Welcome to Homebase AI - A weekly newsletter where we share our interviews with founders & leaders building next-gen AI companies and curate interesting news, insights & trends in the AI space for our community members.
What’s on tap today:
Podcast
Our interview with Ómar Thor Ómarsson, CEO and Co-founder of Optise
Weekly Headline Recap
What's trending in AI this week
Community Update
How Homebase Helps You
AI Founder Story
The Founder Who Audits Websites Better Than Agencies
Quick Background
What if most marketing teams are drowning in data while missing the insights that actually drive revenue? What if AI could replace weeks of manual website audits with 10x more powerful recommendations delivered in seconds?
Omar spent 8 years as CMO at a tech company selling software to banks worldwide, then led B2B marketing for over 100 companies at Iceland's leading digital agency. His frustration with dysfunctional marketing teams and ineffective website optimization tools led him to build Optize – an AI-powered platform that audits websites and delivers actionable insights without requiring data scientists or developers. After raising $2M+ in funding, Omar discovered that 90% of B2B websites fail at the most basic level: they're too product-focused and don't tell a compelling story that converts visitors into leads.
From Agency Burnout to AI Innovation:
"I spent several weeks really going through the data and created this report for a client. I was so proud of it – here you go, this has everything you need to know. They took it and didn't do anything with it. I felt like, wow, the time I wasted. There must be a freaking better way."
This moment of agency frustration became Omar's eureka moment. He realized the problem wasn't just generating insights – it was turning those insights into action. Traditional tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush had become too clunky and overwhelming for busy marketing teams.
Omar's solution: AI that doesn't just analyze websites but translates complex data into digestible, prioritized tasks that marketing teams can actually execute.
Key Achievements & Insights:
The 17-Hat Problem: Omar identified that marketing leaders often juggle 17+ responsibilities simultaneously. His CEO's advice changed everything: "Cross off everything that wouldn't shut the operation down if you didn't do it." Focus became his superpower.
10x Performance Claims: With proper context and guardrails, Omar's AI engine delivers insights that are "10 times more powerful" than manual audits, focusing on one actionable task at a time instead of overwhelming users with comprehensive reports.
The Story-First Website Philosophy: Most B2B websites fail because they're product-focused rather than story-driven. Omar advocates for websites that tell compelling narratives about problems solved, not just features offered.
The Insight-to-Action Pipeline: Traditional analytics tools stop at showing data. Optize connects insights directly to task management systems, creating assignments that can be immediately distributed to team members.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): While others focus solely on Google SEO, Omar is preparing for the future where 80% of B2B buyers start their journey through AI tools like ChatGPT, requiring a new optimization approach entirely.
Watch the full interview below! 👇
The Ultimate Lesson
Omar's most powerful insight challenges how we think about marketing team efficiency and AI implementation in business operations.
His approach proves that successful AI implementation requires deep domain expertise, focused targeting, and the wisdom to automate insights while maintaining human oversight for strategic decisions.
See Omar's complete product demo and discover his framework for building AI that actually drives business results in our exclusive founder conversation — Read the full interview →
HEADLINE ROUNDUP
Headline recap
Saudi Arabia's $10B AI War Chest Challenges Silicon Valley (Link) Humain's massive venture fund targets global startups, positioning Kingdom as serious AI infrastructure rival.
Salesforce's $7.75B Informatica Grab Reshapes Enterprise AI (Link) Strategic data management acquisition signals aggressive push into AI-powered business intelligence dominance.
Meta AI Hits 1 Billion Users, Monetization Plans Next (Link) Zuckerberg announces historic milestone across platforms, hints at subscription services and paid recommendations.
Vietnam Bets Everything on $6.8B Tech Giant FPT (Link) Nation's entire AI transformation strategy depends on single company's ability to compete globally.
Europe's €1B Fund Declares War on AI Duopoly (Link) Cathay Innovation's digital health focus aims to break US-China stranglehold on AI leadership.
TRENDS
What's trending in AI
HIX AI
Key Player: Singapore-based all-in-one AI writing copilot offering 120+ tools powered by GPT-3.5/4 technology for content creation, marketing, and business communication.
Market Value: Bootstrap funded with no external investment rounds reported, competing in AI writing market with freemium pricing model starting at $7.99/month.
Adoption: Over 7 million monthly visitors as reported by Similarweb, leveraging substantial user base for strategic market positioning and product expansion.
Recent Developments: Major product pivot announced July 2024 from AI writing tool to AI search engine, directly competing with Perplexity while maintaining existing HIX Writer as subsidiary brand.
Growth: Leveraging 7 million monthly visitors for strategic pivot to AI search market, demonstrating +7000% growth potential in expanding from content creation to information retrieval services.
Why It Matters: Bold strategic pivot showcases agility in competitive AI landscape, targeting lucrative search market while maintaining established user base and comprehensive AI toolkit ecosystem.
The Big Picture: HIX AI represents the new wave of AI startups making strategic pivots to capture emerging opportunities, positioning itself between established players like ChatGPT and Perplexity in the rapidly evolving AI search battleground.
How Homebase Helps You
Discover tools, insights, and communities that help you build and scale your AI venture effectively.
Private Community
Private AI Founders & Executives Slack - Join our vetted community for exclusive insights & networking > Join Waitlist
Public Community
AI Enthusiasts Facebook Community - Join 1000+ founders sharing ideas & building in public > Join Super Founders
Product Development & Hiring
Building an AI product or need help Hiring? - Get advice on building AI products & scaling technical teams from > Here
Investor Database
Curated Investor Database - Access our continuously curated database of 40k+ active AI investors > Learn More
Join 10,000+ AI founders and leaders now reading our newsletter & part of our community.
