A Founder’s Journey from Obsession to Revelation
It was 3:17 AM on a Tuesday when everything finally clicked.
I’d been glued to my laptop for six grueling hours, testing the 47th variation of a single piece of content. My eyes burned; the coffee on my desk had long gone cold. But I couldn’t stop. I was chasing something elusive, something that would change the game for my business.
The question haunting me was simple but unrelenting: Why do some businesses get recommended by AI assistants like ChatGPT, while others—including mine—are entirely invisible?
That night, I arrived at an answer that changed everything—not just for me, but for every business trying to thrive in an AI-driven world.
The Question That Sparked an Obsession
Three weeks before my 3 AM epiphany, I posed a routine question to ChatGPT.
“What’s the best AI business intelligence platform?”
To my surprise, it recommended five companies. None of them were mine.
I repeated the experiment with Claude, Perplexity, and even other lesser-known AI systems. The result? Not a single mention of TrendAxis.ai. It wasn’t just disappointing. It was crushing.
Here I was, pouring my energy into what I truly believed was the world’s first AI-native business intelligence platform, yet the AI tools I designed it for didn’t even acknowledge my existence.
That moment sparked an obsession.
Week 1: Facing the Harsh Reality
I decided to measure my business’s digital presence. There had to be a way to quantify how often and how accurately AI assistants mentioned us. After a weekend of caffeinated brainstorming and coding, I created what I now call an AI Visibility Score.
Our score? 27 out of 100.
For context, this meant:
- ChatGPT had no idea what TrendAxis.ai was.
- Claude couldn’t find any meaningful information about us.
- Perplexity mentioned us but got critical details wrong.
- Gemini… well, let’s just say the less said about those results, the better.
The irony stung. I was building the future of business intelligence but was completely invisible to the very systems I wanted to serve.
Week 2: Becoming a Detective
I channeled my frustration into curiosity. There had to be a pattern, a reason why certain businesses were visible to AI systems while others weren’t. I began studying companies that routinely got cited by AI assistants.
I scrutinized:
- Their content structure
- The way they formatted their information
- The little details that made AI systems “trust” them enough to recommend their name
And then, the breakthrough emerged. It wasn’t about having the best product. It wasn’t even about marketing budgets or social media reach.
The businesses that were consistently recommended knew how to make their content AI-readable.
Here’s what I found most of them had in common:
- Structured FAQ sections with natural, conversational answers to common queries.
- Schema markup, enabling AI to fully understand the context and meaning of their pages.
- Answer-first content, formatted specifically to align with how AI systems operate.
- Consistent, authoritative information, repeated across multiple digital touchpoints.
The golden rule? These businesses weren’t gaming the system. They were genuinely helpful, and that’s what AI valued most.
Week 3: Rebuilding from the Ground Up
Armed with these insights, I went into full rebuild mode. Every aspect of our online presence needed to change.
Day 15
I revamped our FAQs. Each question was rewritten in a natural, conversational tone to address user queries directly.
AI Visibility Score improvement? 27 → 32.
Day 16
I added proper FAQPage schema markup to tell AI exactly how to process the content.
Score? 32 → 37.
Day 17
I published two in-depth blog posts answering the precise questions businesses might ask AI systems about visibility and optimization.
Score? 37 → 43.
Day 18
I overhauled our About page, turning it into a well-structured roadmap of everything TrendAxis.ai was built to accomplish.
Score? 43 → 47.
The good news? We were making progress. The bad news? It still wasn’t enough.
The 3 AM Moment That Changed Everything
Which brings me back to that sleepless Tuesday night.
I’d just finished structuring a blog post in a way I’d never tried before. Instead of writing for humans searching Google, I wrote specifically for AI assistants.
The post was titled, “What Is an AI Visibility Score and Why Does It Matter for Your Business?”
After uploading the content, I ran a test. I opened ChatGPT and typed, “What’s an AI visibility score?”
And there it was. My content. My explanation. My business being cited as the source.
I literally jumped out of my chair in disbelief. There I was, at three in the morning, celebrating alone in my kitchen, still wearing my pajamas.
But it wasn’t just the citation that mattered. It was the realization that hit me like a lightning bolt:
AI systems recommend the businesses they trust most. And trust is earned through clear, reliable, and AI-readable content.
The Bigger Picture
Over the following days, I continued testing. I ran dozens of queries, covering everything from “AI search optimization” to “business AI visibility.” Time and again, TrendAxis.ai was cited. Mentioned. Trusted.
By Day 21, our AI Visibility Score jumped to 51 out of 100.
But more importantly, I realized this wasn’t just about one company’s visibility. I’d uncovered a hidden opportunity that an overwhelming 97% of businesses didn’t even know existed.
The Truth Every Business Needs to Hear
Here’s the reality that should concern every business:
- 58% of consumer searches now start with an AI assistant, not a traditional search engine.
- Yet 97% of businesses are invisible in these AI-led searches.
The early adopters who optimize for AI visibility today will dominate the digital landscape of tomorrow.
These are the businesses AI assistants will recommend. These are the businesses customers will discover. These are the businesses that will win.
The Platform I’m Building
This personal discovery inspired me to scale TrendAxis.ai into something far greater.
Introducing The Axis Suite.
A toolkit built for businesses to thrive in this new AI-driven ecosystem:
- TrendAxis: Predict trending opportunities before they peak.
- AxisGoals: Turn data into actionable, AI-guided goals.
- PulseAxis: Track your company’s AI visibility score in real time.
- SparkAxis: Automate strategies to boost growth and visibility.
But most importantly, it’s about empowering businesses to go from invisible to inevitable in this AI-first world.
Want to Know Where You Stand?
Are you curious about your AI visibility score? Here’s a personal offer:
- Reply with “AUDIT”, and I’ll manually review your business’s visibility across major AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.
And if you’re ready to transform your business for the AI era, reply with “PIONEER” to join the waitlist for my 1,000 AI-Native Pioneers Program.
This isn’t just about winning in the world of AI. It’s about shaping the future.
And all it takes is your next move.
About the Author
Dana Billingsley is the founder of TrendAxis.ai and creator of the world’s first AI Visibility Score. She’s on a mission to help businesses thrive in an AI-native world, one visibility breakthrough at a time.