Shama Hyder
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Time100 Creator. Exited Founder. Serial Entrepreneur. Keynote Speaker. Bestselling Author. Applied AI Evangelist at Wispr Flow.
Articles by Shama Hyder
Neko Health Turned a Dreaded Blood Test Into an Experience People Want to Repeat
Slippers, water, and a $499 lesson in customer experience. I have terrible veins. They’re small, they hide, and nearly every nurse who has tried ends up sighing and hunting for a better angle. So, I did not expect to walk out of a blood draw earlier this month already thinking about my next appointment.
The Pope Had a Banking Problem. Nubank Thinks Millions Do Too
Your bank’s silos shouldn’t become your problem. Last month, I sat in Nu Stadium in Miami and watched Nubank, a digital bank with more than 140 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, introduce itself to America. The product news was strong, but the story that was truly symbolic of how so many industries operate was about one of the co-founders’ own mortgage. Cristina Junqueira, Nubank’s cofounder, moved to the U.S. last year to lead the launch. She did what every newcomer does.
Knowing about AI won't change your Tuesday. Building with it will.
Rewired with Shama Hyder · Cohorts 1 & 2 sold out · Cohort 3 now open Rewired is where leaders turn AI into working systems for their real businesses. We help you connect the right tools, build around your knowledge and priorities, and learn how to keep improving what you create. Private setup. Live building. Individual implementation support. Twenty seats. Six live Tuesdays starting Oct 13, 2026. Private technical setup before Day 1, membership for life, and a plus-one seat. $5,500.
Rapid AI changes mean GEO is a weekly job now
GEO isn’t a campaign you launch and check in on once a quarter. As AI engines increasingly answer buyers’ questions without sending them to a website, PR, SEO, and content teams need to work from the same signals and adjust their work week after week. SparkToro’s latest look at U.S. Google searches found that 68% of them end without a single click, based on Similarweb panel data from the first four months of 2026. Pew Research found a similar pattern one layer up.
Marketing Teams Are Finding Mistakes Customers Used to Catch. The Fix Starts With 3 Tools
From translations to chatbot flows to social listening, marketers are using new tools to keep campaigns cleaner, faster, and less vulnerable to costly errors. A tagline that reads fine in English can read wrong in German. A customer in that market will catch it but your team, working in a language it doesn’t speak, likely won’t.
AI Split the Creator Economy in 2. Most Brands Are Still Paying for the Wrong Half
Brands aren’t just buying audiences anymore. The real opportunity may be creators whose ideas people trust, cite, and act on. Cannes Lions ran two economies at once this year. Down on the beach, creators lined up for activations, shooting content and trading follower counts. A few blocks away, in rooms like Collins House, a different crowd gathered to trade something else: judgment.
OpenAI’s Creator Retreat Sparked a Backlash. The Bigger Lesson Is About Staging, Not Strategy
The backlash was loud, but the real mistake was narrower: OpenAI let a luxury retreat frame a product education effort the wrong way. Last weekend, OpenAI flew a group of creators to a luxury resort in upstate New York for something it called Summer Club. There were ChatGPT workshops between the beekeeping sessions and the painting classes. The creators posted, and the internet erupted.
How far behind are we, actually?
In the summer of 2024, McDonald's gave up on AI at the drive-thru. IBM had spent three years building the voice ordering system, and TikTok needed about three weeks to break it: bacon on a customer's ice cream, hundreds of dollars of chicken nuggets nobody asked for, one woman pleading with the machine to stop adding butter to her order. McDonald's pulled the system from more than 100 locations by that July. A year later it was Taco Bell's turn in the barrel.
Spain Won the World Cup. Unilever Might Have Won the Next Decade
Great sponsorships create culture, not just impressions. Spain beat Argentina 1-0 at MetLife Stadium on July 19 and took home the World Cup trophy. Two weeks later, a different scoreboard was still being tallied: The one sponsors watch. The real winner may be the company selling soap and deodorant. During the tournament, I sat down in Miami with Afke van de Klashorst, who leads integrated brand experience for Unilever Personal Care, and Javier Tena Unna, the division’s CFO.
Consumer distrust of AI isn’t all about the AI
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Marketing has to be data-driven. The average marketing team now juggles several analytics tools, often without realizing their full potential. And marketers who use AI tools without a second thought can end up using compromised data in ways that undermine consumer confidence.
Shama Hyder Named to the 2026 TIME100 Creators List of the World's Most Influential Digital Voices
SHAMA HYDER Named to the 2026 TIME100 Creators List of the World's Most Influential Digital Voices Founder Who Built and Sold Zen Media, Now Co-Founder and CEO of Roster & Co., Recognized in TIME’s Leaders Category MIAMI, FL, UNITED STATES, July 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- TIME named Shama Hyder to the second-annual 2026 TIME100 Creators, a list recognizing 100 of the most influential digital voices. Hyder was recognized in the Leaders category.
AI visibility depends on who writes about your brand
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. A client called after Google’s May 2026 core update, worried that a flagship product page had slipped from position two to eight. The rankings had dropped, but that wasn’t the first question worth asking anymore. The real question was whether buyers could still find the brand when they asked ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode, or another AI search engine for a recommendation. They couldn’t.
Community isn’t a Marketing Strategy Anymore. It’s the Business Model
Building a community is a good marketing strategy that can also be useful as a way to launch, scale, and maintain a business. Marketers have become exceptionally good at leveraging digital marketing practices to build audience-based communities for their brands. Now, it’s time for entrepreneurs to take a similar approach when it comes to launching and scaling their companies by considering the different ways custom-created communities can help them achieve their goals.
How to use B2B PR to shape what AI recommends
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. B2B brands are learning that showing up in AI-generated answers is only part of the challenge. AI systems also shape how vendors are framed, compared, and recommended during the buying process. That distinction matters because more software buyers are now turning to AI tools before they consult analyst reports or search engines.
How to use B2B PR to shape what AI recommends
B2B brands are learning that showing up in AI-generated answers is only part of the challenge. AI systems also shape how vendors are framed, compared, and recommended during the buying process. That distinction matters because more software buyers are now turning to AI tools before they consult analyst reports or search engines.
Customer Loyalty Is Declining. Here Are 4 Ways Founders Can Win It Back
To gain die-hard customers, activate marketing channels that encourage emotional connections with your brand. When asked about brand loyalty by eMarketer in 2025, almost two-thirds of survey participants said customer loyalty was on the decline. However, there’s an antidote to this phenomenon: building emotional connections with your buyers. A shopper who has multiple positive experiences with your people, products, or services is more likely to come back.
LinkedIn's AI is changing how content gets distributed
Shama Hyder A VP of sales published a detailed post on LinkedIn about enterprise deal structures. It received 47 likes, 20 saves, and eight comments on its first day. Three weeks later, it was still appearing in feeds. Meanwhile, a motivational quote with 2,000 reactions vanished within 24 hours. The difference comes down to what LinkedIn now prioritizes. One save now gives a LinkedIn post five times more reach than one like and is twice as meaningful as a comment, per AuthoredUp research.
As Online Ads Lose Impact, These Throwback Marketing Strategies Are Quietly Winning Attention
In today’s competitive landscape, going old school could help you stand out. Marketing has never been more accessible. But it’s also never been more challenging to stand out from the crowd. As every marketing channel becomes increasingly saturated, with more and more businesses entering the digital marketing arena every day, brands are having a tough time capturing and maintaining people’s attention. This phenomenon is forcing a rethink.
The real reason checkout kills ecommerce conversions
Shama Hyder The data for online shopping cart abandonment rates isn't pretty. Even if you think it's high, you might be surprised at how high. The latest stats put the global rate at slightly over 70%. For most ecommerce sites, this means only around 30% of your visitors are crossing the conversion finish line. Cart abandonment is less a traffic problem and more a trust and friction problem created at the point of checkout. From these figures, it's easy to see the wasted potential.
Why Speed Is Beating Price as the Most Powerful Business Advantage
Forget low-cost leader status. In 2026, savvy entrepreneurs are finding that speed and consistency are the only metrics that actually close the deal. I’ve watched businesses obsess over the bottom line for decades. We were taught to believe the leanest price wins the contract. It was a race to the bottom that everyone seemed happy to run. But today, volatile demand and shifting consumer expectations have officially flipped the script.
You Can Scale a Startup Without Silicon Valley. Here’s What Founders Need to Know
The greatest competitive advantage isn’t found in a tech hub, but rather in a small-town mindset that forces you to build for longevity. Most founders hunt for innovation in laboratories and patent offices, missing the opportunities hidden in everyday frustrations. You might look for the next big thing in the distant future, but you are likely overlooking the strategic advantages right in front of you.
How to create demand when buyers don't see the problem
Shama Hyder Most marketing assumes recognized pain points. Customers know they have issues, so they search for solutions. Your job as a marketer is to position your product as the best answer. But what happens when your innovation solves a problem audiences haven't recognized yet? When customers are satisfied with the status quo, even though better alternatives exist? When the pain is invisible because it's how things work?
The Hidden Psychology Behind Why Great Packaging Sells More
Your product might be amazing, but if the packaging doesn’t match, you’re leaving money on the table. Consumers pretend they’re driven by practicality and price when considering a product. In reality, they’re just as drawn to attractive packaging. I’ve watched this play out with my own purchasing decisions, and I bet you have too. This penchant toward preferring an object with visual attractiveness permeates the human mind.
Why customer service determines the ROI of your marketing spend
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. A customer clicks on your perfectly crafted Instagram ad, lands on your conversion-optimized website and completes a purchase. Three days later, they need help with their order. They wait 10 minutes for a response. The chatbot loops them through irrelevant questions. When they finally reach a human agent, they have to explain their problem again. The agent can’t access their order history. Resolution takes five days.
How Founders Can Find Innovation in the Ordinary
Most founders chase the next big thing while ignoring the 60-second headaches that quietly define their customers’ lives. Most founders hunt for innovation in laboratories and patent offices, missing the opportunities hidden in everyday frustrations. You might look for the “next big thing” in the distant future, but you are likely overlooking the 60-second headaches right in front of you. The most soulful and sustainable brands aren’t chasing venture funding or complex technology.
To stand out in a saturated market, think less like a marketer and more like a curator
These three powerful lessons in branding from last years Art Basel Miami can help boost your businesss impact and reach. Art Basel Miami Beach has long been atestingground for experiential marketing. The art show is the premier destinationwhere the worlds most sophisticated brands compete notjustfor wall space, but for cultural relevance. Last year, Art BaselMiamiwhich took place December 5 to 7raisedthe bar. The brands that broke throughwerentjust sponsoring the scene.
To Stand Out in a Saturated Market, Think Less Like a Marketer and More Like a Curator
These three powerful lessons in branding from last year’s Art Basel Miami can help boost your business’s impact and reach. Art Basel Miami Beach has long been a testing ground for experiential marketing. The art show is the premier destination where the world’s most sophisticated brands compete not just for wall space, but for cultural relevance. Last year, Art Basel Miami—which took place December 5 to 7—raised the bar. The brands that broke through weren’t just sponsoring the scene.
The retail visibility gap most DTC brands still miss
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. A consumer opens ChatGPT and types, “What laundry detergent has perfumer-grade fragrance that lasts?” The AI provides three specific recommendations, each with detailed explanations. Your brand, despite its SEO-optimized product pages and paid search budget, never appears. This scenario is playing out millions of times daily across product categories, and most DTC brands remain completely unaware.
3 Mistakes Companies Make When Expanding Internationally
Growth blockers can erode the benefits of globalization. Want growth? Maybe it’s time to go global. Introducing products and services worldwide can open up a dwindling (or plateaued) sales pipeline. But expanding into international markets isn’t without its pitfalls. Many companies have fallen into the quicksand of jumping into globalization without conducting enough due diligence. An example of a global expansion that went sideways is Home Depot’s failed attempt to gain inroads in China.
This 1 Factor Will Help You Close More B2B Sales
Smart salespeople have discovered that reaching the right prospects at the right time matters more than customization. Sales teams are obsessing over the wrong thing. While most B2B organizations pour resources into personalizing every touchpoint, the companies actually winning deals are focused on something different entirely: relevance. This distinction matters more than most leaders realize. Personalization is about customizing a message for an individual.
The 2025 Gift Guide That Will Elevate Your Business Relationships
Skip the branded mugs and generic gift baskets. Shop this list to show clients, vendors, and colleagues you actually pay attention. We have officially reached the end of the era of the “generic corporate gift basket.” Here is an annual deep dive into gifts that actually matter. You can find last year’s guide here. Each year, I test and vet dozens of products to find the ones worth your time and budget. The best gifts today aren’t about “stuff.” They’re about lifestyle return-on-investment.
Gen-Z Is Anxious About Money. Here’s How an AI Coach Is Cracking the Code
Gen-Z’s financial stress isn’t a knowledge deficit, but an emotional burden. Fewer than one-third of Gen-Zers report feeling financially secure. More than half say they’re extremely worried about not having enough money. Nearly half struggle with persistent anxiety that’s difficult to control. These aren’t vague concerns—they’re findings from Ernst & Young’s 2023 Gen Z Segmentation Study. Here’s what makes this particularly complex. Their anxiety isn’t just about money.
The Anti-Venture Capital Playbook: How to Build a Brand Without Losing Your Soul
What three decades of bootstrapping teach about building brands that last. The dominant startup script is simple: raise fast, scale faster, exit fastest. For luxury brands, this often produces hype instead of lasting value. Lafco, the luxury home fragrance company, took the opposite approach.
The overlooked infrastructure problem holding personalization back
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Within five years, saying your platform offers personalized recommendations will sound as dated as asking someone to rewind the tape. Personalization has already shifted from competitive differentiator to baseline expectation — and the transition is moving faster than most marketing teams realize.
The TikTok-fueled shift B2B marketers can’t afford to ignore
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. A sophomore finance major checks her phone between classes. Three brand messages await her response: One offers $200 for an Instagram Reel. Another asks her to review ergonomic desk accessories. A third invites her to promote a meal kit service to her 8,000 followers. She declines the meal kit — her audience leans toward personal finance — but accepts the other two.
Intelligence Amplified
We’ve been asking the wrong question about AI. For two years, we’ve been obsessed with artificial intelligence: what it can do, what it will become, whether it will replace us. The Hyder Ground is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. We’ve treated AI as an autonomous force, something separate from ourselves, watching it with a mixture of awe and dread. But this framing misses something fundamental.
How to Succeed in a Zero Click World
We recently ran an experiment that changed everything. Six hours after publishing a press release through Globe Newswire, we tracked 61 documented mentions across AI engines. ChatGPT cited it 40 times. Meta’s AI mentioned it 17 times. Perplexity and Apple’s systems added another 4. This isn’t abstract theory. It’s measurable proof that structured press releases are being read, indexed, and cited by AI systems immediately.
Marketing needs supply chain intelligence for manufacturers to win with customers
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Here’s what it looks like when your marketing team is writing checks your operations can’t cash: The perfect lead from a Fortune 500 manufacturer lands in your CRM at 9:47 AM. They downloaded your white paper, attended your webinar and submitted a quote request for a six-figure order. Your automated email promises a “rapid response from our team.” But four days later, you’re still waiting for sales engineering to generate that quote.
Strategic Urgency: The New Pace of Business
Last week, OpenAI announced they're building an AI-powered jobs platform to compete with LinkedIn. The move caught industry observers off guard. Not the technology itself (AI-powered matching is hardly revolutionary), but the speed of the decision. While Microsoft and LinkedIn have been iterating on AI features for years, OpenAI spotted a window and moved.
The Invisible Advantage: Why Memory, Not Messaging, Wins Markets
There's a story business leaders tell themselves about market success. It goes like this: We craft messages that change minds. We identify pain points and position solutions. We persuade customers to choose our company over the competition through superior messaging, creative execution, and strategic positioning. It's a compelling narrative. It's also largely fiction. The real story of market dominance is far less romantic and infinitely more powerful. It's not about persuasion at all.
Why AI-powered relevance is replacing personalization in B2B marketing
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Remember when “personalization” was the holy grail of B2B marketing? Marketers worldwide bought into the idea that if they could customize enough emails, tailor enough content and segment enough lists, they’d crack the code for qualified leads. They were wrong. Personalization without relevance is just expensive noise.
Speaking on a Pontoon Boat: What I Learned at Finger Lakes Summit
I’ve spoken at the Mexico City Planetarium under a dome of artificial stars. I’ve presented at the Henry Ford Museum, surrounded by artifacts that changed the world. But this summer, my friend Sasha Hoffman handed me a stage I’d never experienced before: a pontoon boat floating on Canandaigua Lake, at the Finger Lakes Summit. The Finger Lakes Summit isn’t your typical tech networking event.
What marketers can learn from manufacturing’s shift to precision CX
When a procurement manager logs into a manufacturer’s portal at 2 a.m. to urgently source replacement parts, they don’t want a beautiful browsing experience—they want their specific parts, with their negotiated pricing, in under 30 seconds. The manufacturing sector is about precision—tolerances measured in thousandths of an inch, supply chains timed to the minute, quality control that leaves nothing to chance.
Why the best thought leadership doesn’t sound like thought leadership
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Today’s most influential business leaders aren’t always the ones with MBAs from prestigious schools or decades spent climbing corporate ladders. They’re people with unconventional resumes, winding paths and stories that would have raised eyebrows in a boardroom two decades ago. Some might say this is more of a Silicon Valley quirk spreading to other industries, but I don’t think so.
The Amazonification of Media: Why AI Will Buy The New York Times
Big News: my deep-dive newsletter The Hyder Ground now lives on substack. Want the full ai + leadership playbooks (plus bonuses I can’t share here)? subscribe free → shama.substack.com. I share all my best content there first. We're watching the same movie again, just with different actors. In 2000, Borders Group was worth $3.5 billion. They had 1,249 stores. They "partnered" with Amazon for online sales because, hey, the internet was just another channel, right? By 2011, Borders was dead.
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3 ways to turn tariff turmoil into marketing gold
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Escalating trade tensions and unpredictable tariff policies pose unprecedented challenges to businesses’ bottom lines. For marketers, particularly those navigating manufacturing and international commerce, this moment demands strategic reinvention. That’s why some brands are discovering hidden opportunities amid the economic turbulence.
3 ways to turn tariff turmoil into marketing gold
Escalating trade tensions and unpredictable tariff policies pose unprecedented challenges to businesses’ bottom lines. For marketers, particularly those navigating manufacturing and international commerce, this moment demands strategic reinvention. That’s why some brands are discovering hidden opportunities amid the economic turbulence. With that in mind, here are three battle-tested approaches to transforming tariff disruptions from threats into competitive advantages.
Formula 1 Is Booming—Here's How Smart Brands Are Joining the Action
When Louis Vuitton creates a bespoke trophy trunk for every Formula 1 major Grand Prix circuit, you know we’ve entered a new era of luxury marketing. The paddock—once the exclusive domain of automotive sponsors and energy drinks—has transformed into fashion’s most coveted runway and luxury’s newest frontier. As someone who’s spent years studying how brands create meaningful connections, I’ve watched Formula 1 evolve from niche motorsport to global cultural phenomenon.
Digital transformation begins when tradition meets innovation
Get traffic data and keyword intel on competitors instantly. Traditional industries are having their digital awakening. Sectors once proud of doing things “the way they’ve always been done” are now navigating a digital landscape that shifts every few months. From manufacturing to craft stores, they’re finally diving in. But this isn’t just about adopting new tools — it’s about bridging generations to make a real impact.
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