While the World Obsesses Over Google Rankings, Apoorv Sharma Helps SaaS Brands Get Discovered on ChatGPT
New Delhi [India], June 9: As the founder of Derivate X, India’s first agency dedicated to LLM SEO (Large Language Model Search Engine Optimization), Apoorv is pioneering a shift in how companies think about search, discoverability, and digital memory.
“Search is no longer about ranking links. It’s about training AI to remember your brand.”
In a landscape where SEO has remained largely unchanged for two decades, he’s not just tweaking tactics, he’s building a new playbook altogether.
From Haldwani to Headlining SEO’s Next Wave
Apoorv’s story doesn’t begin in a VC-backed incubator or a fancy university. It starts in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, where he was born, grew up and lived the first 20 years of his life.
In the education front, he dropped out three times.
First, from a BA English Honours program. Then journalism in Chandigarh University. Then finally, a BCA degree where he completed five semesters but couldn’t appear for the last exams due to COVID and a move to Mumbai.
But while the formal education path broke down, something else sparked to life.
“Back in 2018, I started a book blog with a friend. I was doing everything: web dev, writing, SEO. That’s when I first understood the power of organic discovery.”
The blog wasn’t just a side project, it became a training ground. By 2023, Apoorv had built and sold a content brand called Stagbite, and after a short break, launched his most ambitious venture yet: Derivate X.
What Is Derivate X?
At its core, Derivate X is an SEO agency, but not like the others.
Yes, they do traditional SEO. Yes, they build backlinks. But their edge lies in a discipline most agencies haven’t touched:
LLM SEO, or as Apoorv puts it, “Creating digital evidence so that large language models treat you like an authoritative source.”
They help growth-stage SaaS companies in the U.S. show up not just in Google but in AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and more.
Imagine your brand being the answer when someone asks:
- “What’s the best martech SEO agency?”
- “Suggest top video hosting tools.”
- “Who are the top AI agencies in India?”
Derivate X is building the strategy, content, citations, and signals to make sure you are the answer.
What’s It Like to Work With Them?
The Derivate X model is engineered for clarity, control, and constant improvement.
- Clients start with a deep ICP + product + competitor form
- A dedicated Notion portal is created for full transparency
- Weekly/Bi-weekly Slack updates and monthly reports keep alignment tight
- Everything from technical SEO to ChatGPT prompt testing is centralized
Today, Apoorv leads a lean remote team of 5. But they’re not just another SEO crew. They’re operators, strategists, and AI-native thinkers.
But Wait, Does LLM SEO Even Work?
That’s the most common question Apoorv gets. And he doesn’t blame anyone.
“Most people think if you rank on Google, you’ll automatically rank on ChatGPT. But that’s like saying if you trend on Twitter, you’ll trend on Reddit too. It doesn’t work like that.”
Derivate X measures LLM visibility by:
- Tracking sessions coming from tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity
- Logging citation patterns and prompt appearance frequency
- Identifying branded search spikes in response to AI placement
- Experimenting with visibility mapping dashboards via Metabase
Why This Matters Now
If you run a SaaS company, you know organic discovery is a long game. But LLM SEO compresses time, especially when executed early.
“We’ve seen brands with zero Google traction get picked up by AI tools because the content was positioned right. That’s the power of context over backlinks.”
In a space where most agencies are still optimizing H1 tags and chasing 90+ Ahrefs DR, Apoorv’s team is asking: “How does GPT-4 see your brand?”
What’s Next?
Apoorv isn’t just running campaigns. He’s building an entire ecosystem around AI-driven discoverability from frameworks and teardowns to future products.
The name Derivate X comes from a concept in calculus:
The derivative of x is always 1. In his words:“We want to be the one place that drives all your SEO growth. No noise. No gimmicks.”
And with an approach that’s backed by performance (not packaging), Derivate X is poised to lead the next evolution of SEO.
Rinky Moolchandani
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