Thanks for the clarification. I’ll look into a company called "The Prompting Company" and provide details such as what it does, its founders, services, and any recent news or developments. I’ll get back to you shortly with what I find.
The Prompting Company
Overview & Mission: The Prompting Company is a San Francisco–based AI marketing startup (YC Summer 2025) whose mission is to help brands appear in AI-powered answers (e.g. “mentioned in ChatGPT”)www.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.co. Its founders note that “people are no longer searching on Google… they’re ASKING AI”www.ycombinator.com, so their platform uses what they call Generative Experience Optimization (GEO) to ensure a company’s products are cited by AI chat assistants. In practice, GEO involves identifying high-intent user questions and creating AI-friendly content so that when consumers ask tools like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude for product recommendations, the brand’s offering is includedamericanbazaaronline.comamericanbazaaronline.com. As one description puts it, The Prompting Company’s role is to make sure a brand “get[s] noticed and recommended by these digital assistants”americanbazaaronline.com.
- How it works (GEO process):
- Query Analysis: Identify exact questions users ask about a product and track how often the brand is mentionedwww.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.co.
- Content Creation: Generate AI-optimized content (e.g. articles, Q&A) tailored to those queriesamericanbazaaronline.comapp.dealroom.co.
- AI-Friendly Routing: Present the content via clean, markdown-formatted pages (reducing page clutter) so AI models can easily crawl and cite the brand’s informationwww.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.co.
- Subscription Plans: These services are sold as tiered subscriptions. For example, the Starter plan is about n1,500/monthamericanbazaaronline.comapp.dealroom.co, with higher-end enterprise packages (white-glove onboarding, SAML SSO, etc.) also availableapp.dealroom.co. Industry & Services: The Prompting Company operates at the intersection of AI/ML and digital marketing, often described as “AI SEO” or AI-driven marketingapp.dealroom.co. Its SaaS platform targets marketers and product teams, helping them capture traffic from AI assistants instead of (or in addition to) traditional search engines. The core service (“GEO”) can be summarized as: help brands be “the product cited” by large language models and AI search toolswww.ycombinator.comamericanbazaaronline.com. Key services include:
- AI Query & Brand Audit: Discovering the high-intent questions customers ask AI and measuring where (and how often) the brand currently appears in AI-generated answerswww.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.co.
- AI-Optimized Content: Producing and publishing content (e.g. blog posts, FAQs, answer pages) that directly answers those AI queries, boosting the brand’s citation probabilityamericanbazaaronline.comapp.dealroom.co.
- Technical SEO for AI: Creating or redirecting to clean, markdown-style landing pages so that AI agents (which index content differently than humans) can more reliably access and cite the brand’s informationwww.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.co.
- Subscription Service Model: Offering the above as a subscription-based service (Starter/Pro/Enterprise), with pricing from about $300/mo for entry-level to custom enterprise contractsamericanbazaaronline.comapp.dealroom.co. These offerings are distinct from traditional SEO; the company emphasizes that AI users ask detailed, context-driven questions, so brands must “be in those answers” provided by AI tools, not just rank on Googlepromptingcompany.comamericanbazaaronline.com.Key People: The Prompting Company was founded and is led by three seasoned entrepreneurs:
- Kevin Chandra – CEO and co-founderwww.ycombinator.com.
- Michelle Marcelline – Co-founderwww.ycombinator.com.
- Albert Putra Purnama – CTO and co-founderwww.ycombinator.com. All three were previously co-founders of Typedream (an AI website builder, part of YC W20) and Cotter (a passwordless-authentication SDK) – both of which were later acquired (Typedream by newsletter platform Beehiiv, and Cotter by Stytch)www.ycombinator.com. This track record underpins their expertise in AI and web technologies.History and Founding: The Prompting Company was founded in 2025 (launched via Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 batch)www.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.co. The team of three leveraged their previous startup experience (Typedream, Cotter) to enter the emerging field of AI-driven search marketing. The official Y Combinator profile notes that the founders “co-founded Typedream… and previously built Cotter” before starting this venturewww.ycombinator.com. The first public launch (via Y Combinator’s Launch program) occurred in mid-2025, positioning the company as an early mover in “AI as the new search engine” for brands.Headquarters: The company is headquartered in San Francisco, Californiaapp.dealroom.cowww.ycombinator.com. (As of mid-2025 it was a very early-stage startup with a small founding team.)Clients, Partners, and Investors: To date, The Prompting Company’s investors include Y Combinator – which provided seed backing as part of its Summer 2025 cohort (about 125k was raised in that round)[app.dealroom.co](https://app.dealroom.co/companies/the_prompting_company#:~:text=Aug%202025). No other public investors or corporate partners have been announced. The official website features a “Backed by” section (showing investor logos) and a “Trusted by” section with client logos[promptingcompany.com](https://promptingcompany.com/#:~:text=Image)[promptingcompany.com](https://promptingcompany.com/#:~:text=Trusted%20by), but specific customer names are not disclosed. In short, the company is **backed by YC** and is positioning itself among new entrants in the AI visibility/SEO space.**Recent News and Developments:** In August 2025, The Prompting Company received media coverage highlighting its approach. For example, an article in _The American Bazaar_ (August 26, 2025) described the startup’s GEO method and its goal of helping brands “stay visible and get recommended in an AI-driven world”[americanbazaaronline.com](https://americanbazaaronline.com/2025/08/26/the-prompting-company-bets-on-ai-as-the-new-search-engine-466747/#:~:text=AI%20tools%20like%20ChatGPT%2C%20Gemini%2C,recommended%20by%20these%20digital%20assistants)[americanbazaaronline.com](https://americanbazaaronline.com/2025/08/26/the-prompting-company-bets-on-ai-as-the-new-search-engine-466747/#:~:text=The%20Prompting%20Company%20offers%20flexible,are%20increasingly%20shaping%20consumer%20choices). That piece quoted the founders’ warning – “if your product doesn’t appear in AI answers, you’re dead” – and explained how their service differs from traditional SEO[americanbazaaronline.com](https://americanbazaaronline.com/2025/08/26/the-prompting-company-bets-on-ai-as-the-new-search-engine-466747/#:~:text=AI%20tools%20like%20ChatGPT%2C%20Gemini%2C,recommended%20by%20these%20digital%20assistants)[americanbazaaronline.com](https://americanbazaaronline.com/2025/08/26/the-prompting-company-bets-on-ai-as-the-new-search-engine-466747/#:~:text=The%20San%20Francisco%20based%20startup%E2%80%99s,as%20per%20the%20company%20website). The article also noted the company’s pricing (starting around n300/month)americanbazaaronline.com. Aside from press coverage, the main development is the YC-backed launch itself; there have been no other announced product updates or financing events beyond the initial seed roundapp.dealroom.co.Official Website & Social Media: The company’s official website is promptingcompany.com app.dealroom.co. It also maintains a social media presence – for example, its X/Twitter handle is @promptingco (the launch announcement “Hello world!” post on August 2025) and it has a LinkedIn company page at linkedin.com/company/promptingcompany. These channels provide the latest updates directly from the founders.Sources: Authoritative information was gathered from the company’s Y Combinator profile, startup databases, and recent media coveragewww.ycombinator.comapp.dealroom.coamericanbazaaronline.comwww.ycombinator.com.