Shin Takeda kept noticing the same thing on demo calls: buyers who already knew exactly what Refunnel did, which competitors it sat next to, and that it was the right fit, all before a single word from sales. They had asked ChatGPT. So he started counting, and building one of Refunnel's most qualified acquisition channels in the process.
The head of growth behind Refunnel
Shin Takeda leads growth at Refunnel, the Austin-based UGC platform that launched in 2023. He has run Refunnel's content and acquisition motion since day one, tracking the source of every demo the company books and reverse-engineering what is working.
Refunnel is bootstrapped, which means every tool in the stack has to pay for itself. If it does not show clear ROI, it gets cut.
What Refunnel does
Refunnel captures every piece of content a brand is tagged in across Instagram and TikTok, secures usage rights in a single click, runs branded UGC challenges, and turns the top posts into whitelisted partnership ads and shoppable video. Since launch, Refunnel has tracked over 1 million pieces of UGC, secured more than 100,000 usage rights, and whitelisted 70,000+ creators.
Pricing is a single flat fee: no percentage of ad spend, no per-creator charges. Refunnel keeps the same rate whether a brand whitelists ten creators or a thousand. In a category where most pricing scales with customer ad spend, that flat model is unusual.
Why DTC buyers are booking demos from ChatGPT
It started as a curiosity. A prospect would book a demo and mention, in passing, that they had asked ChatGPT for a UGC platform recommendation. Then another. Then enough that Shin started counting.
These leads came in already knowing what Refunnel did and which competitors it sat next to. They arrived with a budget and a clear sense of fit before the sales call started.
DTC marketers and creator-program leads had quietly moved their first software searches from Google to ChatGPT and Perplexity. If Refunnel did not surface in those answers, the deal never reached the demo calendar.
The buyer's job had changed too. A marketer evaluating a UGC platform used to read product pages, run comparison spreadsheets, and bounce a shortlist off three peers on a Slack channel. Now most of the comparison happens inside a chat window before they ever land on a vendor's site. The LLM makes the pitch on the vendor's behalf, compressed into two sentences.
Surfacing was just the first hurdle. For an LLM mention to convert, the description had to land. Shin needed AI engines to capture the specifics that make Refunnel different: tracking every post a brand is tagged in (including the untagged mentions most teams miss), one-tap usage rights inside the creator's Instagram DM, and partnership ads that run on a flat fee instead of a percentage of ad spend.
Why Refunnel invested in AI search early
Shin had been treating AI search as the next acquisition channel for months. He was running content campaigns across Reddit and a weekly blog, building authority in the communities where DTC marketers ask the platform-recommendation questions.
"I don't believe in spray and pray," Shin said. "We went and saw which sources had the most impact on AI visibility, and ran at those."
He needed a platform that could close the loop: measure where Refunnel was surfacing across AI engines and help his team act on it.
"Temso is the only reason we've done blogs and pretty much everything else we're doing on AI search," Shin said.
Refunnel chose Temso for the full stack, given it includes analytics and execution in one place.
How Refunnel grew AI search visibility 7x
Refunnel's AI search visibility score grew 7x in a few months. Roughly 10% of Refunnel's demos this year now come directly from AI, a channel that was effectively at zero before Temso.
The leads come in pre-sold. By the time someone books a demo through ChatGPT or Perplexity, they have already had a full conversation with an LLM about the category, surfaced Refunnel as a fit, and arrived with a clear understanding of what the platform does.
"Some big companies just come in from search, fully vetted, ready to buy," Shin said.
He kept running the list back. Brands that would normally take six months of outbound to chase, walking in cold from a ChatGPT conversation, ready to buy. "It is wild," he said.
The pre-sold dynamic changes the sales motion. Buyers have covered the platform basics with the LLM, so Refunnel's reps can move straight to fit and onboarding. Demos from other channels usually start with the rep walking the buyer through what Refunnel does. Behind only word of mouth, AI search is now the highest-quality demo source in the Refunnel pipeline.
For a bootstrapped company that judges every tool by ROI, Temso has earned its place. It paid for itself, stood up a new acquisition channel, and scaled it past every other source except word of mouth. The math is closed: every dollar in has been measurable, and every move Temso surfaced translated into content that AI engines can pick up.
What's next for Refunnel
Refunnel's AI search strategy from here is the same loop: watch where the buyers are, surface in the right answers, let Temso show what is working, and add platforms as the audience shifts.
