#47 | Rex Kurzius: Google's AI Answers Killed 80% of Our Clicks

Google's AI answers took 60 to 80% of the clicks businesses used to get. Rex Kurzius rebuilt his entire company around the thing that did it.More on Rex Kurzius and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/rex-kurziusKurzius founded Asset Panda in 2012 to solve the least glamorous problem in business, knowing where your stuff is. It now tracks assets for customers including Amazon, Toyota, Dyson and Carnival, and runs in 67 languages. Eighteen months ago he tore the platform down and rebuilt it around AI, and he calls that stretch the most stress he has ever endured.His framing is that the product went from a noun to a verb. It used to be a container you filled in. Now a movie studio asks it which props in inventory fit a 1901 to 1925 production, a utility technician asks which tools and training he needs before he leaves the yard, and an inspector photographs a generator instead of filling out a form. When he could not find a tool to replace the search traffic AI took away, he built a generative engine optimization studio in house, and he is about to sell it as a product.Then the part nobody expects from an asset tracking founder. His father was a German immigrant who named a bakery in Albuquerque after his two sons, Dan Rex Bakery, and died of a heart attack when Rex was 10. The family was nearly homeless and moved in with grandparents in Dallas. That older brother, Dan Kurzius, went on to co-found Mailchimp. Rex's daughter picked the name Asset Panda off a list as a kid and now works there as an account executive, alongside her brother who runs AI. He is blunt about the rest: career silos dissolve, he hires athletes rather than job titles, and if you are not replaced by AI you will be replaced by someone who uses it.Rex Kurzius is the founder and CEO of Asset Panda, the Dallas-based asset intelligence platform he founded in 2012, used by customers including Amazon, Toyota, Dyson and Carnival and running in 67 languages. Asset Panda reached number 104 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 with 3,552 percent three-year growth. He previously founded Timberhorn IT Solutions and sold it to the Ettain Group in 2015. He has been named to the D CEO Dallas 500 and was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.KEY MOMENTS00:00 We track endangered chickens06:16 Google's AI took 80% of the clicks07:27 "It's underhyped"09:46 A studio asks for 1901 to 192512:37 The survey that got the model wrong24:44 Building the tool nobody sold him25:46 His brother founded Mailchimp38:24 The most stressful 18 months53:13 "I call them athletes"01:05:37 Losing his father at 10Newsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectAsset Panda: assetpanda.comLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWFollow The Deal Table: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, XThe Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.Sponsored by Capital Southwest, Security National Bank and Blockchain.com.