James and Hector sit down with James Cadwallader, CEO and Co Founder of Profound, to unpack how AI is reshaping the internet and what that means for every brand on the planet.

James explains why large language models are not just a new interface, but a fundamental platform shift in how people retrieve information. Instead of humans clicking blue links, user agents now visit the web on our behalf, read content, and answer questions directly. Profound sits in the middle of this change, helping some of the worlds biggest brands understand if and how they show up in AI answers, and then create content that is designed for bots rather than humans.

The conversation covers what GEO (generative engine optimisation) actually is, how Profound uses a huge consumer prompt panel and reasoning models to map where AI gets its answers from, and why SEO teams are surprisingly well placed to become the heroes of this next era. James also shares his view on how ads will work inside products like ChatGPT, why this may finally break the search monopoly, and how he thinks marketers will work in a world where AI creates, distributes and measures most of their campaigns.

James talks through Profounds rapid journey from idea to working with Fortune 10 brands, the fundraising story with Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and others, and why this is the last company he plans to build.