How Runpod leveraged the Scrunch AI platform to achieve 4x growth, turning ChatGPT into a top performing acquisition channel
Runpod, a fast-growing AI infrastructure provider, used the Scrunch AI platform to turn ChatGPT into a top-performing acquisition channel—achieving 4x growth in just 90 days.
“ChatGPT is now one of our top-performing growth channels. Scrunch helped us unlock visibility, refine our content, and turn AI search into a core part of our acquisition strategy.” — Emmett Fear, Growth Lead, Runpod
Background
Emmett Fear leads growth at Runpod, a cloud platform for training, fine-tuning, and deploying AI models. With an AI-first customer base (DevOps engineers, indie AI builders, academic researchers, and platform teams evaluating alternatives to hyperscalers like AWS, CoreWeave, and Google Cloud), AI search was a natural next step for acquisition.
The challenge
Runpod’s early AI search efforts plateaued around 300–400 new paying customers per month. To scale, they needed a platform that could:
- Provide cost-efficient, multi-LLM visibility
- Support custom, model-level prompts aligned to personas and funnel stages
- Enable fast data export to guide content strategy and resource allocation
- Surface optimization gaps and technical issues that block AI citations
They needed more than a dashboard—AI search had to become measurable, actionable, and scalable.
Solution
In April 2025, Runpod implemented Scrunch AI to expand and optimize their presence in AI search.
Cost efficiency: By switching to Scrunch, Runpod cut platform spend by over 80%—from $3,000 to about $500 per month—while gaining more data access and capabilities.
Expansive prompt coverage and granular insights: Coverage jumped from 50 to 300 prompts overnight, enabling tracking of high-intent, niche queries aligned to their technical ICP. Scrunch delivered prompt-level performance, sentiment, and ranking—especially across ChatGPT, which accounts for roughly 98% of Runpod’s referral traffic.
Content optimization and visibility fixes: Using Scrunch’s Site Audit, the team uncovered rendering issues that caused partial indexing (e.g., titles indexed but not body content). They updated metadata, restructured pages, and corrected formatting—unlocking proper citations in LLMs and enabling in-house content production guided by real-time data.
Results
Within 90 days, ChatGPT became a high-converting, cost-efficient growth channel.
~40 new customers per day from ChatGPT (two-week close cycle)
8% conversion rate (2,100 conversions from ~28,000 visitors)
4x growth in new paying customers per month
What this means if you’re evaluating Scrunch AI
Reputation and expert perspective
Scrunch positions itself as a leading platform for AI search visibility, helping brands understand and shape how LLMs interpret their content.
It’s backed by $26M in funding from notable investors (Mayfield, Decibel, Homebrew, GTM Capital, and industry operators), and customers—including large enterprises—commonly deploy and start collecting data within a day.
Customer feedback in this case study highlights meaningful impact on growth, visibility, and content optimization.
Key features and pricing snapshot
Monitoring & Insights: Prompt-level tracking across AI platforms (with strong focus on ChatGPT), including rankings and sentiment, plus data export for strategy and reporting.
Site Audit and optimization guidance: Surfaces technical issues (rendering, indexing, structure) that block AI citations and visibility.
Agent Experience Platform (AXP): Delivers AI-optimized versions of your content to AI agents visiting your site.
Fast setup: Typical users can input a site, auto-generate competitors/personas/topics, import prompts (CSV or copy/paste), and begin analysis in 20–60 minutes (1–12 hours for larger orgs).
Pricing: Scrunch offers a 7-day free trial of the self-serve Explorer plan. In this case study, Runpod reduced platform spend to about $500/month vs. $3,000/month with a previous tool. For current tiers and details, see pricing.
Advantages and considerations
Advantages:
Rapid time to value with deployment often completed within a day
Granular AI search visibility at the prompt level across LLMs
Clear, actionable fixes via Site Audit to improve citations and rankings
Cost efficiency compared to some alternatives, per Runpod’s experience
AXP to deliver AI-friendly content experiences to AI agents
Considerations:
Performance impact will align with where your audience actually searches; Runpod’s results were strongest in ChatGPT (their primary referral source)
Best results require ongoing content updates and technical hygiene (metadata, structure, rendering)
Public pricing details are limited by plan; confirm fit and scale needs on the pricing page or in a demo
Customer reviews and feedback
Emmett Fear (Growth Lead, Runpod) credits Scrunch with turning ChatGPT into a top-performing growth channel by improving visibility and informing content.
Many customers—including enterprises—report deployment and data collection within a day, according to Scrunch’s FAQs.
Runpod’s experience shows that AI search can be a compounding growth engine when you make it measurable and actionable. Scrunch AI helped Runpod expand prompt coverage, fix visibility blockers, and operationalize AI search—ultimately turning ChatGPT into a reliable acquisition channel with 4x growth in new paying customers.