GTM for Early Stage SaaS | Co-founder @ Datapad | SaaS Growth Advisor | Reforge | 1x Exit |

I’m a marketer, 2x entrepreneur with 1x exit, and helped companies to go from 0 to 8 figures.

My achievements:

- Built 2 VC backed startups with one exit

- Built a 7 figure productized marketing agency

- Became a mentor in top accelerators such as: 500, Plug and Play, Techstars

- Got to work with the portfolio companies of amazing investors such as A16z, Craft Ventures, YC

- Built a podcast with 20k downloads in a year-figure

- Transformed my body more times than Christian Bale ☺️

John Ozuysal

Hiring Alert: I am looking for a GTM engineer (contactor)

This is not a client-facing role; you will not be running campaigns for clients, but you will be helping me run internal fun experiments. No middleman, just 1-1 with me.

You have to be good at: Clay, Smartlead, Instantly, Trigify, etc...

Your main responsibility will be to run internal campaigns with me to test different offers

Most importantly, you should be able to catch up with my tempo :) 

I will be in Dubai for the next couple of months, and ideally, you should be in a similar time zone.

If you want to learn from someone who has built and exited SaaS companies and scaled agencies to 7 figures, DM me and I will send you more info.

Generate Pipeline from AI Search | 1x Exit

I would rather start LinkedIn commenting as a service, rather than content writing.

I am not sure if it’s just me but comments are getting much better engagement then posts.

Even my mum is not seeing my posts anymore 😀

Every time I open LinkedIn, I see less expertise and more theatrics. 

And now it is all boosted around the clock.

-People “proving” AI search visibility by posting… their Google Search Console
 
- Others claiming they “ranked in AI in 14 days,” but all they show is a Google SERP and a couple of AI overview citations

 - Tombstone hobbyists declaring a new marketing channel dead every single week

 - Creators making cringy YouTube skits hoping it magically turns them into experts

 - Founders flexing “10M ARR in 5 months” — in what currency, nobody knows

 -Endless fake social proof screenshots that fall apart the moment you zoom in

 And now… boosted posts from these same people flooding our feeds 24 hours a day

For anyone who understands basic marketing, LinkedIn has become a loop of fake promises, fake authority, and zero practical value.

The platform used to be where real operators shared what actually works.

Now it's mostly noise amplified with ad spend.

Is it just me feeling like this ?

Here is the 4-week plan I would follow to get AEO visibility in 4 weeks

👇

I can't say that I cracked the code, I think no one can but below is the plan I am using the get results fast

👉 Grab the full play here for FREE: https://tally.so/r/jaDPl9

WEEK 1: IDENTIFY LOW-HANGING FRUITS

First, we identified the high-intent prompts that we should go after. We found several Reddit threads being cited. We created content on these threads and pushed our comments up for more visibility.

We initially started with 4 Reddit threads.

WEEK 2:UPDATE EXISTING PAGES

We updated some of the BOFU pages to make sure that the content is optimized for Google and AI search engines.

Pages were terribly structured, so we did rewrites first ( if the team is reading, sorry, but you know I mentioned this before we started to work )

After the rewrite, our updates were focused on:

- Adding data and statistics

- Query fan-out optimization 

- Entity optimization under every H2 

- Adding fresh information (recency is very important for AI)

- Tables for product comparison

WEEK 3: 5 HIGH INTENT PAGES

2 alternative pages against their top competitors ( we like to start with vanilla alternatives content, and we verticalize the alternatives articles by creating them for each persona)

2 three-way comparison articles

We also did a competitor pricing review article ( this one actually landed us a demo with a big enterprise co. They did not book a demo, but we identified the visitor and reached out )

WEEK 4: OFF-SITE MENTIONS

- We worked on repurposing our 2 pieces of BOFU content and uploaded them to YouTube. 

- Secured 3 mentions where LLMs were citing the source

- Added 4 more Reddit mentions - we are using Scrunch to keep track of threads that are influencing the prompts we are going after

-----

👉 Grab the full play here for FREE: https://tally.so/r/jaDPl9

I am looking for a GTM engineer a part-time or project basis

This is not a client-facing role; you will not be running campaigns for clients, but you will be helping me run internal fun experiments

You have to be good at: Clay, Smartlead, Instantly, Trigify, etc...

Most importantly, you should be able to catch up with my tempo :)

A solo marketer asked me last week:

"How am I supposed to compete with companies that have entire content teams when it comes to AI search?"

Fair question.

She's one person. Her competitor has 12 people cranking out content.

But here's what I told her:

You're not trying to out-content them. You're trying to out-smart them.

And there's a shortcut nobody's talking about.

It starts with one simple question: What do people type into ChatGPT right before they're ready to buy?

Not "what is project management software."

More like "Asana vs Monday vs ClickUp for marketing teams."

Those comparison prompts? That's where buying decisions happen.

And if you're not in that answer, someone else is controlling your narrative.

So here's the play for small teams:

Step 1: Find the high intent prompts. The "vs" searches. The "alternative to" queries. The ones that signal someone's actually evaluating options.

Step 2: Write those comparison pages. Not fluff. Real perspective. Own your positioning before your competitors do it for you.

Step 3: Drop those prompts into a visibility tracking tool. It'll show you which Reddit threads are influencing those AI answers.

Step 4: Go to those subreddits. Add value. Answer questions. Build credibility in the exact places AI is pulling answers from.

That's it.

You're not trying to rank for everything. You're showing up in the 5-10 prompts that actually drive revenue.

Big teams are still playing the old game. Writing hundreds of blog posts. 

Chasing traffic.

Small teams who get this? They're winning the prompts that matter.

You don't need more content. You need better positioning in the right answers.

Generate Pipeline from AI Search | Founder @ House of Growth | 1x Exit

Listicles help with getting AI search visibility or no?

Here is the research 👇

Ahrefs have just done and published a research piece on AEO that all of us knew but couldn't prove:

Self-promotional listicles (best X software/agencies) are one of the best ways, if not the best way, to be the #1 recommendation spot for a solution comparison.

According to Glen Allsopp's research that analyzed 26,283 source URLs on AI search:- “Best X” blog lists represented 43.8% of all page types.

- Placing higher on multiple comparison lists likely increases your chances of being recommended by ChatGPT (which is why I've started doing outreach to get mentions).

- Across 1,100 blog lists used as research sources, 79.1% were updated in 2025 (which only confirms how important content freshness is).AI search for SaaS brands and agencies, put in the most simple way possible, consists of 3 core pillars:- Owned content, which covers comparison guides, where you explain what makes you the #1 option in the industry or for a specific use case.

- Mentions, which covers having visibility on other comparison lists, review platforms (e.g., Clutch and G2), and community forums like Reddit.

- Content freshness, which I think is AI search engine's ''sanity check'' if your content is outdated or recent.Here are a few examples of owned content:

- Top 10 [Competitor] Alternatives For ITSM In 2026.

- Top 10 Project Management Software For Start-Ups In 2026.

- 10 Best Marketing Agencies In Dubai For SaaS Brands In 2026.

And then positioning your solution or service as the #1 choice, clearly explaining why, and then covering other competitors in the space.

Glen's research also found something I have been thinking about for some time but could not prove:''35% of cited best lists were published on low authority domains.''Start-ups and low domain authority domains CAN WIN in AI search, and should not be scared of competing against established players on the market.

This research confirms the trends we have been seeing with the portfolio companies of House of Growth - AEO Agency

Link to research under comments

We helped Juma close 6-figure deals from AI search

Get the playbook for free (no need to comment) 👇

This is the same playbook we used to create a pipeline for all of our clients. You can take it and implement it in your business straight away.

Our AEO playbook includes:

- Everything we know about AI models' recommendation algorithms

- Differences between Google and AI search behavior 

- How to ensure models can properly access and read your content

- Best practices to get recommended on AI models (including brand mentions, BOFU content creation, and more)

- Real examples of content that works (and what fails)

👉Grab the playbook from here:https://tally.so/r/jaDPl9

Reading too many SaaS trends and predictions by people who have built or worked inside a SaaS company 😅 

I don't understand why people try to fake authority to gain likes.

Don't listen to everything you see here. Always rely on your own playbooks and keep testing!

Warmly, ($5m +ARR ) generates ~25% of its pipeline from AI search.

We have been running their SEO / AEO, and here is the playbook 👇


1. What we've been doing so far: Large-scale BOFU content creation:

- Competitor alternatives content: [Competitor] Alternatives
- Category keywords: Best [Category] Software
- 3-way comparisons: [Competitor] vs. [Competitor] vs. Warmly
- Pricing guides: [Competitor] Pricing (These guides work wonders for competitors that do not disclose their pricing on their website).

Covering the same competitors in these 4 formats allows us to build what I call competitor topical authority to help us rank better for competitor-related keywords.

Plus 

I am still a big fan of focusing on "information gain score," so we always aim to create content with more relevant information than competing pages.

2. What we've been focusing on in Q3 2025: 

Vertical comparisons + Reputation management/building + Adding schema markup + Updating BOFU pages that rank lower than position #3 on Google

VERTICAL COMPARISONS

Focusing on creating highly-specific BOFU content for certain ICPs (e.g., marketing agencies).

Example: [Competitor] Alternatives for Marketing Agencies. 

I know this does not have a reasonable search demand to go after it. But our big bet here is that users are going to provide context about their solutions when evaluating alternatives and solutions on the market.

Especially when using ChatGPT's ''Deep Research'' I've seen from user interviews (yes, I actually ask people we work with to share their prompts) that they share information about their industry or profession so they can get a more tailored answer.

Hence, why we're going to give them the answer to what is the best competitor alternative is for each persona we go after

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & BUILDING

With OpenAI making deals with Reddit and mentioning Quora or other media publishers in its sources section, we cannot sit idle and expect people to happily discuss us.

This is why we'll be doubling down on these 4 channels

- Reddit.
- Quora.
- YouTube.
- Media publishers.

The goal will be to get mentioned there and explain what makes us stand out from our competitors.

SCHEMA MARKUP

We're planning on implementing schema markup on our website on our existing and future content to better explain our organization and product to both Google and AI search engines.

CONTENT FRESHNESS

After a bit of experimenting, I've noticed that AI search engines really like to favor fresh, up-to-date content that's been updated recently.

The same goes for Google nowadays as well. The more we update our content and keep up with the latest information (e.g., updated pricing, new features, new competitors), the more likely crawlers are to pick up our content and recommend it.

Here is why SaaS companies losing clients to competitors on AI search

Your competitor just taught ChatGPT what to say about you.

And you weren't even in the room.

Here's what happened:

Last week, a prospect searched "best email marketing tools" in ChatGPT. Your product didn't show up. Your competitor's did.

Not because their product is better.

Because they own the pages about their category and competitor review content. You didn't.

I see this constantly with early stage B2B SaaS. They spend six figures on ads and PR, then wonder why AI is recommending their competitors.

The answer is brutal: you left the door open.

LLMs are scraping everything right now. Every product page. Every comparison chart. Every "X vs Y" article on your site (or your competitor's site).

If you're not publishing this content, you're not in the conversation.

Here's what you should do:

Write a "best [category] tools" article

Create comparison pages for every competitor. 

Don't forget to add three-way comparisons, too

Done? Go and turn these into videos and publish on YT as well.

Because if you don't explain what you do and how you are different than competitors, someone else will write that and control the narrative.

It's about being present when the buying decision happens.

My clients start seeing traffic from AI sources within weeks. Not months. Weeks.

The best part? Your competitors probably aren't doing this yet. They're still waiting for someone to write about them.

Control your narrative, or watch someone else write it for you

Stop letting your competitors control the narratives inside ChatGPT

👇

ChatGPT isn’t "hallucinating" about your SaaS. It’s improvising because your website is a ghost town. You are not training AI with your own story.

Here’s the harsh reality:

LLMs are prediction engines. When you leave gaps in your digital footprint, the models fill them with whatever they can find: competitor comparison pages, angry Reddit threads, or 3-year-old press releases.

If you want to control the narrative in the age of AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), you need to spoon-feed the models.

You need to move beyond marketing fluff and build a "Source of Truth" architecture.

Here are the 3 types of pages I would build today:

- About us: Make sure that it's very clear on what your company is doing, who is your ideal ICP etc. Avoid using fancy language to impress your investors.

- Comparison pages: Control the narrative by owning the comparison-related queries. If you don't do this, someone else will do it, and AI will spit out the wrong information about your company.

- Integrations page: People don't just search "best project management software anymore; they search " best project management software with integrations to x". It's time to surface your integration docs and make them visible to search

If you don't provide the language, the model will generate its own. And I guarantee you won't like the version it writes.

I watched a $50M company disappear from AI search in 90 days.

Not because they got penalized. Not because their SEO team quit.

They just hit pause.

Three months later, their biggest competitor owned every ChatGPT answer in their category.

The company that paused? They're still trying to catch up.

And here's the part that keeps me up at night:

They thought pausing was the safe move. Budget cuts. Uncertain ROI. Let's wait and see.

But in AI search, there is no neutral.

Every day you're not feeding the machine, your competitor is.

Every article they publish trains ChatGPT to recognize THEM as the authority.

Every brand mention compounds their lead.

Every Reddit thread you miss is an opportunity for a competitor

And the gap doesn't just grow. It accelerates.

Because freshness wins now. And whoever shows up consistently becomes the default answer.

Your buyers only used Google to start their searches, not that they are switching to LLMs

And if you're not in that conversation, you don't exist.

Standing still isn't playing it safe. It's surrender.

The companies winning right now aren't the ones with the biggest budgets.

They're the ones who understood 6 months ago that AI search isn't coming.

It's already here.

Your competitors are guessing AI search prompts. You could just ask.

Here is how 👇

No tool is going to hand you the exact prompts your customers are typing into search.

But you can figure it out without paying for a single piece of software.

Looking back, my best keyword ideas did not come from keyword research tools. 

They came from customer interviews and simply asking, “How did you find us?”

Right now, everyone is trying to hack their way into uncovering the most valuable LLM search prompts.

Go back to the fundamentals.

Here is what I tell my own companies:

 1️⃣ Ask every new customer if they found you through an AI search engine.
 2️⃣ If yes, ask exactly how their search started.
 3️⃣ Repeat this for your last 100 prospects.

You will start spotting patterns and those patterns are your high intent prompts.

Once you have that list, track your visibility for those prompts and work to win those spots.

This is how I am doing it. You should try it before your competitors figure it

Exit Five

The leading community for B2B marketing professionals. Join 5,000+ members at exitfive.com

Member

B2B PodPros

Lead content creation and brand positioning efforts to establish B2B PodPros as a leader in the b2b podcast advertising space.

Growth Marketing - B2B PodPros

Bonjoro

Oversee partner marketing and social efforts to impact demand generation and product adoption. Develop strategies across full customer lifecycle including sales enablement, content, video, partnerships, and webinars.

Demand Generation & Partnerships Marketing Manager

Sunnova Energy Corp.

Responsible for digital campaign operations including the development of an automated email personalization strategy at scale across touchpoints to increase active engagement, minimize churn, and re-engage lapsed and dormant customers.

Customer Experience and Digital Marketing Director

Kids Health Program I www.FlyMovement.org

Fly Movement is a one-of-a-kind kids’ health program that provides students an opportunity to reach a fitness goal through fun, rewarding team competition and fitness trackers. Responsible for overseeing the administration, fundraising, programs, and strategic plan of the organization.

Founder of Kids Health Program Fly Movement

Spark Energy

Managed a team responsible for growing residential sales (excluding D2D and OTM), customer communications, user experience, website for 4+ brands, and strategic online partnerships.

Digital Marketing Director

Frontier Utilities

Responsible for leading online retail expansion into 5 new markets, developing strategic business relationships with online retailers, building digital marketing programs, and managing digital marketing team.

Digital Marketing Manager

TL;DR – 2x founder, digital marketing background + love for building social connections.

Moved to Romania from Texas in 2020. Prior to the move, I held marketing leadership roles in publicly traded companies. When I moved to Europe, because I had an interest in tech, I’ve been mostly busy with growth and customer marketing roles at various startups like Bonjoro, OptiMonk and RoninSport.io.

Some notable accomplishments
--------------

Launched a one-of-a-kind kids fitness program in Houston, Fly Movement, that encouraged kids’ to increase their fitness activity through the use of fitness trackers.

Interviewed 130+ European startup founders on my podcast Innovators Can Laugh.

Helped grow a b2b podcaster community and network, B2B PodPros, that helps SaaS brands reach new audiences. Clients include Deel, Dealfront, Mouseflow and others.

What I am looking forward to in 2025
--------------

Being a part of an exciting and fun scale up where I can add value through my marketing experience.

Throwing a few cocktail parties with some of the most interesting people in Bucharest


Thank you for visiting my profile. Feel free to learn more at https://linktr.ee/ericmelchor

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