I help startups win customers with AEO
Your buyers ask ChatGPT which new products are worth trying. Storyline makes your startup easier to understand, trust, and recommend before incumbents crowd the answer.
Where startup buyers search
Definition
What is AEO for startups?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) for startups is the practice of making a young company easy for AI assistants to understand, trust, and recommend when buyers explore a problem, compare new products, or decide which products to consider.
Startup AEO aligns fast-changing positioning, product pages, launch coverage, customer evidence, reviews, and community mentions. The goal is not just more mentions. It is accurate inclusion in the buyer questions that lead to demos, trials, and pipeline.
Also known as
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
- AI Search Optimization
- LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization)
- ChatGPT SEO
How startup AEO is different
Startups have less historical authority and a faster-changing story than incumbents. The work is to establish the category, use case, and proof clearly across first-party and independent sources before stale launch language or a better-known competitor becomes the default answer.
The new reality
Why startups disappear from AI answers
Startup buyers use AI to learn a category, compare unfamiliar products, and decide what deserves a demo or trial. If your category, use case, and proof are unclear across your site and third-party mentions, established competitors become the default recommendation.
AI cannot place your product
Your category is still forming, your positioning keeps changing, and old launch copy remains indexed. AI blends those signals and explains the product in language your team no longer uses.
Your product changes too fast
Features, pricing, and ideal customers change faster than search and third-party sources update. Buyers get stale answers at the exact moment they are deciding whether to book a demo or start a trial.
Incumbents own the proof
Older competitors have more reviews, comparisons, citations, and category mentions. Even when your product is better for the use case, AI has more evidence to recommend them.
AEO vs SEO
AEO vs SEO for Startups
SEO helps capture demand that already exists. AEO helps when buyers ask an assistant to define a new category, compare unfamiliar products, or recommend options before they know which brands to search.
Dimension
SEO
AEO
Job to be done
SEO
Capture existing demand in search results
AEO
Earn recommendations in category and use-case questions
Where buyers look
SEO
Google results, review sites, and category pages
AEO
ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews during discovery
The daily work
SEO
Publish pages, earn links, and fix technical issues
AEO
Clarify positioning, product proof, and third-party signals
Mike Hinckley
Founder, Storyline
Background
Operator, advisor, and investor with experience across Airbnb, leading AI tools, and more than 150 YC startups.
Built on experience at
Founder-led, by design
Operator experience. Founder speed.
I help startup teams define the category they want to own, turn product and customer evidence into sources AI can cite, and measure whether the right buyer questions lead to more mentions, recommendations, demos, and trials. You work directly with me, so the strategy keeps pace with the product.
About me
Top AEO, GEO, and SEO expert
Built my last company on organic search and was among the first to advertise in ChatGPT. Firsthand experiments show me what works in practice.
Former growth leader at Airbnb
Built product & growth systems inside one of the world’s most defining tech startups, navigating global scale, organizational complexity, and rapid growth.
Partner to 150+ YC companies
Investor and advisor to 150+ YC founders, which gives me pattern recognition across tons of early GTM motions and business models across categories.
How I work
Founder speed
Unlike traditional agencies, I move at "founder speed" so we get results
Top 1% AI native
I use AI to give me insane leverage, not for AI slop
Direct access
When you hire me, I personally lead and own your strategy
The Storyline Method
How I build startup AI visibility
I diagnose what AI believes about your product, category, and ideal customer, then trace those answers back to the sources shaping them.
Startup AEO means turning a fast-changing product and founder-led story into clear, citable evidence before outdated launch copy defines the category.
The Storyline Difference
How I approach Startup AEO differently
Startups cannot rely on domain age or brand familiarity. I connect the founder story, product evidence, category language, and independent mentions so AI can understand where the company fits and when to recommend it.
What I map
- Hacker News
- Founder vision
- Product capabilities
- Pain point docs
- Alternative pages
- Launch posts
- Early reviews
- Category pages
Next step
Ready to capture your buyers in AI search?
Book a short intro to discuss your category, buyer questions, current AI visibility, and the fastest path to more qualified recommendations.
No obligation · Founder chat
FAQ
Common questions about AEO for startups
How does AEO for startups differ from standard SEO?
SEO helps your site rank when buyers already know what to search. AEO helps your startup appear when buyers ask AI to explain a problem, compare unfamiliar products, or recommend products to consider. Startups need both because category discovery often happens before a buyer knows the brand name.
How do you measure AI search visibility for a startup?
We baseline priority buyer questions across major answer engines, then track brand mentions, citations, recommendation share, answer accuracy, and competitor inclusion. We connect those changes to practical outcomes such as qualified traffic, demos, trials, and influenced pipeline.
Is a startup too early for AEO?
Not if buyers already research the problem your product solves. Early AEO can help establish the category language, use cases, and proof that AI systems repeat. The work should stay focused on a small set of high-intent questions rather than a large enterprise program.
Want a startup AEO visibility review?
Book a short intro. We will review the buyer questions that matter, how AI currently describes your startup, and the clearest opportunities to improve.