In a world where AI is rapidly changing how we find information, the old marketing playbooks are being shredded.
Martin Gontovnikas (Gonto), the growth architect behind Auth0’s $6.5 billion acquisition and advisor to unicorns like Vercel, Ramp, and Retool, recently sat down on the Evergrow Show to reveal his vision for the future of marketing.
If you’re a founder or marketer wondering how to survive the "death of the browser" and future-proof yourself in the Era of AI, this is your masterclass.
1. Distribution > Code: The $6.5 Billion Realization
For most technical founders, marketing feels like the "dark side." But Gonto’s career trajectory changed when he realized that a great product is only the baseline—distribution is what wins markets.
The Myth of "Build it and they will come": Gonto emphasizes that while product matters, magic doesn't happen without tapping into existing user habits [02:40].
Showing Up is Half the Battle: Success comes from understanding where your target market lives and showing up there enough times until they can't ignore you [03:06].
Better to be Different than Better: In a world of infinite noise, a "scrappy and weird" unique approach beats a slightly better version of the status quo every time [06:04].
2. The Death of Gated Content and Traditional Outbound
Gonto doesn't mince words: "Gated content is dead." [11:06]. The friction of asking for an email for a whitepaper or code sample no longer makes sense in a frictionless AI world.
Similarly, traditional outbound is on life support. As AI filters (like Gmail’s new AI inbox) begin to decide what we read, "hyper-personalized" emails are seeing lower and lower conversion [20:09].
The New Rule: If your product is hidden behind a "Contact Sales" form without a way to try it first, you are likely building a deprecated business model [10:20].
3. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Optimizing for LLMs
With the "death of the browser" looming, people are increasingly using ChatGPT and Claude to make buying decisions. Gonto shares his cutting-edge tactics for LLM Search Optimization:
Markdown Versions of Sites: Build specific, simplified markdown versions of your website specifically for LLMs to crawl and understand your site's structure better [23:15].
The "Summarize Me" Strategy: Adding "Summarize this on ChatGPT" buttons to your blog posts isn't just for user experience. Because LLMs have memory, this action pushes your product into the AI's long-term context, making it more likely to be recommended in future queries [23:47].
Influencing the Sources: AI models prioritize Reddit and Medium for "human" opinions. Gonto’s teams focus on building high-karma presence and organic references on these platforms to ensure AI "hears" positive things about their products [22:10].
4. AI-Driven Growth Engines (The Ramp & Vercel Playbook)
Automation isn't about spam; it's about extreme utility. Gonto highlights how Ramp and Vercel use AI to provide value before a user even signs up:
Ramp’s Savings Engine: They use AI to scrape a company’s tech stack (e.g., Salesforce, Marketo), calculate their likely spend based on employee count, and send a CFO an email saying: "You're likely paying $1.2M for these tools; use Ramp and get $18k in cash back." [18:26].
Vercel’s Speed Insights: They compare a prospect's website speed against their competitors via API and send a personalized report showing exactly how much conversion they are losing due to latency [19:17].
5. Brand and Storytelling: The Ultimate Moats
As technical hacks become easier to replicate with AI, Brand and Taste are becoming the only true differentiators [32:41].
Gonto argues that founders need to stop being scared of things they can’t measure. Storytelling—shared via podcasts, Twitter, and YouTube—is replacing the old PR/Comms model [35:41].
"People care about real stories because they feel empathy for them... a unique point of view is what grabs attention now." [33:18].
6. Pro-Tip: Embrace the Imperfections
In an era of perfectly polished AI content, human "watermarks" matter. Gonto suggests:
The Founder's Takeaway: Take All Your Shots
Gonto’s one message to every founder: It is more important to be creative and try your shots than to be scared of failing. [41:46]. Growth is about experimentation. If you don't try the "crazy" ideas because they aren't "standard," you lose the chance to find your next $6.5B distribution loop.
Want the full download?
This email is just the tip of the iceberg. In the full interview, Gonto breaks down his entire vision for what Marketing & Growth should look like in the era of AI.
The cost of building has gone to zero, and the only remaining moat in business is distribution. The best way to learn distribution is from the most successful Founders and Marketers on the front lines. Every week, I interview world-class Founders and Marketers to learn about the strategies, tactics, and tools they’re using to power their growth. I publish these interviews for free on the Evergrow YouTube channel and Newsletter.
Till next week,
Phillip Alexeev
Founder of Evergrow.io