Substack

🛠 Who? The hospitality industry. When? Ongoing, with references to the 1980s (American Airlines). Where? Global; airlines and hospitality sectors. What? Challenges two assumptions: pricing rooms instead of buyers and maximizing channel presence instead of demand-market fit. How? By questioning inherited logic and adopting first principles thinking, similar to strategies used by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Why? To better address customer needs and improve competitiveness by focusing on buyer pricing and targeted visibility rather than broad distribution.

🔍 In 2025, the SEO industry faced a transformative year with the rise of AI assistants like ChatGPT, reaching 800 million weekly active users by March. The SEO landscape shifted towards AI search optimization, introducing terms like GEO and AEO. The $202.3 billion AI investment surge included Adobe’s $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush. Despite the shift, traditional SEO remained critical, with AI tools still relying on search engines for information retrieval. Organic traffic decreased, prompting new success metrics.