Be the Answer: How AEO Changes Everything About Brand Visibility | 126: Adrien Thomas

Adrien Thomas is the co-founder of Crescendo, an agency helping brands become the first name AI recommends. After more than a decade in digital consulting, Adrien made a bold move from France to Singapore to help his company expand globally. Then Covid hit. What followed was a journey of rebuilding, rethinking, and eventually launching his own business. Today, Crescendo is at the forefront of AI-native visibility, helping brands show up inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, not just on Google. In this episode, Adrien opens up about the reality of moving across continents to chase big goals, what it takes to build something from scratch, and why visibility in the age of AI is about so much more than search. You'll get a crash course in SEO, AEO and GEO, along with practical tips on growing your brand on LinkedIn without burning out. It’s part masterclass, part mindset shift, with a healthy dose of real talk on what it means to grow a business while still enjoying your life. Connect with Adrien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/athomas-lkdin/ https://x.com/_AdrienThomas_ https://www.crescendoagency.ai https://www.youtube.com/@CrescendoAgency/ Timestamps: 00:00 – Cold open: AI is the new homepage 01:01 – Intro: Meet Adrien Thomas, co-founder of Crescendo 02:14 – Moving from France to Singapore for a new role 03:47 – Starting from scratch during the pandemic 06:15 – How Crescendo was born and why AI visibility matters 08:58 – SEO, AEO, GEO: What they mean and why they matter 11:48 – Search is out, answers are in 13:30 – Teaching the machine to trust your brand 15:44 – Why visibility in 2025 needs a new strategy 17:50 – From 0 to 10k: How Adrien grew on LinkedIn 20:25 – Using AI for support, not identity 22:57 – What builds real authority online 25:49 – Repurposing content that earns visibility 27:42 – Boundaries, burnout, and staying consistent 30:30 – Your bio is your prompt now 32:50 – Think ecosystems, not just content 35:00 – A new playbook for brand growth 37:15 – Forget vanity metrics, focus on trust 39:40 – Inside the agency: running Crescendo 42:20 – Leadership, lifestyle, and agency life 44:57 – Growth that fits your life, not just your goals 47:12 – Future of Crescendo and AI-native visibility 49:38 – Advice for creators and founders in 2025 51:00 – Where to follow Adrien + closing thoughts Connect with Tommen: X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠ Stan: https://stan.store/Tommen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠ More: Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠ FenPost: https://fenpost.com/?via=tomas Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠ Tools & gear that support the show: Neon Now: https://neonnow.co.uk/ Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZK Ulanzi: https://www.ulanzi.com?aff=2611 Apex Comfort: https://apexcomfort.co.uk/ Midland Flowers: https://midlandsflowerwallco.co.uk/ iQ HEALTH: https://www.iqhealth.co.uk/PRODUCED_BY_PODCAST RA Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19 Some links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.