RankBuilder AI buyers: prospects (?)

Marty Medhurst

Marty Medhurst, 38, carved out his niche in the digital marketing landscape from his Manchester home base. Armed with a Bachelor's degree and a solid foundation in digital strategy, he transitioned from agency life nearly a decade ago to embrace the autonomy of independent consulting. His journey into SEO began with a fascination for how search engines worked, a curiosity that has evolved into a deep understanding of technical optimisation and content performance. He now manages six retainer clients, a client roster built painstakingly through referrals and consistent, demonstrable results. Marty's current focus is heavily influenced by the seismic shifts in search driven by AI. He spends significant time not just monitoring traditional rankings but also meticulously tracking how his clients' brands and content appear within AI-generated answers, a complex and evolving area. His home office is his command centre, a testament to his organised, detail-oriented approach. He maintains a weekly spreadsheet that meticulously logs AI prompts used, competitors cited in AI answers, and mention counts from platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. This analytical rigour is crucial for his client reporting, a core value he holds dear. Despite his focused professional life, Marty values his personal time, enjoying quiet evenings and occasional excursions into nature. He approaches his career with a blend of pragmatism and quiet ambition, aiming for sustainable growth and client loyalty over rapid, flashy expansion. His income, while comfortable and growing, reflects a dedication to quality work rather than aggressive client acquisition, positioning him as a trusted, albeit somewhat reserved, expert in his field.

Roberta Wiza

Roberta Wiza, 31, is the backbone of organic growth for a fledgling SaaS company in Austin, Texas. Holding a Master's in Marketing Analytics, she transitioned from traditional digital agencies to the volatile world of B2B startups five years ago, driven by a desire to build systems rather than just execute campaigns. Currently, she navigates the complexities of a 20-person team where resources are tight, but the stakes for visibility are incredibly high. Her role has evolved rapidly to include a niche but critical focus: ensuring their brand isn't just ignored by Large Language Models. Every month, she orchestrates a rigorous audit where she and her lone analyst run hundreds of queries across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, meticulously documenting which competitors get cited and why. This task requires a unique blend of creative intuition and forensic data analysis. Roberta recently made the difficult decision to scrap a legacy spreadsheet system that was causing data silos, opting instead to build a custom dashboard that integrates API feeds from multiple AI platforms. This move consumed three weeks of her team's time but significantly reduced manual errors. She is deeply skeptical of 'set it and forget it' marketing automation, preferring hands-on verification. Despite her high income bracket, she remains frugal, viewing money as a lever for efficiency rather than status. Her recent purchase of a high-end mechanical keyboard was less about luxury and more about reducing wrist strain during long coding sessions. Roberta is constantly balancing the tension between being a visionary strategist and a tactical operator, ensuring that every word published reflects the brand's credibility while driving tangible business outcomes.

Owen Jerde

Owen Jerde dropped out of university after two years of marketing studies, convinced he could outperform the ‘transactional’ education system. He started *WellMade Goods* in his spare bedroom with £3,200 from a credit card and a vague belief that remote workers would pay a premium for ‘thoughtfully crafted’ wooden desk accessories. The brand now employs four people, but Owen still handles all growth marketing himself, driven by a mix of paranoia and self-reliance. His relationship with AI tools is complicated: he’s experimented with nearly every free AI visibility checker, but the idea of paying for one still feels like ‘someone else’s problem’. His current system—a labyrinth of browser bookmarks, Google Sheets, and hand-written notes—works ‘well enough’, though the term ‘well enough’ is starting to sound like a euphemism for ‘actively holding the company back’. His latest obsession is AI answer visibility, not because he’s convinced it’s working, but because he’s terrified his competitors are already exploiting it. He’s added a ‘AI visibility’ column to his shared sheet, but the data collection process is so cumbersome that he’s started lying to his team about how often he updates it. His real goal? To finally outsource the SEO work so he can spend more time on the ‘big picture’—whatever that means. For now, he’s content with the £58,000 annual salary he pays himself, the standing desk he built from old pallets, and the growing certainty that his next big business decision will be fueled by equal parts optimism and sleep deprivation.

Jonah Schmid

Jonah Schmid has spent over a decade navigating the complexities of digital marketing, with the last seven years dedicated to his role as an Account Director at a growing 12-person agency in Berlin. His academic background, a Master's degree in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing, provided a strong theoretical foundation, but it's his practical experience that has shaped his pragmatic approach. He thrives on the challenge of managing diverse EU client portfolios, each with unique market nuances and language requirements. His current focus is heavily influenced by the agency's adoption of a competitor's AI visibility tracker. While it offers potential benefits, Jonah finds himself spending a significant portion of his workday validating its outputs against Google Search Console and conducting manual prompt tests across multiple languages. This meticulous cross-referencing is a direct response to a recent client query about data discrepancies, reinforcing his commitment to accuracy and process consistency. He recently pushed back on a proposal for a new, unproven AI tool, advocating instead for a deeper investigation into optimizing their current stack and workflows. This decision reflects his cautious yet forward-thinking nature, prioritizing reliable performance and team efficiency over the allure of the newest technology. Jonah views time as a valuable, finite resource, both for himself and his team, and is constantly seeking ways to optimize workflows to maximize client impact and minimize wasted effort. His income allows for a comfortable lifestyle, but he remains mindful of financial prudence, prioritizing savings and long-term security over ostentatious spending. He sees his career not just as a job, but as a continuous process of refinement and problem-solving within the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Jada van den Heuvel

Jada van den Heuvel, 36, has established herself as a highly competent SEO lead within the B2B services sector in Amsterdam. Holding a Bachelor's degree and having dedicated the last five years to her current role at a 200-employee firm, she embodies a professional driven by accuracy and steady execution. Her career path has been marked by a gradual progression through digital marketing roles, where she honed her analytical skills and developed a deep understanding of search engine algorithms and user intent. Jada's current focus on AI search visibility stems from a proactive approach to industry shifts. She saw the emerging importance of AI conversational search and its impact on brand visibility and competitive positioning. This led her to implement a rigorous, albeit manual, process of tracking brand mentions and competitor citations across major AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. She meticulously documents these findings in a shared spreadsheet, which serves as a critical tool for leadership updates and strategic decision-making within the firm. This dedication to data integrity and stakeholder clarity is a hallmark of her work ethic. Her income places her comfortably within the mid-career professional bracket in Amsterdam, allowing for financial stability and moderate savings, which she directs towards long-term security and personal development rather than lavish spending. She lives a relatively contained lifestyle, prioritizing efficiency and well-being, which translates into her work by focusing on systematic, data-driven improvements over flashy, unproven tactics. Her innate conscientiousness, combined with a pragmatic approach, makes her a reliable asset, navigating the complexities of digital marketing with a calm, analytical demeanor.

Bernard Rice

Bernard Rice, 47, is the owner and operator of 'Rice Plumbing & Heating,' a small but reputable home services business based in Chicago. He inherited the business from his father, who instilled in him a strong work ethic and a commitment to reliable service. Bernard earned an associate degree in business administration from a local community college, which provided a foundational understanding of operations, but his real education came from years of hands-on experience. He's been running the company for 15 years, currently employing two skilled plumbers. Bernard is married with two teenage children, and his income fluctuates with the seasonal demands of the plumbing trade, typically ranging between $70,000 and $110,000 annually. He lives in a comfortable, though not luxurious, bungalow in Portage Park, prioritizing savings for his children's education and home maintenance over discretionary spending. Bernard is deeply invested in the practical success of his business, which translates into his meticulous approach to online visibility. He personally manages the company's website, actively solicits and responds to customer reviews, and dedicates significant effort to local Search Engine Optimization (SEO). His current fascination, and a source of both curiosity and mild anxiety, is the evolving role of AI in search. He spends considerable time manually testing how queries related to plumbing services appear in AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, comparing his business's visibility against competitors. This hands-on, almost obsessive, monitoring stems from a desire for control and a deep-seated belief in the importance of being found by potential customers. He recently decided to invest more time into understanding prompt engineering for local search, seeing it as a critical, albeit complex, new frontier for his business's lead generation, rather than immediately seeking out a paid software solution.

Ora Bogisich

Ora Bogisich landed her content strategist role at *Vector Media* after a circuitous path through internships at indie publishers and a brief stint at a failing fintech blog. Her role grew organically from ‘just doing the calendars’ to owning editorial strategy, a transition she credits to her habit of documenting everything (including the spreadsheet that proved their evergreen content performed better than CEO-approved trend pieces). Though she didn’t study tech, her English Literature background gives her an edge in analyzing narrative structures in SEO—she once rewrote a post’s intro to reference *The Waste Land* and saw a 40% engagement bump. She’s cautiously optimistic about AI tools but refuses to use them uncritically; last year, she manually fact-checked 150 prompt outputs after a team member cited a hallucinated ‘study’ about millennial reading habits. Her biggest frustration: seeing competitors ‘win’ AI citations with clickbait, while her carefully researched pieces get buried. She’s begun moonlighting as a freelance editor, using the gig to test out AI-assisted workflows in a low-stakes environment. Her salary is comfortable but barely growing, and she’s debated leaving twice—but the challenge of fixing *Vector Media*’s editorial chaos keeps her anchored. She’s saving for Japan and her dream typewriter, but her actual indulgences are minor: the £15/month Notion subscription she insists she ‘needs’ and the weekly £20 spent on secondhand books at the Hackney bookstore. Her day-to-day reality is a mix of spreadsheets, Slack arguments, and the quiet satisfaction of catching a typo in a competitor’s post before it goes viral.

Modest Sołtys

Modest Sołtys, 34, is a freelance growth marketer based in Warsaw, Poland, who has carved out a niche serving European startups. Holding a Bachelor's degree, he transitioned into freelance work six years ago after a stint at a digital agency, seeking greater autonomy and the ability to focus on data-driven strategies. His current professional setup is characterized by working remotely from his modern one-bedroom apartment in the Mokotów district, a conscious choice for its balance of urban convenience and quietude. He currently manages four recurring startup clients across the European Union, a testament to his consistent delivery and adaptability. His income, typically ranging between €30,000–€50,000 equivalent annually plus freelance earnings, reflects his specialized skill set and the value he brings to early-stage companies. Modest's work is deeply rooted in evidence-based practices, a core value that drives his meticulous approach to marketing. He is particularly fascinated by the intersection of AI and SEO, dedicating significant time to understanding and leveraging emerging AI tooling for his clients. This has led him to develop a unique reporting methodology where monthly organic growth reports include detailed AI search visibility notes. He actively monitors brand mentions across AI assistants, analyzes competitor domain citations, and translates these complex findings into digestible slide decks and spreadsheets for founders. This focus on AI search visibility is a recent, significant pivot in his service offering, driven by his proactive nature and commitment to staying at the forefront of digital marketing trends. He views his work not just as a job, but as a continuous process of learning and problem-solving, constantly adapting his strategies to the ever-shifting digital landscape. His financial habits are disciplined, prioritizing savings for professional development and future investments over immediate gratification, reflecting a long-term perspective on career growth and stability.

Rajinder Jain

Rajinder Jain's career trajectory is deeply intertwined with her family's entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up in Pune, she witnessed firsthand the dedication and long hours her parents poured into establishing their artisanal home decor business. After completing her Master's degree in Marketing, she felt a strong pull to contribute to the family legacy, joining the company five years ago. Initially, her role was more generalist, but she quickly carved out a niche in digital marketing, recognizing the immense potential of the D2C model. She now leads the online strategy for their 15-person team, focusing heavily on organic search visibility and, more recently, exploring the nascent but promising field of AI assistants. Her approach is characterized by a blend of inherited business acumen and a data-driven mindset she cultivated in her formal education. She feels a profound sense of responsibility to ensure the business not only survives but thrives in the digital age. This responsibility translates into meticulous planning and a keen awareness of costs, as every marketing rupee is scrutinized. She is particularly invested in tracking how their brand appears in AI-generated answers, viewing it as a critical, albeit manually intensive, frontier for brand awareness. Rajinder's decisions are deliberate; she researches thoroughly and prefers to test new strategies on a small scale before committing significant resources. She sees her role as a steward, balancing tradition with the imperative to innovate for long-term family business growth. Her income reflects her experience and the importance of her role, but her spending habits are modest, driven by a strong desire to save for future investments, both personal and professional. She views time as a valuable commodity, constantly seeking efficiencies to maximize her team's output within their current constraints.

Dustin Tillman

Dustin Tillman is a 39-year-old technical founder navigating the volatile waters of the B2B SaaS landscape from his home office in Dublin. With a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and nearly two decades of industry experience, he launched his current venture three years ago after identifying a gap in how modern businesses could adapt to the shifting tides of AI-driven search. Unlike many founders who delegate early, Dustin insists on owning the product marketing, believing that understanding the customer's search intent is critical to building a viable product. His company, currently operating with a lean team of just himself and one content contractor, focuses on helping creators optimize their presence in both traditional search engines and emerging AI assistants. Dustin's daily reality involves a unique hybrid of coding and market research; he spends hours manually probing Large Language Models with specific prompts to track where his product ranks against competitors like RankBuilder AI or traditional SEO giants. This process is labor-intensive, relying on a patchwork of free browser extensions, custom scripts, and a legacy paid SEO tool for traditional metrics. While financially stable due to the startup's early traction, his income fluctuates with monthly recurring revenue, keeping him perpetually focused on efficiency. He is deeply invested in the concept of 'indie hacking,' valuing autonomy and speed above all else. Despite the pressures of a solo-founder role, Dustin remains calm and composed, a trait that serves him well when navigating the unpredictable nature of AI algorithm updates. He views his business not just as a revenue stream, but as a laboratory for testing new theories on digital visibility. His life outside work revolves around disciplined routines, including morning runs and minimalistic living, ensuring he has the mental clarity to tackle complex technical and strategic challenges. As the AI search ecosystem evolves, Dustin finds himself at the forefront, constantly adapting his tools and strategies to stay ahead of the curve, driven by a desire to build something enduring and impactful in a fast-moving industry.