Enhancing Digital Visibility with a Free AI and GEO Tool: My Journey from Concept to Reality
In recent months, I embarked on an exciting project within an internal startup incubator at Amplitude, a leading product analytics platform comparable to Google Analytics. The opportunity was unique: develop a cutting-edge AI-driven tool to boost digital visibility—specifically, an AI visibility and GEO optimization platform—without the usual financial barriers. Here’s an inside look at how I built this tool, why I focused on it, and what differentiates it in a crowded market.
Identifying a Market Need
Given my extensive experience in SEO, I initially considered developing an SEO-focused solution. However, I kept encountering the narrative that traditional SEO is waning, as increasingly users turn to ChatGPT and similar AI models for information. Concurrently, I observed that recent Y Combinator startups were creating tools that leverage data from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and other AI models to help brands improve their search presence and reputation—a domain known as “AI visibility” or “GEO.”
Moreover, one notable player, Profound, an early entrant in AI visibility tools, raised $20 million in funding, underscoring the market’s potential. These developments inspired me to analyze existing solutions, many of which I found to be either overly complex, lacking in usability, or prohibitively expensive.
Building a Better Solution
Recognizing these gaps, I saw an opportunity to create a more accessible and effective tool. My approach was to combine AI visibility features with Amplitude’s existing data infrastructure. Since Amplitude already collects insights on traffic sources—including data on how users arrive via AI models like ChatGPT—I realized we could offer a more integrated and cost-effective solution.
During an internal hackathon, my small team and I developed an initial prototype in just one week. This rapid iteration was so promising that our CEO expressed interest in showcasing it to our existing customers—a group that includes software engineers, marketing professionals, and executives.
Customer-Centric Development
Leveraging our strong relationships, I organized demos with about five customers per week, often preloading their specific data to demonstrate real-time results. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one customer describing the experience as “the highlight of my week.” Over several months, I engaged with over a hundred users, continuously refining the product based on their insights.
This iterative process involved collaborative development—sometimes even making adjustments during calls with tools like Cursor—to ensure the platform aligned with user workflows and