow, an AI company. Before, that I worked in Python for a startup in Mumbai. Before before that for family friends, building websites & apps in Java. Been at this since I was 15 :)

Rohan Sawant

“Chatbots for ecommerce don't work.”
There I said it…

Since 2023, we have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to build exactly those. 

We’ve built, launched, and analyzed dozens of ecommerce chatbots for small DTC brands, retail giants, and marketplaces. 

After reading through thousands of real customer conversations, one brutal truth keeps surfacing, now in almost-2026.

But before you cancel your chatbot project, let me add the nuance: they can work—but almost never in the way we originally imagined.

The flawed assumption we all made

Back in 2024/25. We thought users would land on a merchant's site and ask the AI, "What's the best running shoe for me?" or "Help me find a gift under $50." 

We assumed they'd treat it like an unbiased shopping assistant.

Here's why that falls apart:
Trust is dead on arrival. Users aren't naive. 

They know a brand's chatbot will only recommend that brand's products. The "unbiased advisor" pitch was never believable.

Quality control is a nightmare. Even if you wanted unbiased advice, how do you verify the bot's answers?

One hallucination about material safety or sizing, and you're facing a PR disaster.

The mobile experience is terrible. 70% of traffic is mobile. 

Nobody wants to type full sentences into a tiny corner widget on their phone. It's clunky, slow, and frustrating.

ChatGPT already won. 
Why would I use your chatbot when I already have the ChatGPT app? 

It knows my style, my budget, my quirks—I talk to it for hours. Your bot doesn't know me and never will.

So where do chatbots actually work?

Here's the pivot: Discovery within a brand.

When a customer is already on your site—because they love your aesthetic or trust your quality—they don't need selling. They need navigating.

Example: "Build me a complete work-from-home outfit using only your new collection." Or, "Show me everything in muted olive green."

This is where conversational AI shines. Not as a shopping advisor, but as a personal catalog curator.

The implementation fix nobody's talking about - 
Stop putting chatbots in the bottom-right corner.

That's not where discovery happens. Discovery happens in the search bar.

We're working on a POC that moves the conversation into search. 

Users type naturally, the AI responds with products inline, and it feels like upgrading search—not adding another layer.

The lesson? Don't fight ChatGPT. Don't try to replicate it. Instead, make your own discovery experience better.

Bottom line: The future isn't a chatbot that talks. It's a search bar that listens.

Agree? Disagree? Have you seen chatbots work differently? Let me know in the comments.

#chatbots #ecommerce #ai

CEO & Founder | AI, LLM & NLP Consulting | Training, Deploying & Scaling GenAI Applications

We predicted this. "Shopping Research" in ChatGPT just launched —an deep research experience that asks clarifying questions, scours the web, and delivers personalized buyer guides in minutes.

We mapped this exact trajectory months ago.

Our white paper predicted how foundation model companies would evolve from assistants to autonomous shopping agents, and why this signals the end of the SaaS dashboard as we know it.

In 24 months, your most engaged customers will be the ones who never log in at all.

The three-layer architecture we outlined—Agent-to-Site → Agent-to-Agent → Broker-Agent-to-Site—is unfolding in real-time. 

OpenAI just made Layer One consumer-facing.

Layer Two (Merchant APIs) and Layer Three (Broker Agents) are next.

For retail & e-commerce SaaS platforms, this isn't a feature update. It's an existential pivot:

• GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) becomes table stakes
• GXO (Generative Experience Optimization) decides who wins the transaction
• Your moat isn't UI/UX anymore—it's how easily AI agents can negotiate with your backend

We've spent 5 years building agent-ready architectures for 40+ platforms. The 2-year window we predicted is now a 2-year deadline.

Is your platform is architected to survive this & the dozen other upcoming launches shaping how we shop?

Like + comment anything on this post and I'll DM you our full strategic briefing. Drop me a DM if you want to discuss what this means for your roadmap.

"If ChatGPT can answer product questions better than your site can, why would anyone visit your site first?"

ChatGPT Shopping dropped last week. (Something we predicted, 1st white paper)

Now, we are writing our 2nd predictions essay, "The Aftermath" - where the industry goes next and the ripple effects on marketplaces, brands, and the SaaS companies that serve them.

Fellow men & women leaders in retail & ecom.  Have you considered the 

-  EFFECT of the impending shopping assistants roll-out?

- IMPLICATION of chatgpt ads for your business?

- CUSTOMER STRATEGY for what will be the most demanding, inquisitive buyers of the melliania -  customers who now expect instant, perfect answers just like they get from their "AI".

Drop me a message, comment, start a conversation what do you think, where is the space going? First impressions?

"Where do you see this space going in the next 12 months?"

I will be picking the best insights to feature in the final essay.

it has burnt a hole in my retinas yes.

taplio

The Battle

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Rohan Sawant

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taplio

The Battle

Brendan Hufford

Rohan Sawant

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brendan Hufford's LinkedIn Performance

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