CONVERGENCE
Real growth strategy from a startup CMO: The frameworks, interviews, & honest insights that 100k+ founders and operators actually use. The weekly newsletter by Lillian Pierson that cuts through the noise and gets straight to what works.
Why Gintare Rimolaityte refuses to tell her customers what to do
Hi Reader, Funny thing is, I was using Trendos data before I ever got Gintare on her interview call for this week's piece. A couple weeks back I was auditing my own site’s visibility in AI search. I pulled my Trendos score - 65.0, ninth in a set that included Y Combinator and Hawke Media - and handed it straight to Claude to ask what I should fix next. That little hand-off, from Trendos to my own AI, felt like nothing in the moment. Turns out it’s the exact thing Trendos refuses to do for...
The 44% of top SaaS brands ChatGPT skips
Hi Reader, I hate to say it but, your prospects have changed how they discover solutions and it's an important time to address the repercussions of that change. Think about it... Most people ask ChatGPT before they even think about going over to Google... and when they do ask Google - they almost always stop at the AI Overviews. Like it or not, AI decides which companies are getting seen. This isn't a tomorrow thing either. It's here and now. In fact, 44% of SaaS brands that have pages...
How I used Semrush AI Search Health to turn a site audit into a 90-day plan
The truth is, Reader, most AI search advice I see out there starts and ends with the same wrong instruction: just publish more content. So when my YouTube strategist asked me for a video on using AI to get leads from AI search, I was excited for the chance to break down how it’s done properly. Growth surfaces need to be continually realigned when the discovery layer changes shape as much as it has in recent years. I've built organic channels to a 750K+ audience size without spending a dollar...
How Arjun Kannan sold AI into an industry that hates new software
Hi Reader, As a licensed P.E. turned CMO, I’ve spent my career staring at the friction that lies between 'what we built' and 'what the market actually wants.' If you’re a founder who’s selling into a legacy industry, then you know the drill… … the industry rejects new vendors … legacy clients resist new software, and … progress moves at a pace that kills momentum. Many early-stage founders respond to these things by doubling down on features, throwing in more AI or more dashboards, and...
The insider advantage behind Roome's £10.5M pound win
Hi Reader, James Buck is one of the sharpest founders I've featured on how to read a market, and his Growth Pilot feature gave me a full playbook worth sharing. James cracked something most founders find brutal: the two-sided marketplace cold start. Roome had to bring students and university housing together at the same time, and neither side wants to show up first. He solved it with an advantage hiding in plain sight. He was a University of Surrey student when he landed Roome's first...
3 moves that took Ema past $1M in 6 months out of stealth
Hi Reader, Between 2020 and 2024, Amanda Ducach kept her company in stealth for four straight years. Over that stretch, companies kept coming to her, checkbooks open, hoping to advertise through her product. Easy revenue, sitting right there for the taking. She turned it down every time. That decision is significant because Amanda is CEO and co-founder of Ema, the AI for women's health, and Ema exists to do one thing: Drive a positive health outcome for the woman on the other end. The moment...
He activated buyers in 4 countries within 6 months (from 0)
Hi Reader, did I ever tell you about the time a National Geographic director showed up in my inbox as an inbound lead? I'd supported National Geographic at SXSW a few years earlier, and he referenced that work (he'd seen it on my website) before hiring me for a sizable strategy project. Here's what stuck with me. That director sat completely outside my reach. To find him, score him, or time my outreach to the week he was ready to buy all sat beyond me. A relevant reference point did the...
SaaS CAC is through the roof. Here’s why…
I've been sitting with a number for a while Reader... The median B2B SaaS company is currently spending $2 to acquire $1 of new revenue. And according to the data, it's getting worse every year. Most teams respond by increasing activity. More campaigns, channels, and output… yet returns diminish. Most of the time, the real constraint sits in the funnel architecture. The most common issue I see across B2B tech companies is simple: The funnel operates without system design. That shows up in a...
I need 2 minutes of your time (and here's why it's worth it)
Hi Reader, Quick question: have you ever read a newsletter and thought, "Why are they writing about this? This isn't what I need right now." I don't want Convergence to be that newsletter. I put together a 2-minute survey to find out what you actually want me to cover. The topics you pick, the formats you prefer, even the subject lines you'd click on. All of it needs to shape what I write next. Your input matters more than you think. Here's why... This isn't a big-company market research...
I'd love your input on what I write next
Hi Reader, I'm planning upcoming newsletter topics for early-stage tech founders, future founders, and growth operators, and I'd love your input, please. I put together a quick 5-question form to understand which topics people actually want me to cover next, especially around AI-native growth, founder-led GTM, first customers, AI visibility, and practical growth systems. In return, I'll do two things: Prioritize the most in-demand topics in upcoming newsletters Share the anonymized findings...
Real growth strategy from a startup CMO: The frameworks, interviews, & honest insights that 100k+ founders and operators actually use. The weekly newsletter by Lillian Pierson that cuts through the noise and gets straight to what works.