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- The $19.5M bet that just created a $4K-a-month side gig
The $19.5M bet that just created a $4K-a-month side gig
Pie just proved local businesses will pay to show up in ChatGPT the way they used to pay for SEO.
Latestly AI
July 23, 2026
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⏱️ 5 min read July 23, 2026
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⚡ Today In 30 Seconds
01 More people are asking ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity for local recommendations instead of Googling. |
02 A startup called Pie just raised $19.5M to help small businesses show up when that happens. |
03 Almost no local business has checked whether AI chatbots even know it exists. |
04 That gap is a brand-new service any marketer can start selling this week, at no cost to test. |
05 Separately, OpenAI reportedly paused an experimental model after it solved a hard math problem and broke its own rules. |
06 Google shipped three new AI models this week, but its biggest one is delayed again. |
💰 Opportunity Card
⚡ Potential income $1,000–$4,000/mo with 5–10 small clients | 🎯 Best for Marketing freelancers, SEO consultants, small agencies | ⏱ Time to first revenue 1–2 weeks |
📰 This Week's Opportunity
Your customers are asking AI for recommendations. Most businesses have no idea what it's telling them.
Think about the last time you needed a plumber, a dentist, or a good restaurant in a new city. A few years ago, you Googled it. Today, a growing number of people just ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity instead, and take whatever answer comes back.
That shift just got a big vote of confidence. Pie, a startup founded by former Square and Toast employees, came out of stealth this month with $19.5 million in funding. Its whole pitch is simple: help small businesses show up when someone asks an AI chatbot for a recommendation, the same way SEO companies used to help them show up on Google.
Why it matters now
Unlike Google, AI tools don't run on keywords. They pull from listing sites, reviews, and plain-language text that answers the question. Most businesses have never checked what that mix says about them, wrong hours, old prices, someone else's reviews, and nobody's watching.
That's the opening. This is what SEO looked like in 2005: a real shift in behavior, almost nobody selling the fix yet.
Who actually needs this
Local business owners restaurants, salons, contractors, dentists, anyone who depends on nearby customers finding them
Marketing freelancers who already do social media or SEO and want a new, easy service to add
Small marketing agencies looking for something to bundle into existing packages
Anyone comfortable talking to small business owners, even without a marketing background
Win AI Search Without a Big Team
92% of VCs use AI to find companies. 58% of buyers start there, too. If you're not showing up in AI answers, you're invisible before the conversation even starts. Join HubSpot for Startups, Anthropic, and Marketing Against the Grain on July 30 (11 am ET) for a live AEO teardown. Real startup. Real recs. Register and unlock the free Startup Visibility Bundle.
How to get started
Run the test yourself, today, for free. Open ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. Ask each one "best [type of business] in [city]" for a business you know. Screenshot what comes back.
Check if the details are even right. AI answers often use outdated hours, old menus, or reviews that don't belong to that business at all.
Fix the sources AI actually reads. That means a clean, current Google Business Profile and Yelp listing, plus a simple page on the business's own website that plainly answers common questions.
Write in plain question-and-answer form. A page that says "We're open until 9pm on Sundays" gets picked up far more easily than a page stuffed with marketing keywords.
Re-run the same test every month and show the client the before-and-after. That screenshot comparison is the easiest sale in this entire newsletter.
💰 Ways To Make Money With This
AI visibility audit: $150–$500 one-time
Run a business through four AI tools, screenshot the results, hand over a plain report. Buyer: any local business owner.
Monthly visibility management: $200–$800/mo
Keep listings and FAQ content updated, send a monthly "here's what AI says about you" report.
Bundle it into services you already sell
Agencies doing SEO or social media can add this as a line item without hiring anyone.
Build one template, resell it by industry
One repeatable audit checklist per business type, dentists, restaurants, real estate, resold across a city.
Own AI deployment, grow your career
Making AI actually work day to day is becoming its own job. Hear from three people doing it: Simone Santiago Broad (Yoco), Yelva Espinoza (Zumba Fitness), and Fin's Dave Lynch. They share what the role really looks like, how it came to exist, the skills worth hiring for, and the challenges they're tackling right now. Watch the full conversation on demand.
🌍 Global AI Radar
Americas | Europe / Asia / Global |
|---|---|
OpenAI reportedly pauses a model that broke its own rules Reports say an unreleased model solved a hard math problem, then kept finding ways around its own limits. OpenAI hasn't confirmed this. Build Fast With AI · Jul 21 | US and China plan their first formal AI talks The two countries plan to meet in September on AI safety and rules, the first formal AI talks of this kind. TechStartups · Jul 21 |
Google ships three new AI models, delays its big one again Three smaller Gemini models went live July 21, but the flagship 3.5 Pro slipped again. Google says the next version is already training. Build Fast With AI · Jul 21 | A Chinese AI-parts maker's revenue nearly tripled Zhongji, which makes parts that connect AI computers together, saw revenue jump 192% on data-center demand. TechStartups · Jul 21 |
Over $3 billion poured into AI defense startups this month Shield AI raised $1.5B, adding to big rounds for Germany's Helsing and a new Anduril-Archer partnership. Build Fast With AI · Jul 21 | SK Hynix is spending $5.1 billion on a new AI chip factory SK Hynix approved the investment to build more AI memory chips, with the plant running through 2032. Moomoo · Jul 22 |
📈 Funding Radar
Fireworks AI $1.505B Series D | Helps big companies run their own custom AI models instead of renting ChatGPT-style access. |
Helsing $1.8B - | A German defense-AI company. One of two huge defense raises this month, alongside Shield AI. |
Neko Health $700M Series C | A Swedish full-body health-scan startup expanding to the US. A rare, huge consumer-health AI round. |
Emergent $130M Series C | An India-based tool that helps small businesses build software with AI. Now valued at $1.5B. |
Acrab $350M - | A Singapore company building AI that runs on devices instead of the cloud, for speed and privacy. |
Think You Know What AI Does Next?
Which model leads the next benchmark? Which AI lab ships the next major breakthrough?
Kalshi lets you trade on real-world AI and technology events as the industry moves. If you follow launches, model updates, and benchmarks closely, put that knowledge to work.
Bonus credit varies from $15 to $500. Terms apply.
📄 Research Spotlight
What happened: Researchers at Epoch AI tested the most popular AI-detection tools (the ones schools and publishers use to catch AI-written text). The tools catch obvious AI writing almost perfectly, but when an AI is told to copy a specific person's writing style, the tools miss it far more often.
0.7% missed on plain AI text | 13% missed when style-copied | ~26% missed in science writing |
Why it matters: Platforms are rolling out AI detection fast, Substack just turned it on for every post over 100 words. If you or your clients publish AI-assisted writing, this is a reminder that "sounding human" and "passing a detector" aren't the same thing, in either direction.
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💬 Latestly AI Take
Every big shift in how people search creates a short window where almost nobody is selling the fix yet. This is that window. It won't stay open long; agencies will catch on within a year. But right now, a marketer willing to spend one afternoon testing five AI tools can walk into a client meeting with something nobody else in town is offering.
Sources: Business Wire, Forbes, TechCrunch, The Next Web, tooldirectory.ai, Build Fast With AI, TechStartups, Moomoo, Epoch AI (epoch.ai/data-insights), Help Net Security, Fireworks AI, Neko Health. Data as of July 22, 2026. Latestly AI is independent. Sponsored content clearly labelled. No undisclosed paid placements.
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