RollPros

Bridging the gap between innovative cannabis companies and automated pre-roll technology.

My passion for motorsports taught me that precision and performance matter – principles I bring to cannabis market development at RollPros. When I'm not at industry events or connecting with cannabis leaders, you'll find me at the track or exploring ways to optimize health and recovery.

At RollPros, I help cannabis manufacturers discover how our Blackbird pre-roll machine transforms production efficiency. Nothing beats seeing a client's face when they realize what's possible with the right automation.

Curious about elevating your pre-roll game? 

Let's connect at the next cannabis expo or hop on a call to explore how the Blackbird can revolutionize your operation.

Market Development Director

BEKHealth

BEKHealth Corporation is a company that provides an Human Verified AI-powered platform for the clinical trial industry. The platform helps life sciences and healthcare organizations find and recruit patients for clinical trials faster and more efficiently. It does this by using data from electronic medical records (EMRs), which contain more information than other sources. 

The platform also uses a special system to make the data consistent and compatible with different protocols. The platform can analyze data from over 43 million patients and over 300 clinical sites, and find more suitable candidates than other methods. BEKHealth aims to improve human health and well-being by making clinical research more accessible to patients.

New Business Development

Toastmaster Global

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Headquartered in Englewood, Colo., the organization's membership exceeds 280,000 in more than 14,700 clubs in 144 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.

Public Speaker

Poseidon

Sales Professional

LeadMagic

Director of Campaigns

ZoomInfo

Global Sales Development Representative

Zeigler Automotive Group

Wholesale Manager

M&K Trailer Centers

Sales Representative for Wabash, East Mfg, Benson, Transcraft & Eager Beaver trailers

Sales Representative

Babbitt's Sports Center

Retail Salesworker

☀️19/30 | Market Development @ RollPros

Hi, I’m Kyle vanArtsen, a sales professional and entrepreneur who serves businesses with innovative GTM solutions.

I have over 10 years of experience in various sales roles, from retail salesworker to wholesale manager to global sales development representative. I’ve worked with companies of all sizes and industries, selling software solutions to SMBs and enterprises across healthcare, education, and transportation sectors.

I’m passionate about sales because I love learning new problems, creating value, and building long-lasting relationships. I’m also an avid student in sales and marketing who constantly seeks new knowledge and ideas.

Helping companies achieve their goals and drive profitable revenue growth isn't just a passion, it is in fact a way of life. I'm all about results, and I know what it takes to serve holistically in today's fast-paced business arena.

🌀 Kyle vanArtsen

Smartlead

Head of Content & Marketing

GrowthX®

GrowthX Fellow [GX22]

AllRide Apps

Director - Content & Social Media Marketing

Curafoot

Head of Marketing Business Development 

Tribeca Care

Head Of Marketing

Marketing Manager

Head of Content Marketing @Smartlead.ai | Driving Organic Growth and Revenue through Strategic Growth & Content Marketing

I build growth engines that don’t just attract clicks, they drive revenue.

Currently leading content & marketing at Smartlead.ai, where I’m turning organic funnels into predictable, scalable revenue for one of the fastest-growing outbound SaaS platforms out there.

My playbook? 

Well pretty straight forward... Content that speaks human and performs, funnels that convert without friction, and go-to-market systems designed for scale - not vanity metrics.

I’m all about compound growth: content ecosystems, zero-click surfaces, community loops, and AI-native visibility. If it doesn’t drive demand or spark real action, it’s not on my list.

Always down to swap notes on content-led growth, modern GTM, or building lean machines that turn organic traffic into $$$.

Alka Gupta

Winners vs. Invisibles in 2026


AI will be the core growth driver for SaaS brands

And it cares about one thing
Can it trust you enough to recommend you?

And that trust is built across 5 stages most brands are ignoring

▶️ Stage 1: Awareness
You need AI to know you exist.
Be in the conversation when someone asks a question in your space.

What to create: educational blogs, expert POV pieces, content on high-authority sites.

What to track: Are you showing up in AI answers? Are people sharing your stuff? Is traffic growing?

Reality check: This takes serious effort upfront. Skip it, and everything else fails.

▶️ Stage 2: Interest
Getting mentioned once won't cut it.
You need to own topics and build enough depth that AI sees you as the source, not a source.

What to create: content hubs, valuable downloads, newsletter sign-ups that deliver real value

What to track: Are people coming back? Spending time reading? Is AI mentioning your brand by name?

Reality check: This is where brands separate from noise. You're building a moat here.

▶️ Stage 3: Consideration
This is the money stage.
When buyers are comparing options, you need to be in that comparison. And you need to look good.

What to create: Real customer stories, honest product breakdowns, side-by-side guides

What to track: Are people signing up for trials? Staying on your site longer? Appearing in featured snippets?

Reality check: Moderate lift, massive impact. This is where your pipeline starts filling.

▶️ Stage 4: Conversion
You've earned trust. Now make it dead simple to take action.
Clear offers. Clear next steps. No friction.

What to create: Strong calls-to-action, valuable lead magnets, interactive tools

What to track: Form fills, qualified leads, click-throughs on your CTAs

Reality check: If the earlier stages are solid, this becomes the easiest part.

▶️ Stage 5: Retention
The most underrated stage.
Your best customers are your best marketing asset. Help them succeed, give them reasons to stay, and they become proof that AI cites in future recommendations.

What to create: Support content, advanced guides, upsell resources that actually help

What to track: Do customers keep using your content? Is your community growing? Are they going deeper?

Reality check: This is your long game. Compounds over time.

Here's what this actually does:
Gets you into LLM training data → Shows up in AI-generated answers → Turns strangers into buyers → Keeps them loyal

But most teams are randomly creating content across these stages.
A blog here. A case study there. Some social posts.

That won't work in 2026.

AI doesn't reward random. It rewards the sequence.

If you're creating awareness content but have no consideration layer? 
AI won't recommend you when it matters.

If you've got great conversion content but no awareness? 
Nobody ever gets there.

The winning move for 2026:
-Map your content to the full funnel
-Fill the gaps
-Build the sequence

Be the brand AI finds impossible to ignore

Head of Content & Marketing | Building Content-Driven Growth Engines @Smartlead.ai

This AI Agent turns your LinkedIn comments into a lead pipeline 
(and it runs while you sleep)

Here’s how it works:
You post a lead magnet on LinkedIn. 
People comment on it.

Step 1: It scrapes every comment
No AI tools or human scraping, just clean extraction.

Step 2: It enriches their profiles
Each profile gets enriched with company data, titles
You’re not looking at names, you’re looking at buying context.

Step 3: It finds verified work emails
The agent verifies each contact using the Icypeas API, no catch-all nonsense, no bounces. 

Step 4: It builds a Smartlead campaign
The workflow automatically creates a new campaign in Smartlead, sets up the sequences, and pushes all enriched leads directly into it. 

Step 5: It sends a confirmation email
When the campaign is ready, you get one email:

Campaign created. Leads uploaded. Outreach begins in 3...2...1.

This is a full-stack outbound pipeline built on n8n, end-to-end. 

You could use it to:
→ Turn post engagement into booked meetings
→ Feed outbound systems automatically
→ Warm up audiences from your content
→ Or plug directly into Smartlead for instant campaigns 

We’ve been using this inside Smartlead to convert content engagement into revenue.

If you want this agent, comment “Agent” and I’ll send it to you! (Must be connected)

I don't have a perfect life...


And I don't want one!

Over the years, I’ve realised something simple but powerful

You don’t need a perfect life...
Maybe you need a happy one.

You rarely remember how much you spent on a vacation...
but you always remember how you felt during that time…

the quiet mornings, 
the shared laughter,
the adventures with the people who matter.

Success has many angles... and it is deeply subjective.

For some, it’s titles.
For others, it’s numbers.
For many, it’s recognition.

For me, success is something else entirely.

It’s independence. 
It’s freedom.
It’s the ability to live life on my own terms -

to travel to places I once dreamed of,
to enjoy good food across the world,
to create memories with my family that last longer than any achievement ever will.

At the end of the day, I think fulfilment isn’t measured in metrics...
it’s measured in moments. 

I can be wrong to many... but this is what I truly believe...

Cheers to building a life that feels meaningful,
not just impressive🥂

Every time someone asks ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity a question in your space…
Your brand either:

1. Shows up
- AI pulls your content as a trusted source
- You get mentioned without spending on ads
- Buyers discover you at the exact moment they're researching

2. Gets ignored
- AI can't locate your content
- Competitors fill the gap you left
- You lose potential customers before they even know you exist

3. Gets misrepresented
- AI surfaces old or inaccurate information
- Wrong facts get amplified across conversations
- Your credibility takes a hit before the first call

Here's what actually happens behind the scenes in LLM search:

Stage 1 → Question Asked
Someone types their query into an AI tool.

Stage 2 → Intent Decoded
The AI interprets what they're actually looking for.
If your content doesn't match how buyers naturally ask questions? You've already lost the opportunity.

Stage 3 → Source Discovery
AI scans two main areas:
Public content (articles, posts, news)
Search platforms (Google, Reddit, LinkedIn, Quora)

If your content isn't public, easy to crawl, and structured for AI discovery? You're completely invisible at this stage.

Stage 4 → Answer Assembly
AI stitches together information from what it found.
Well-organized, information-dense content wins more citations.

Stage 5 → Final Output
The user gets their answer.
Your brand is either part of that answer… or completely absent.

AI search has two critical filters: retrieval and reasoning.

LLM optimization is where the new visibility war is happening.

If you're not in the answer, you don't exist to that buyer.

The opportunity is massive, though:
90% of ChatGPT citations come from pages that aren't even in Google's top 20.

You can dominate AI answers without perfect traditional SEO rankings.

Because LLMs prioritize:
> Structured content: Information broken into digestible sections
Specific solutions: Answers to precise questions Relevance signals: 
Context matters more than pure domain authority

Mistakes I see everywhere:
❌ Thinking traditional SEO automatically covers AI discovery 
❌ Locking valuable content behind gates or in PDFs 
❌ Ignoring platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit as AI sources 
❌ Not formatting content for both search engines AND language models

Your competitors who keep getting mentioned?

They've already adapted their strategy.
-While you're waiting, they're getting recommended. 
-While you're optimizing for yesterday, they're training tomorrow's AI. 
-While you're invisible, they're building trust.

Here's what changes when you get this right:
Structure → Retrieve → Cite

-Your content becomes the go-to reference. 
-Your brand becomes the authority. 
-Your pipeline fills with warmed-up leads.

This is how you win when AI becomes the primary research tool.

♻️ Repost this if your network needs to see it.

Top businesses aren't just optimising for Google.

They're already adapting to AI

Ranking for classic search engines used to be the goal.

But now, answer engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, etc) are on the rise...

If you want your business to stay relevant,
You need to start investing in AI-driven rankings (AEO, GEO, AIO, SXO).

If you want to stay of the curve in 2026, you'd be putting time into these 4 types of search:

➡️ AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
- Winning AI overviews, featured snippets, voice queries
- It's how you get chosen in search...not just listed

Skip this? You’ll never show up in AI answers

➡️ GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) 
- Getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini
- Write for prompts, clusters, comparisons

Ignore this? AI will skip you for your competitor

➡️ AIO (AI Integration Optimization) 
- Automate briefs, scale content, repurpose smartly
- Programmatic SEO meets internal efficiency

No AIO? You’ll burn out before you scale up

➡️ SXO (Search Experience Optimization) 
- UX, speed, mobile flow, scroll depth 
- Turn clicks into customers...not bounces

Miss this? High traffic, low results

Let’s take 2 real-world examples:

▶️ DTC Brand Reality:
AEO: Missed voice snippets and product schema
GEO: No AI citations, poor content depth
AIO: Manual content ops, no workflows
SXO: Slow checkout flow, low conversions

▶️ SaaS Startup Truth:
AEO: Weak FAQs, no entity markup
GEO: Blog lacks citations or prompt relevance
AIO: No system for scaling blog or docs
SXO: Long forms, high bounce on mobile

Most marketers blend all of SEO together.

Then wonder why their content isn’t compounding.

But when you separate them?

AEO: Gets you found in AI
GEO: Gets you cited and trusted
AIO: Gets you scalable content
SXO: Gets you real conversions

Crucial signals:

No AEO? You’re invisible in AI search
Weak GEO? You’re never referenced
No AIO? You’re not scaling content
Poor SXO? You're leaking conversions

Common traps:
Writing content with no structure (AEO fail)
Publishing without citations or depth (GEO fail)
Treating SEO as a 1-person job (AIO fail)
Ignoring UX and page flow (SXO fail)

The uncomfortable truth:

Your competitors showing up in ChatGPT results?

They’ve already figured this out.

While you're writing more posts…

They’re getting chosen, cited, scaled, and clicked.

Your next SEO win isn’t a new blog post.
It’s seeing where your strategy is actually leaking.

Stop guessing SEO only.
Start managing SEO with AEO, GEO, AIO, and SXO.

That’s how you rank in 2026 and stay there...

Most SaaS founders are still trying to fix their SEO rankings.

Are you one of them?

In the age of AI discovery, the rules have flipped.

Traditional SEO was about keywords, backlinks, and clicks.

AI Search is about concepts, credibility, and context.

People don’t just search on Google anymore.
They search everywhere.

ChatGPT. Perplexity. Gemini. Reddit. YouTube. LinkedIn. Quora. Medium

When someone asks ChatGPT “What’s the best cold outreach tool?”
it doesn’t pull a ranked list.

It recalls knowledge
...and that means it recalls brands it trusts.

So how do you make sure your brand shows up inside those answers?

Here’s the new playbook:

1. Structure for Machines and Humans

Readable formatting, FAQs, and schema markup help both users and LLMs understand your content.

2. Create Recallable Knowledge

Focus on frameworks, facts, and use cases that AIs can reuse.
Train them to recognize your insights, not just your keywords.

3. Build Reputation Loops

Earn mentions, citations, and community discussions.
Reddit, Slack, LinkedIn, Quora, they’re all feeding LLMs.

4. Optimise for Discovery, Not Just Clicks
AI discovery rewards clarity, trust, and originality more than volume.

That’s the shift we're betting on.

Our strategy doesn’t stop at ranking.

We’re training AI to remember us every time someone searches
“How to scale cold outreach” or “Best email deliverability tools.”

Because tomorrow’s visibility isn’t about ranking higher.
It’s about being retrieved more often.

The brands that master “Search Everywhere Optimization” will own the next 
decade of discovery.

We are already there.
Are you?

You will not get traffic in 2026..
if you're not doing this..

Stop relying on Old SEO in the New AI era.

AEO and GEO are the new keys to visibility.

Millions of people now use ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini instead of Google. 

ChatGPT alone has over 400 million weekly users.

That means your customers are searching differently, and brands that adapt first will win this new era of discovery.

Old SEO was all about ranking on Google’s first page. 

- It focused on keywords, backlinks, and technical tweaks. 
- It worked, but it chased visibility instead of credibility.
- It was great for driving traffic, helping new sites rank, and monetizing clicks. 

But now, it struggles to build real trust or conversions. 
And it has zero visibility inside AI tools.

New SEO is built for the AI era. 
It’s about being retrieved, cited, and trusted across Google and large language models.

It’s made up of four key layers: 
GEO – getting cited inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity 
AEO – appearing in AI overviews and summaries 
AIO – structuring content so AI tools can actually use it 
SXO – aligning trust and conversion with user intent

This is how brands now build authority that compounds over time. 
They show up in AI-driven results, get cited by models, and turn visibility into long-term trust.

The new goal isn’t just to rank higher. 
It’s to be discoverable, credible, and chosen.

That’s what we focus on at Smartlead. 
We don’t just optimize for search; we optimize for recall.

Because in 2026, the brands that win won’t just be visible.
They’ll be the ones AI remembers first.

What's your key strategy for 2026?

Old SEO vs New SEO_Alka

LinkedIn + Email, now in ONE clean Smartlead sequence.

This is the multichannel experience we always wanted but didn’t have.
I’ve said this for years:

Most outreach doesn’t fail because of messaging.
It fails because of the mess between tools.

Every week I hear the same thing from founders, agency owners, SDRs:

“I start on LinkedIn… then I switch to email… then I rewrite the whole flow… and somehow the prospect still slips through.”

Honestly? It’s not you.
It’s the tools refusing to talk to each other.

LinkedIn sits in one app.
Email sits in another.
Your outreach ends up feeling stitched together with duct tape.

So at Smartlead, we finally fixed it.

Just a smooth, end-to-end rhythm that feels natural to the prospect - and sane for the sender.

Smartlead X HeyReach.io is now LIVE 😎 

If you're running LinkedIn + Email outreach, this changes the game....
and honestly, it should’ve existed years ago.

The integration is now LIVE.

And once you try it, you won’t want to run outreach the old way again.

Not sure if this happens to you as well 
🤷‍♀️ 

To me - December always hits different somehow.

Not because the year is ending, but because it quietly forces you to pause...
or maybe just to look back at the moments that shaped you.

The wins you didn’t celebrate enough.
The setbacks that taught you more than you wanted to learn.
The versions of you that you outgrew without even realizing it.

For me - December is that gentle reminder that life doesn’t move in straight lines.

Some months feel like growth.
Some feel like survival.
And some simply prepare you for what’s coming next.

And I love the magic of this month...
it gives me permission to reset without apology.

To close chapters without guilt.
To let go of what didn’t serve you.
To carry forward only what feels aligned.

New year isn’t about resolutions...although I make many and break them🫣
 
It’s more about readiness.

Like a quiet inner shift that says....
“I’m done repeating old patterns. 
I’m ready for new challenges, new energy, new opportunities.”

So if you're feeling like - this year felt heavy, chaotic, transformational, or all of the above
try and use December as your breathing space.

some reflections
some realignment
some rebuilding your momentum in silence.

The new year will meet you exactly where you prepare for it.

Let's walk into 2026 with clarity, calm, and a little more courage than this year.✨

How we use Smartlead at Smartlead 😎

Although a huge chunk (about 70%) of users come from organic, socials, word-of-mouth, and referrals...

at Smartlead, we get the remaining 30% from Smartlead's own campaign 🔥

Here's exactly how we use it:

- Connect unlimited mailboxes with AI warmup
- Find leads with SmartProspect (300M+ verified contacts)
- Launch personalized cold email campaigns
- Auto-categorize replies with ML
- Manage everything in one unified inbox

We do exactly what we tell our users to do.

And the results?

1,200+ free trial signups in the last 30 days 
400+ demo meetings per month 
68% reply rates on outreach campaigns

I know we're on the right track because it's the best cold email tool I've ever used💪

Quick story.
Last week, two agency owners messaged me:

One said, “Just activated the Smartlead BF deal. This is HUGE.”

The other said, “Damn… I forgot. Is it still live?”

It’s crazy how the smallest decisions separate momentum from missed opportunity.

So here’s me being the friend who actually reminds you:
Black Friday + Cyber Monday Flash Sale ends tonight.

If you're running outbound... you already know how big this is:

💌 Free Google & Outlook mailboxes (first month)
⚡ Unlimited mailboxes with 1-click setup
🔥 Premium deliverability without the hassle

Midnight → offer disappears.
Simple as that.

If you’ve been waiting for a sign… this is it.
 
Go grab it before your competition does.
👉 https://lnkd.in/dAARFwvU

I analyzed 500 brands winning in AI search.

97% brands are getting ignored.

Only 3% keep showing up in ChatGPT recommendations.

So, I did what any obsessed marketer would do

I spent 6 months figuring out why.

→ Tested 200+ prompts 
→ Reverse-engineered 50+ top-performing brands 
→ Built frameworks from scratch 
→ Broke what worked. Rebuilt it better.

Then I took what I learned and tested it with 7 clients.

The results?
Invisible → Recommended by ChatGPT in 90 days.

Not through ads. Not through luck.

Through a systematic AI-first visibility playbook.

7 free guides to master it before everyone else

And I'm giving it away for free.

Inside you’ll find:

1️⃣ 4 steps to make your content AI readable
2️⃣ 19 laws of ChatGPT prompts
3️⃣ How to make your brand rank on AI first SEO
4️⃣ 44+ Best ChatGPT Prompts for SEO
5️⃣ How to train AI search to find your brand
6️⃣ How to create content AI engines will read
7️⃣ 7 SEO tricks brands need to know for visibility in 2026

This is the playbook I wish I had when AI search started eating our organic traffic.

Now it exists. And it's completely free.

Need access to it?

Like and Comment "PLAYBOOK" to receive it. (🙃 Make sure we are connected)

P.S. Repost this for priority access!

taplio

The Battle

🌀 Kyle vanArtsen

Alka Gupta

Followers

Posts

Engagements

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taplio

The Battle

🌀 Kyle vanArtsen

Alka Gupta

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);}Alka Gupta's LinkedIn Performance

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