The way companies are discovered online is changing. Instead of relying only on traditional search results, potential customers are increasingly using AI platforms to find information, compare businesses and ask for recommendations. For startups and growing companies, this has created a new challenge: being visible when AI systems generate an answer.
Rothenhall Partners is a fractional operating partner working across AI visibility, go-to-market and revenue operations. The company works with startups, venture and private equity-backed companies, and funds across India and international markets. Rothenhall operates from Bengaluru, India, and Edinburgh, UK, and currently works with clients across Europe, the United States and India.
Moving Beyond Traditional SEO
One of Rothenhall’s central areas of work is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
Traditional SEO focuses largely on helping a website appear in search results. AEO addresses a different environment, where AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews generate answers and select which companies and sources to mention.
Rothenhall works on the content, entities and citations that help AI systems understand a company and potentially surface it in generated answers. The company also tracks AI citation share across different answer engines.
One Operating Partner Across the Revenue Stack
Rothenhall brings several business functions under one operating partner rather than treating them as disconnected services.
Its work covers AI Visibility, Go-to-Market Operations, Revenue Operations and Acquisition & Conversion.
The GTM function includes positioning, messaging and launch planning. RevOps covers areas such as CRM, attribution and reporting, while the growth function works across acquisition and conversion.
The model is based on having one accountable operator across these functions, connecting visibility, sales infrastructure and growth operations.
Working With Startups, Portfolio Companies and Funds
Rothenhall works with companies at different stages of growth.
For early-stage startups, the company offers fixed-fee sprints with defined scopes. For PE and VC portfolio companies, it offers ongoing operating retainers. Funds can also engage Rothenhall through portfolio-wide retainers, applying a common operating framework across multiple companies.
The company currently works with clients across Europe, the USA and India, giving its operating model an international footprint.
Part of the Sarvam Startup Program
Rothenhall is also part of the Sarvam Startup Program, an initiative created by Sarvam to support startups building with its AI models and infrastructure.
Rothenhall announced its participation in the program in September 2026, describing the opportunity as particularly relevant to its work around AI visibility in Indian languages. The company has also received a grant from Sarvam AI, adding another connection between Rothenhall’s work and India’s growing AI ecosystem.
Rothenhall has said that the Sarvam relationship will allow it to study how Indian-language AI systems determine which companies and sources to recommend, an area that can differ from the AI search behaviour of global platforms.
Building Around Measurable Outcomes
Rothenhall places emphasis on measurable business outcomes rather than treating growth work as a purely advisory exercise.
Its stated measurements include AI citation share across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, qualified pipeline, conversion rates and CRM reporting integrity.
The company describes its approach as diagnose, execute and measure. Its careers page similarly states that the practice focuses on doing the work and measuring what changes rather than simply delivering reports.
Cailyx: The Product Layer
Alongside its operating practice, Rothenhall is developing Cailyx, an AI-native AEO engine.
According to the company, Cailyx maps how AI systems understand a company, works with entities and citations that can affect visibility, and tracks citation share across answer engines. Rothenhall describes Cailyx as the product layer being developed on top of its operating experience.
The company says it is working to turn the knowledge gained through its client engagements into software.
A Presence in India and the UK
Rothenhall operates from two offices, giving the company a presence in both India and the United Kingdom.
Its India office is located in Bengaluru, while its UK office is in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company works with founders Kunal Achintya Reddy S,Madan Gopal B,Lokesh Yarramallu S N,Nitish Reddy Y and funds across international markets.
The Edinburgh presence adds a European base to Rothenhall’s existing Bengaluru operations, while its client base currently spans Europe, the United States and India.
Focusing on the AI Discovery Shift
The relationship between search, content and AI-generated answers is changing the way businesses think about online discovery. Ranking in traditional search results is no longer the only consideration for companies that depend on digital visibility.
Rothenhall is focused on this changing environment, bringing AEO, GEO, GTM, RevOps and growth operations together under one operating model.
With offices in Bengaluru and Edinburgh, clients across Europe, the USA and India, and its participation in the Sarvam Startup Program, Rothenhall is building its practice around the intersection of AI visibility and commercial operations.
The company’s work reflects a broader shift in digital growth: companies increasingly need to understand not only where they appear in search, but also how AI systems understand, describe and recommend them.
