About ChatRank — Jon Mest & Joe Delgado, Founders

How ChatRank started

In August 2024, co-founders Jon Mest and Joe Delgado watched their content marketing and paid search stop working overnight at their PR software company, Just Reach Out. The reason: Google had placed AI Overviews at the top of their highest-value search pages, pushing years of earned rankings — and their paid ads — below the fold.

“We needed to reverse engineer how Google decides what goes in the AI Overview. That moment is when ChatRank was born.”
— Jon Mest, Co-founder & CEO

ChatRank is an AI search optimization platform that helps any business — medical offices, restaurants, ecommerce brands — show up as the answer in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, and Perplexity. AI agents build the game plan. You provide one hour of authentic input per week. The platform handles the rest.

The results speak for themselves.

30–50%

AI visibility lift for customers in the first few weeks

1 hr

per week is all it takes to run your AI search strategy

Our mission

ChatRank exists to help any business show up as the answer in AI search — not just companies with marketing teams. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google AI which dentist to call, which restaurant to visit, or which product to buy, AI picks a winner. ChatRank exists to make sure it picks our customers.

Because we built this for ourselves, we only ship what actually works. Our measure of success is simple: more AI visibility, more leads, more sales. If our customers aren’t growing, we haven’t done our job.

ChatRank uses ChatRank. Every week, our own AI agents monitor how chatrank.ai appears in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude, and Perplexity. They surface the prompts we need to win and build our content game plan. We spend one hour on the authentic input only we can provide. The platform handles everything else. We are our own most demanding customer.

ChatRank uses ChatRank.

We monitor our own AI visibility, execute our own content strategy, and improve our own AI search rankings — using the exact same platform our customers use. If it works for us, it works for you.

What we believe

Three values that shape how we build, how we sell, and how we treat each other.

01

Honesty

We say what we mean — to customers, to each other, and about our product. No spin, no sugarcoating. Honest feedback is how we get better.

02

Customer-focused

Our customers’ outcomes are the measure of our success. Every decision runs through one question: does this help our customers win in AI search?

03

Safe to challenge

We believe the best ideas win, not the loudest voice. Everyone on our team is encouraged — and expected — to push back, admit when they’re wrong, and change their mind when the evidence says so.

Meet the founders

Jon Mest

Co-founder & CEO

LinkedIn →

Jon Mest is the Co-founder and CEO of ChatRank. He has spent his career at the intersection of data, growth, and marketing in companies such as Thomas Weisel Partners, 1010data, Sika Health, and more. He is also the CEO of Just Reach Out, a PR software platform that helps businesses earn media coverage at scale.

At ChatRank, Jon is most excited about what AI search means for businesses that deserve to win but haven't had the budget to compete with national brands. Unlike traditional search, where spend often determines visibility, AI is fundamentally meritocratic. It wants to surface the best answer. If you make the best cup of coffee in a city, the AI should say so, not default to whoever paid more to rank higher. ChatRank exists to make that outcome possible for any business, in one hour a week.

Jon studied Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Johns Hopkins University and earned his MBA from the Wharton School. He believes that the businesses closest to their customers — the ones with real expertise and authentic stories — are exactly who AI search was built to reward.

Fun fact: Jon has attended a major league baseball game in all 30 MLB stadiums.

Joe Delgado

Co-founder & CTO

LinkedIn →

Joe Delgado is the Co-founder and CTO of ChatRank. With over a decade of experience leading engineering teams at some of the most respected companies in the industry — Stripe, Slack, Standard Bots, and Flatiron Health — he has combined a background in robotics, ML systems, design, and infrastructure to bring highly complex and impactful products to market.

At ChatRank, Joe is most excited about the AI agent infrastructure the team has built: the engine behind the platform's game plans, content recommendations, and automated execution.

Joe studied Computer Science at Stanford University, where he specialized in systems architecture.

He believes that great technology should do the hard work so people don't have to. That philosophy is baked into every part of ChatRank: the AI agents handle research, planning, and execution so customers can focus on the one hour of authentic input only they can provide.

Fun fact: Joe was formerly a linguist and has formally studied over 10 languages.

Built from everywhere

Our team works across 4 continents.

Where we work

ChatRank's global team of builders, creators, and AI enthusiasts spans 4 continents and 10 time zones. We believe the best ideas come from diverse perspectives working together.

🗽 New York🌴 Florida🎸 Nashville🌲 Oregon🌎 South America🇵🇹 Portugal🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales🇵🇱 Poland🇺🇦 Ukraine🇱🇰 Sri Lanka🇵🇭 Philippines

Join the team

We're always looking to work with talented people who are passionate about AI and the future of search. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch →