Building Astiva: How We're Solving the AI Visibility Problem for Brands

By Satish K · 16 min read · Published 2024-12-20

How we're building the first AI visibility platform. Our philosophy, key features, roadmap, and why AI visibility must be as measurable as SEO.

In 2023, we noticed something alarming: successful brands with strong Google rankings were completely invisible when users asked AI assistants for recommendations. There was no way to measure this, no tools to fix it, and most companies didn't even know it was happening. So we built Astiva.

The Problem We're Solving

Brands invest millions in SEO, content marketing, and brand building—but when someone asks ChatGPT "What's the best [product category]?", they disappear. Meanwhile, competitors with weaker Google presence get recommended. Why?

Because AI visibility operates on completely different rules than search visibility. And until now, there was no platform to:

Measure your brand's visibility across AI platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini)
Track how you compare to competitors in AI recommendations
Understand why you're mentioned or excluded
Monitor changes over time and across model updates
Get actionable insights on improving AI visibility

Our Product Philosophy: Visibility as a Measurable Metric

Google Search Console made SEO measurable. You can see impressions, clicks, positions, and CTR for every keyword. We believe AI visibility deserves the same rigor.

Core Product Principles

Multi-platform by default: Track all major AI platforms, not just one
Competitor context matters: Visibility is relative—who else appears matters as much as whether you appear
Sentiment and positioning: Being mentioned negatively or ranked last isn't success
Continuous monitoring: AI responses change—one-time audits aren't enough
Actionable insights: Data without recommendations is just noise

What We've Built: Core Platform Features

1. Multi-Platform AI Query Monitoring

Our platform continuously queries ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini with thousands of category-relevant prompts, tracking:

Brand mention frequency across platforms
Position in recommendation lists (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
Context: Which use cases and queries trigger mentions
Sentiment: Positive, neutral, or negative framing
Quote accuracy: What AI actually says about you

Result: A visibility score that tells you exactly how discoverable you are in AI assistants compared to Google.

2. Competitive Intelligence Dashboard

We don't just track your brand—we track your entire competitive landscape:

Head-to-head comparisons: How often you appear vs. competitors
Share of voice: Your percentage of category mentions
Platform differences: Where you win vs. where competitors dominate
Positioning analysis: How AI describes you vs. alternatives
Emerging competitors: New brands gaining AI visibility

3. Model Update Impact Detection

When OpenAI updates GPT or Anthropic ships a new Claude version, brand visibility can change dramatically. We detect and alert you:

Pre/post update visibility comparison
Visibility gain or loss percentage
Which specific queries were affected
Competitor impact for context
Recovery recommendations if visibility drops

4. Authority Source Tracking

AI models trust certain sources more than others. We track your presence in what matters:

Wikipedia coverage and update history
Industry publication mentions
Review platform presence (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot)
Community discussion sentiment (Reddit, forums)
Citation analysis in authoritative content

This helps you understand why you're visible (or invisible) and where to focus effort.

5. Actionable Recommendations Engine

Data is useless without action. Our platform provides specific, prioritized recommendations:

Quick wins: High-impact, low-effort improvements
Content gaps: Missing use cases or comparisons AI needs
Authority opportunities: Where to earn citations and mentions
Messaging consistency issues: Conflicting information across sources
Competitive vulnerabilities: Gaps where competitors are beating you

Product Design Decisions: Why We Built It This Way

Decision 1: Multi-Platform from Day One

We could have built for just ChatGPT (largest user base) or just Perplexity (actual search engine). We didn't.

Reasoning: Users don't stick to one AI platform. A startup founder might use ChatGPT for brainstorming, Perplexity for research, and Claude for analysis. If you're only visible on one, you're missing opportunities.

Decision 2: Competitor Context Over Absolute Metrics

We could show "You appeared in 45% of queries." We show "You appeared in 45% of queries vs. Competitor A (62%) and Competitor B (38%)."

Reasoning: AI visibility is a zero-sum game in many queries. If a user asks for "top 3 tools," only 3 brands can win. Relative performance matters more than absolute scores.

Decision 3: Continuous Monitoring, Not Periodic Reports

We could generate monthly reports. Instead, we monitor daily and alert on significant changes.

Reasoning: AI models update unpredictably. A visibility drop might indicate a model update, negative press, or competitor gaining ground. Weekly or monthly checks miss critical changes.

Decision 4: Sentiment and Context, Not Just Presence

We could count mentions. We analyze what AI actually says about you.

Reasoning: Being mentioned with "however, users report reliability issues" is worse than not being mentioned. Positive, prominent mentions are what matters.

What We're Building Next: Product Roadmap

Q1 2025: Enhanced Analytics and Insights

Use-case visibility breakdown: See which specific scenarios trigger mentions
Geographic visibility: AI responses vary by location—track regional differences
Historical trends: 12-month visibility history and seasonality analysis
Custom query sets: Test your own specific questions beyond our defaults
API access: Integrate Astiva data into your internal dashboards

Q2 2025: Competitive Intelligence Expansion

Automated competitor discovery: AI-identified competitive set
Feature comparison analysis: How AI describes your features vs. competitors
Share-of-voice alerts: Notifications when competitors surge
Positioning map: Visual representation of category landscape in AI
Sentiment comparison: Your positive/negative ratio vs. market

Q3 2025: Content and Optimization Tools

Content gap analyzer: Identifies missing topics that hurt visibility
Message consistency checker: Finds conflicting info across sources
Authority score calculator: Predicts impact of new citations/mentions
Optimization simulator: "What if" scenarios for strategic planning
Template library: Proven content formats for improving AI visibility

Q4 2025: Paid AI Advertising Integration

As ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini launch advertising (following Perplexity), we'll add:

Organic vs. paid visibility tracking
Ad performance correlation with organic presence
Budget recommendations based on competitive landscape
ROI calculator for AI advertising investments
Cross-platform ad campaign management

Product Challenges We're Solving

Challenge 1: Non-Deterministic Responses

Problem: Ask the same AI the same question twice, get different answers.

Our Solution: Statistical sampling. We run each query multiple times across different contexts and aggregate results to identify consistent patterns vs. random variations.

Challenge 2: No Official APIs for Brand Tracking

Problem: Unlike Google Search Console, AI platforms don't provide brand mention APIs.

Our Solution: Automated querying infrastructure that simulates real user interactions at scale, with natural language processing to extract brand mentions and sentiment.

Challenge 3: Rapid Model Evolution

Problem: AI models update frequently, changing how they respond and what they recommend.

Our Solution: Version detection and historical comparison. We identify when models update and automatically compare pre/post performance to isolate update impact.

User Feedback Shaping Our Product

Early customers have driven significant product evolution:

Request: "I need to prove ROI to my CMO"

What we built: Traffic attribution tracking. Connect AI visibility scores to actual website traffic from AI platforms, demonstrating direct business impact.

Request: "Tell me what to do, not just what's wrong"

What we built: Prioritized action plans. Instead of dumping 50 recommendations, we identify the top 3-5 highest-impact actions based on your specific situation.

Request: "I want to track specific competitors, not generic category"

What we built: Custom competitive sets. Choose exactly which brands to track instead of relying on our automated category detection.

Pricing Philosophy: Transparent and Scalable

We designed pricing to be accessible for startups while scaling for enterprises:

Free Tier: AI Visibility Audit

One-time snapshot of your AI visibility
Basic competitor comparison (3 competitors)
Top 10 queries tracked
Manual refresh only

Starter: $99/month

Continuous monitoring across all 4 platforms
Up to 5 competitors tracked
50 category-relevant queries
Weekly email reports
Basic recommendations

Professional: $299/month

Everything in Starter, plus:
Up to 10 competitors
200 queries including custom questions
Model update alerts and impact analysis
Authority source tracking
Advanced recommendations and action plans

Enterprise: Custom

Unlimited competitors and queries
API access for internal integration
White-label reporting
Dedicated success manager
Custom integrations and features

Why Now? The AI Visibility Market Timing

We're building Astiva now because the market is at an inflection point:

AI search usage growing 527% year-over-year
Google search plateauing for first time in 20 years
Perplexity launched ads—ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini ads coming in 2025
Enterprises realizing they're invisible in AI despite strong SEO
No established category leader yet—early mover advantage available

Product Metrics We Track Internally

To build the best AI visibility platform, we measure ourselves on:

Coverage: Percentage of customer brands where we detect visibility changes before they notice
Accuracy: How often our recommendations lead to measurable visibility improvement
Actionability: Percentage of recommendations customers actually implement
ROI proof: Customers who can demonstrate business impact from AI visibility gains
Platform parity: Equal quality tracking across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini

Our Product Vision: The AI Visibility Operating System

Long-term, we're not just building monitoring—we're building the complete AI visibility platform:

Monitoring: Track visibility across all platforms continuously
Analytics: Understand why you're visible or invisible
Optimization: Get specific, actionable recommendations
Content: Generate AI-optimized content that improves visibility
Automation: Automatically update information across authority sources
Advertising: Manage paid AI placements alongside organic visibility
Attribution: Prove ROI by connecting visibility to revenue

Join Us in Building the Future

We're in the early stages of a massive shift in how brands are discovered. Just as SEO tools became essential in the 2000s, AI visibility platforms will become critical infrastructure in the 2020s.

Astiva is that platform. We're building in public, shipping fast, and listening closely to customer needs. If you want to influence where we take this product, get started now—your feedback directly shapes our roadmap.