Why visibility is the new currency for founders in the age of AI search For founders, visibility has always been powerful. A funding announcement, a bold founder profile, or a flagship customer win can propel a company from unknown into headlines, crucially into the view of investors, prospects, and talent. But in 2025, the rules of visibility are changing at pace.

With the rise of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) such as Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's newly launched GPT-5, entrepreneurs are facing a new frontier in how their brands are discovered, evaluated, and talked about. Increasingly, people are no longer turning first to Google or LinkedIn to research a business. Instead, they're asking AI tools - and the answers are shaping perception, trust, and ultimately value. For UK founders and scale-ups, this new reality demands a rethink of the PR playbook.

The AI search effect
Unlike traditional search, AI-generated responses don't just list links; they deliver narratives that assume authority. That means what AI says or doesn't say about you could decide whether your company is even part of the conversation. As daunting as that might seem, it opens a whole new door for companies to see how they are being searched, or found - critically, versus their competition.

In this new era, entrepreneurs now need to ask themselves:

• How is my brand appearing in AI-generated search results?
• What is being said about my competitors?
• What prompts are being used to find my company?
• How can I influence the sources these models rely on?

Just like visibility in Google rankings. It's about being present when your target audiences go searching unbeknown to you, and understanding what AI is constantly drawing from. If you're not there, you risk invisibility at the very moment when customers, investors, or journalists are searching.

Opportunities to shape the narrative
The good news is that AI doesn't create knowledge in a vacuum - it pulls from published content, coverage, and online sentiment. That means founders can still influence what it seen by focusing on:

• Quality media coverage: Authoritative journalism and trade press features carry weight with AI models.
• Thought leadership: Opinion articles, podcasts, and interviews feed directly into the narrative AI builds about a sector.
• Using AI to measure influence: Target those sources your competitors or you are seeing the most results from.
• Digital reputation management: Ensuring consistency across websites, profiles, and credible third-party mentions helps models 'learn' a clear story.

Visibility as company value
Visibility has always been a driver of valuation, but in the AI age, it's becoming a form of currency in itself. When investors run diligence checks, they won't just Google you - they'll query an LLM. Many CEOs and investors I know now turn to AI to gain potential company valuations, that's how much influence LLMs now have over traditional search. Equally, when talent is considering a startup position, they may well ask ChatGPT or Claude what your company is known for and what your employer reputation is like.

The brands that appear knowledgeable, credible, and positive in those answers will enjoy a disproportionate advantage. For scaleups especially, our experience shows that visibility directly impacts investor confidence, customer acquisition and employer brand. In short: visibility supports growth.

One example of an entrepreneur believing in visibility is instrumental for growth is Martin Neale, CEO and founder of ICS.AI. He says: "As leading AI transformation partner to the public sector, we are growing rapidly and expanding our footprint daily. We need our brand to reflect this. In the space of six months by implementing a consistent PR campaign we've won multiple awards, gained traction in the government, education and tech press, been responsive on AI issues that matter - and are about to enter new sectors supported by PR. Our AI searchability is now significantly up versus our competition."

The new growth journey
So what does the modern visibility journey look like for entrepreneurs and how can you influence its direction?

1. Start with the story - Define the founder narrative and brand positioning that sets you apart. Make it compelling, stand out and consistent.
2. Secure earned media - Use PR to gain coverage in trusted outlets that AI models treat as high authority.
3. Amplify thought leadership - Publish and promote insights that demonstrate expertise.
4. Evolve visibility as you scale – From seed to Series B and beyond, you need a consistent plan to own your space, and be seen above your competition.
5. Monitor the AI lens - Regularly check how your company appears in generative search outputs, and benchmark against competitors. Fortunately, with the advent of LLMs, new tools are emerging to do this. Your PR team should be on the button with this.

In an age where AI tools are becoming the go-to source of knowledge, visibility isn't optional - it's make or break. For UK founders and scaleups, the challenge is to embrace a new PR mindset: one that recognises that every piece of earned visibility today adds to the LLM data of tomorrow. It's imperative to buy trust, fuel growth, and shape the value of your business.