Profound Co-founder Babbs: 12-15 Failed Ideas, the Winner Took Three Days
Dylan Babbs, co-founder and CTO of AI search optimization company Profound, returned to SPC NYC, where his startup journey began, for a live podcast interview with investor soleio (Season 3, Episode 4 of SPC's recorded podcast). The core takeaway: before building Profound, Babbs went through 12 to 15 ideas, and the one that finally worked took only three days. The conversation also covers the company's path from early days to a global team.
Confirmed
- Profound positions itself as an "agentic marketing" platform, helping brands track and optimize how they appear in AI search and LLM answers.
- Babbs tried 12 to 15 ideas before Profound; the successful one was built in just three days.
- soleio openly discussed his "anti-portfolio" in the interview: he passed on Profound and asked Babbs face-to-face what he saw that soleio completely missed; Babbs quipped, "We were just crazy—there's no deeper reason."
- The interview was recorded live at SPC as Season 3, Episode 4, promoted via soleio's post.
Why it matters
- This case illustrates a classic startup path: after many failed ideas, the winning project can come together remarkably fast—valuable reference for early founders and investors alike.
- soleio's willingness to debrief on the deal he missed offers first-hand reflection from an investor's perspective.
2026-11-11 ~ 2026-11-11 · 6 related posts
Primary sources
- Profound founder tried 12-15 ideas before hitting one that took three days — soleio · 2026-11-11
- Profound founder tried 12-15 ideas before one worked — it took just three days — soleio · 2026-11-11
- Profound founder tried 12-15 ideas before one stuck — built in three days — ditzikow · 2026-11-11
- Profound founder tried 12-15 ideas before the one that worked — it took 3 days — soleio · 2026-11-11
- [source] Profound CTO Dylan Babbs on building the agentic marketing platform for AI search — soleio · 2026-11-11
- Profound founder tried 12-15 ideas before hitting one that took just 3 days — ditzikow · 2026-11-11