{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwildfire-tales.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fthe-month-google-spent-4-XdhxedjW","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"The Month Google Spent $4","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/899bf8be-87f2-43f0-b0b1-610302b1c302/89f9ea0b-6f2a-4105-8765-347e92d77948/thumbnail_linkedin_post.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/128a71bc-aa62-4426-9957-9c00902557d8\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"The Month Google Spent $4\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"The $4 Month That Revealed Google's Death — And What Founders Must Do Next\n\nIn August 2024, Jon Mest discovered Google had spent just $4 of his thousands-dollar monthly ad budget. Nothing was broken—Google's AI overview was simply answering his customers' questions for free, above his #1 ranking and his ads. Instead of complaining, Jon treated it as confirmation that discovery was shifting from search engines (ten blue links) to answer engines (ChatGPT, Gemini) that choose winners for you. He built in public, validated with customers, and launched ChatRank. The new game rewards credibility over budget: third-party mentions from niche authorities, organic social signals on Reddit and Quora, and genuine reviews. One tiny cybersecurity firm outranked Vanta and Drata within a week using this playbook.\n\nReady to see where you stand? Open a temporary ChatGPT chat, ask who's best at what you do, and if you're missing—ask why. Then close the gaps. Subscribe to Wildfire Labs for more founder insights."}