5 Takeaways

1. AI search is changing where buyer decisions begin, especially when people use AI tools to find, compare and shortlist businesses.
2. Some lost opportunities may never show up in normal analytics. If a business is not mentioned by AI, it may simply miss the enquiry.
3. AI search is starting to feel like a new kind of tender room, where being one of the options matters before a buyer ever speaks to you.
4. Clear answers, useful formats and real expertise matter more than generic marketing copy.
5. Even as AI becomes more involved, people still matter. Trust, clarity and human experience remain part of how buyers make decisions.

Summary

In one of our SU2SU founder sessions, Dean joined us to talk through how AI search is changing visibility for businesses.

The conversation moved quickly from “what is happening?” to “what does this mean for my business?” Founders asked how to know whether they are visible in AI search, whether smaller companies have a chance against bigger competitors, what this means for marketing budgets, whether YouTube matters, and whether agent-to-agent buying could affect people-led businesses.

This recap turns that conversation into a clear blog so other founders can learn from the room too. It is not written as a prediction piece or a generic marketing guide. It is a practical summary of what was discussed, challenged and explored during the session.

Introduction

When founders talk about AI, the conversation can easily become too big, too technical or too far away from day-to-day business.

That was not the tone of this session.

Dean came into the SU2SU room to explain how AI search is changing the way businesses are found and chosen. But the value was not only in the presentation. It was in the questions that followed.

Founders wanted to know what this means for visibility, sales, marketing spend, content, YouTube, trust and the way buyers behave. They were not asking from theory. They were asking because they run businesses, spend budgets, speak to customers and need to understand where attention is moving.

This is why conversations inside our weekly Founder Surgery calls matter. Founders need space to bring live questions, hear practical challenges and think clearly with people who understand the reality of building a business.

The central question became very simple: if buyers start using AI to find, compare and shortlist businesses, how do founders make sure their business is still visible, clear and trusted?

What Changes When AI Becomes The Layer Between Buyers And Businesses?

When AI sits between buyers and businesses, it can start shaping which companies are seen, compared and chosen before a buyer ever visits a website. This changes visibility from something you measure after the click to something that happens before it. Founders need to think about how clearly their business can be understood and recommended by AI, not just how it ranks in search. It also means missed opportunities may never show up in analytics if the business is not included in AI-generated answers.

Why did Dean describe AI as a new gatekeeper?

Dean opened by explaining that search is shifting.

He shared that more B2B buyers are using AI as a primary way to search for new suppliers, and that a portion of search traffic is expected to move into AI-led environments. His point was not just about statistics. It was about what happens when the buyer no longer starts with a normal search page.

In traditional search, a buyer searches, clicks, reads and decides.

In AI search, the buyer may ask a long, specific question and receive a shortlist inside the answer. That means AI becomes a layer between the buyer and the business. Dean described this as a gatekeeper role because AI may influence which businesses are mentioned before the buyer ever reaches a website.

That matters because founders are used to thinking about traffic, rankings and enquiries. But in this new layer, a business may lose visibility before any of those signals appear.

What is different when a buyer asks AI instead of searching Google?

The difference is the shape of the question.

Dean explained that people are not always typing short keywords. They may ask something much longer and more specific, such as looking for a type of business near them or asking for a community of people who are starting or growing businesses and want peer-to-peer support.

That type of search is closer to a conversation than a keyword. It includes context, intent and constraints.

For founders, this changes the job. It is no longer only about whether a page exists. It is about whether the business is clear enough for AI to understand, compare and recommend.

Why might some missed opportunities never show up in your analytics?

One of the more uncomfortable points Dean made was that a business may not receive a warning when it is missing from AI search.

If someone asks AI for options and your business is not included, you may never know that buyer existed. There may be no website visit, no enquiry and no obvious data point.

From a founder’s point of view, that is difficult because we often look for evidence after the fact. We look at traffic, leads and conversion. But if the buyer’s shortlist is being shaped before the website visit, the missed opportunity can stay invisible.

That is why the session kept coming back to visibility. Not visibility as vanity. Visibility as the basic condition for being considered.

For founders who want a broader background on responsible AI use, the UK government’s introduction to AI assurance is a useful starting point.

How Are The Three Search Layers Changing The Way Founders Need To Think?

AI search is not replacing traditional search overnight, but it is adding new layers where buyer decisions can begin earlier and happen faster. Founders now need to think beyond rankings and traffic, and consider whether their business is being included in AI-generated shortlists. 

Each layer changes how visibility works, from clicks to comparisons to automated decisions. Understanding where your buyers are making choices is becoming just as important as how they find you.

What still matters in the traditional search layer?

Dean described the first layer as the world many businesses already know.

People search. People click. People decide. Then they contact the company through the website or another inbound channel.

This still matters. Dean did not say that every buyer will immediately leave traditional search behind. The discussion was more balanced than that. The view shared in the session was that different layers will likely exist together for some time.

For founders, that means this is not about throwing away everything that already works. It is about recognising that buyer behaviour may now be spread across more places.

What happens when AI starts building the buyer’s shortlist?

The second layer is where the conversation became more immediate.

This is the layer where people use AI for discovery and decision-making. Instead of visiting several websites first, they may ask an AI tool to find, compare or recommend businesses.

Dean connected this to the familiar idea of a shortlist. In older buying processes, especially in tenders, you had to be one of the few businesses being considered. If you were not in that group, you had little chance of winning the work.

AI search can create a similar effect. If AI mentions three, five or ten businesses and yours is not there, you may be outside the buyer’s thinking before the conversation has started.

What could agent-to-agent buying mean for product-led businesses?

The third layer Dean discussed was agent-to-agent buying.

He described a future where people may not search directly, and agents may act on their behalf. In that situation, agents may interact with agents rather than people visiting websites or speaking to humans.

The session did not treat this in the same way for every business. Dean spoke about product-led scenarios, platforms and infrastructure. He also later gave a more cautious answer when asked whether this applies to people-led businesses where trust and personal delivery are central.

That distinction matters.

For some businesses, especially where products and structured information are involved, the technical side of being understood by AI agents may become more important. For others, the human relationship may continue to play a stronger role.

The useful takeaway for founders is not to panic. It is to understand which layer is most relevant to your business and where buyers are most likely to make decisions.

How Can A Founder Find Out If Their Business Is Being Mentioned By AI?

Founders can start by manually asking AI the same questions their customers would ask and checking whether their business appears in the answers. This helps reveal visibility gaps that traditional analytics may not show. By reviewing which competitors and sources are mentioned, founders can better understand how AI interprets their market. From there, they can refine their content to be clearer, more useful and easier for AI to recognise.

What manual checks can a founder do before paying for tools?

One of the most useful questions came from Ed, who asked how businesses can find out where they stand in AI search.

Dean’s answer was practical.

Before paying for tools, founders can start manually. Write down the top 20 to 30 questions you would want your business to be the answer for. Then ask those questions across AI tools and see what comes back.

Look for:

• Do you appear?
• Do your competitors appear?
• What sources does AI use?
• Is it citing a website, a YouTube video, a Reddit answer or another kind of source?

This is simple, but it gives founders a starting point. It turns a vague worry into something you can actually look at.

This is also the type of practical question founders can bring into SU2SU, whether through our founder-room discussions, member options or wider community support.

What should founders look for when they test buyer questions?

The value is not only in checking whether your name appears.

Dean encouraged the room to look at the shape of the answer. If AI mentions competitors, how are they being positioned? What information is being used? What kind of content is being surfaced?

That can show you what AI currently understands about the market. It can also show whether your business is clear enough online.

If you do not appear, the question becomes: is there enough useful, specific information available for AI to understand why you should be included?

Why is it useful to see which competitors and sources AI mentions?

This is where the exercise becomes more than a visibility check.

If AI is mentioning competitors, you can learn what kind of content is helping them show up. If it is using YouTube videos, forum-style answers, clear website pages or comparison content, that gives you clues about what is being understood and trusted.

Dean also made the point that businesses should not only think about their own visibility. They should understand the wider answer set. AI search is comparative. Knowing who else appears is part of understanding the buyer’s new decision environment.

Why Is AI Search Starting To Look Like A New Kind Of Tender Room?

In Dean’s view, AI search can start to feel like a new kind of tender room because it may present a limited shortlist of businesses to buyers. If your business is not included in that shortlist, you may not be considered at that stage of the buyer’s decision. This shifts the focus from simply attracting traffic to being one of the few options AI recommends. For founders, visibility at this early decision stage is becoming critical before any direct interaction happens.

Why did Dean compare AI visibility to being one of the three options?

One of the strongest ideas from the session was Dean’s comparison between AI search and the old tender process.

In many buying situations, the aim was to be one of the three businesses being considered. If you were not one of those three, the buyer may never speak to you.

AI search can work in a similar way. The buyer asks for recommendations or comparisons, and AI builds the answer. If your business is not included, you may not be considered.

That is why this is not only about traffic. It is about being present at the point where the buyer starts forming their view.

What happens when buyers use AI to compare companies instantly?

Dean explained that buyers can ask AI to compare several companies at once.

That changes the pressure on public information. If a buyer already knows your name, they may still ask AI to compare you against others. They may use AI to understand differences, strengths, weaknesses, pricing, positioning or credibility.

At that moment, your business is being interpreted through the information that already exists online.

For founders, that is a serious point. If your public information is unclear, out of date or thin, AI may not have enough to represent you well.

Why does unclear or outdated information become a risk during comparison?

Dean warned that if the information available about a business is old or not properly shaped, it may affect how the business is understood in a comparison.

That does not mean founders should rush to create more content for the sake of it. The point was more practical: the information online needs to be clear, useful and current enough to support the decision being made.

AI is not only looking for a business name. It is trying to understand who you help, what you do, why you are credible and whether you have answered the buyer’s question.

That brings the conversation back to brand clarity.

• Make it clear what you do.
• Make it easy to understand who you help.
• Make the answer obvious.
• Make the next step simple.

Dean described this as part of the same marketing principle that has always mattered, now viewed through an AI lens.

For founders thinking about trust, personal data and AI, the ICO’s AI and data protection guidance is a useful official resource to keep close.

What Should Founders Create If They Want To Be Clearer To AI And Buyers?

Founders should focus on creating clear, useful content that directly answers real buyer questions. This includes practical formats like explanations, comparisons and step-by-step guidance that both people and AI can easily understand. The goal is not volume, but clarity and relevance. When content reflects real expertise and solves real problems, it becomes easier for AI to recognise and recommend.

Why are clear answers more useful than keyword-led marketing copy?

Dean made a clear distinction between keyword-led marketing and answer-led content.

He explained that many businesses have created content built around keywords and statements, but AI often needs a direct answer it can use. It needs the business to explain things clearly.

That is why questions matter.

If a buyer is asking a practical question, your content should answer it. Not vaguely. Not with filler. Not with generic copy that could belong to anyone. It should give the answer in a way that both people and AI can understand.

Dean put it simply: if people search, give them the answer. The answer just needs to sit somewhere.

That could be:

• A blog
• A video
• A social post
• A forum-style answer
• A practical founder resource

The format matters, but the clarity matters more.

This is why resources such as Real Startup Questions. Real Founder Answers. matter: founders often need direct answers to real questions, not vague advice.

What kinds of content did Dean say AI is more likely to use?

Dean listed several types of content that can help businesses become easier to cite and understand.

He mentioned definitions, step-by-step processes, comparisons, checklists, clear claims with proof, unique frameworks and unique ways of working.

These are practical formats because they reduce confusion. They help a buyer understand what something means, how something works, what to compare, what to avoid and what decision to make.

He also challenged the idea that a business can solve the problem by creating lots of generic AI content. His point was that if AI can generate the same thing itself, that content is unlikely to stand out.

What makes a business useful is still the thinking behind it. The experience. The judgement. The way the founder explains a problem. The clarity of the offer. The real answers to real questions.

That was one of the more reassuring parts of the session. AI may change the channel, but it does not remove the need for human judgement.

Why did YouTube become one of the most practical ideas in the session?

YouTube became a big part of the discussion because Jeff asked whether businesses should think about organic video, paid advertising or both.

Dean’s answer leaned strongly towards organic YouTube.

He talked about the opportunity in short videos that answer specific questions. The idea was not to create perfect productions. It was to take the questions your audience already has and answer them clearly.

A founder could write down a set of questions, record short answers and upload them with a clear title and description. Dean described how this could become part of a normal rhythm, almost like going to the gym. Once the habit is there, it becomes less intimidating.

That made the discussion feel very practical. It was not about founders needing a big production team. It was about answering useful questions in a format that people can watch and AI can understand.

You can see more founder sessions and practical conversations on the Startup 2 Standup YouTube channel.

Dean also made an important point about trust. In a world where there is more AI-generated content, raw and useful video can help people see the real person behind the business.

That matters for sales too.

Dean explained that longer-form videos and playlists can support the sales process because buyers may come into a conversation having already watched useful content. Instead of starting with “tell me about yourself,” they may arrive with better questions.

That is a practical shift for founders. Content is not only there to attract attention. It can help buyers understand, trust and move further through their own decision process.

It also connects closely with the kind of expert sessions, workshops and talks that SU2SU brings into the founder community.

Conclusion

The strongest part of this SU2SU session was not only the subject. It was the room.

Dean brought a clear view of how AI search is changing visibility, but the founders shaped the conversation through the questions they asked. They wanted to know what this means for budgets, smaller businesses, YouTube, paid placements, government support, agent-to-agent buying and people-led trust.

That is where the value sits.

Founders do not need more noise around AI. They need clearer conversations. They need to hear what is changing, ask what it means for their own business and challenge the ideas in a room where people understand the reality of building something.

That is the role we want SU2SU to play: a founder-created community where people can share challenges, find solutions and get support from peers, experts and others who understand the journey. You can explore more about the community on our Startup 2 Standup home page or read what other founders have shared on our testimonials page.

The session ended with a useful reminder. Even when AI is involved, the best answer still needs to serve the person asking the question.

So yes, founders need to think about AI visibility. They need to think about clearer answers, better content, stronger trust signals and where buyers are making decisions. But the work still comes back to people.

• Be clear about how you help.
• Answer the questions your buyers are already asking.
• Make your business easier to understand.
• Do not try to work it all out alone.

That is exactly why these conversations matter.

If this is a question you are dealing with now, bring it into a SU2SU Founder Surgery or explore Startup 2 Standup membership to get practical support from founders, experts and peers who understand the journey.

FAQs

What should a founder ask AI when checking their own visibility?

A founder can start by asking the questions they would want their business to be the answer for. These might include recommendation questions, comparison questions, pricing questions, problem-led questions or questions a buyer might ask before choosing a supplier.

Why might a business appear in Google but not appear in AI answers?

Dean explained that AI search works differently from traditional search. A business may have search visibility, but if its content does not clearly answer the questions AI is trying to respond to, it may not appear in AI-generated answers.

Can a small business be visible in AI search before a larger competitor?

The session discussed this as a real opportunity. Dean explained that AI visibility is not the same as traditional SEO, and in some spaces larger competitors may not yet own the answer set.

Should founders create content for AI first or for people first?

Dean’s view was that founders should think with an AI lens and a people lens. Content needs to be simple and clear enough for AI to understand, but it still needs to help the person asking the question.

How can a founder use real customer questions to create better content?

Founders can list the questions customers regularly ask, then turn those answers into blogs, videos, social posts or comparison content. The key is to answer clearly rather than hide the useful information behind vague marketing language.

Does a people-led business still need to think about agent-to-agent buying?

Dean was cautious on this point. His opinion was that people-led businesses may not move into agent-to-agent buying in the same way as product-led businesses, because trust and personal delivery still matter. But he also said buyer behaviour changes over time, so founders should keep paying attention.