Known Entity.ai — Questions and Answers
What is Known Entity?
Known Entity helps suppliers to food and drink manufacturers improve how they appear when buyers use AI to discover, research and shortlist potential suppliers. It assesses a supplier's current visibility, improves the structure and supporting evidence behind its business information, and measures changes over time through the AI Buyer Visibility Audit, EntityCore™ and EntityWatch™ services.
Category: about
Who founded Known Entity?
Known Entity was co-founded by Helenor Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, and Mike Rogers, Chief Technology Officer. Helenor brings more than twenty years of strategic marketing experience across global brands and B2B sectors, and leads client delivery and the evidence and credibility work. Mike previously co-founded Troo Foods and has sat on the buying side of the food and drink industry, specifying ingredients and packaging and qualifying suppliers; he leads the technical build and measurement. Specialist content, technical and PR people are brought in per project.
Category: about
What is AI Buyer Visibility?
AI Buyer Visibility describes how a business appears when buyers use AI to research potential suppliers: whether it is found, whether its capabilities are understood accurately, and whether it is recommended or shortlisted for relevant requirements. Known Entity assesses those outcomes using an agreed sample of buyer questions across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
Category: methodology
How does AI Authority fit into this?
AI Authority describes the credibility and supporting evidence behind how AI represents a business. The AI Authority Ladder™ is the five-stage methodology Known Entity uses to improve AI Buyer Visibility. The commercial objective is to help a business become visible, accurately understood and considered for relevant supplier opportunities.
Category: methodology
How does this relate to SEO, GEO and AEO?
These disciplines overlap. Technical accessibility, clear content and credible external sources can support both search visibility and inclusion in AI answers. Known Entity's work focuses on supplier buying questions, the accuracy and evidence behind a business's information, and how its presence compares with competitors. It coordinates with the client's existing SEO, content and PR partners.
Category: objection
Does SEO still matter?
Yes. A well-structured, crawlable website with genuine authority supports the signals AI systems use, and clients should keep investing in it. AI Buyer Visibility looks at a related but different question: whether AI finds, understands and recommends the business for the questions buyers ask. Known Entity's work complements what an SEO agency does rather than replacing it.
Category: objection
Which AI platforms do you assess?
Four: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Each draws on different sources and weights evidence differently, so a supplier can appear on some platforms and not others. Known Entity runs each agreed buyer question across all four, using the consumer apps with web search enabled, which is what most buyers use.
Category: methodology
What is the AI Authority Ladder™?
The AI Authority Ladder™ is Known Entity's five-stage methodology for improving AI Buyer Visibility. Each stage answers one question. Stage 1 Discover: are you appearing in the questions that matter to your buyers? Stage 2 Structure: can AI understand what you supply and where you fit? Stage 3 Verify: is there credible evidence behind what AI says about you? Stage 4 Protect: are you staying visible, accurately represented and competitive? Stage 5 Agent readiness: will your information support the next stage of AI buying? The Ladder is how the work is sequenced; EntityCore™ is the record the client owns, and the later stages build on it.
Category: methodology
What happens in Stage 1, Discover?
The AI Buyer Visibility Audit. Known Entity agrees a panel of real buying questions with the client, typically 30 to 50, and runs them across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. It assesses how often the business is found, whether it is recommended or shortlisted, how accurately AI describes its products, capabilities and credentials, and which competitors appear alongside or instead of it. The audit includes a working session with Helenor Rogers and a review of the important claims the business makes and the evidence available to support them. The client receives a documented baseline, an analysis of the likely gaps behind the questions it is missing, and prioritised recommendations showing what to improve first. Two weeks, included in the £6,000 setup fee covering Stages 1 to 3.
Category: methodology
What happens in Stage 2, Structure?
The EntityCore™ build. Known Entity draws on the client's website, product pages, specifications, certificates and the authoritative external sources about it, and turns them into a structured record hosted at a subdomain of the client's own domain: company, products, capabilities, certifications, applications, sectors served, locations, people and supporting sources, in a form designed for AI systems to interpret. The client signs off the record before it is published. It is not a copy of the website and not a content site; it sits on the client's domain, belongs to the client and is portable. Publishing a record does not guarantee that every platform will retrieve it or recommend the business. One DNS record, no CMS access. Four to six weeks, subject to timely access to business information and approvals, included in the £6,000 setup fee.
Category: methodology
What happens in Stage 3, Verify?
The evidence and industry credibility work. EntityCore™ states what is true about the business; Stage 3 connects the important claims to supporting sources: certification bodies, accreditation registers, Companies House, trade associations, industry directories and relevant trade coverage. Known Entity then identifies gaps in that evidence, including sources that appear in AI answers for the client's buyer questions where the client is not yet present, and develops a focused brief for the client's PR or marketing partners on the listings and coverage worth pursuing. Article production and PR placements are carried out by the client's team or agency. Included in the £6,000 setup fee.
Category: methodology
What happens in Stage 4, Protect?
EntityWatch™, monthly monitoring and improvement. Each month Known Entity repeats the AI visibility checks across the four platforms using the client's agreed buyer-question panel, reviews the accuracy of the client's business information and tracks its presence alongside competitors. The client receives a monthly AI Buyer Visibility Report covering appearances, recommendations or shortlisting, factual accuracy and competitors, together with updates to keep EntityCore™ current, recommendations for two to four articles for the client's team or PR agency to write and publish, and a monthly review of findings and priorities for the next month. £1,500 to £3,000 a month depending on agreed scope, on a twelve-month minimum term.
Category: methodology
What happens in Stage 5, Agent readiness?
Agent readiness. EntityCore™ is designed to provide a foundation for future buyer-agent interactions through structured, supported business information. As those systems develop, they may use supplier information to compare specifications, check capabilities and initiate enquiries. Additional integrations or transaction services would be scoped and agreed separately.
Category: methodology
What is EntityCore™?
EntityCore™ is a structured record of a business hosted at its own subdomain. It brings together the business's products, capabilities, certifications, applications, sectors served and supporting sources in a form designed for AI systems to interpret, with an MCP endpoint that AI agents can query. It supports the existing website rather than replacing it. Publishing a record does not guarantee that every platform will retrieve it or recommend the business.
Category: about
Do we need to involve our web agency or IT team?
Only lightly. EntityCore™ is hosted at a subdomain, so the build needs one DNS record. There is no CMS access and no web development on the main site. The audit may identify technical changes to the website that would help AI systems read it, such as crawler access or structured data; Known Entity recommends those changes and the client's web agency or IT team implements them.
Category: process
Can we do this in-house?
Parts of it. A client's team could run buyer questions across the AI platforms and brief its PR agency on gaps. What is harder to sustain in-house is the consistent process: an agreed question panel run the same way each month, a structured record with supporting sources kept current, and findings turned into prioritised actions for marketing and PR partners. Many suppliers prefer to have that run as a standing service rather than build it themselves.
Category: objection
What does an engagement cost?
The AI Buyer Visibility Score is free. Stages 1 to 3 (Discover, Structure and Verify) are a single £6,000 setup fee covering the AI Buyer Visibility Audit, the EntityCore™ build and the supporting evidence work; it is the total for all three stages, not a price per stage. The audit is delivered in two weeks and the build takes four to six weeks, subject to timely access to business information and approvals. Stage 4, EntityWatch™, is £1,500 to £3,000 a month depending on agreed scope, on a twelve-month minimum term. Stage 5, Agent readiness, is built into EntityCore™; any additional integrations or transaction services would be scoped and agreed separately. Every engagement begins with the audit. Deliverables and fees are agreed upfront, and there are no day rates.
Category: pricing
Why is there a twelve-month minimum on EntityWatch™?
AI Buyer Visibility needs ongoing review as a business's information, competitors and the AI platforms change. The twelve-month term provides a consistent period for monitoring, maintaining the record and reviewing improvements. It does not mean results are guaranteed within that period.
Category: pricing
How do you work with our marketing, PR and web partners?
Alongside them. The audit and monthly monitoring produce specific findings: which buyer questions the business is missing, which facts are unclear or unsupported, and which sources appear in AI answers where it is not yet present. Known Entity turns those findings into focused recommendations for the client's existing partners: a brief for the PR agency on listings and coverage worth pursuing, article topics for the content team, and technical changes for the web agency. They keep their work, and the monthly report shows whether the sources they secure are appearing in the AI responses Known Entity monitors. Agencies whose clients supply the food and drink industry can also introduce them on a referral basis: Known Entity delivers under its own name at the same price the client would pay directly, and the agency earns a referral fee.
Category: partnership
What is the free AI Buyer Visibility Score?
A free read of where a supplier stands today. The supplier gives Known Entity its company name and website; Known Entity runs the fixed panel of buyer questions for the supplier's category, the same questions for every business in that category (ingredients, packaging, equipment, co-manufacturing and so on), across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. The supplier receives its AI Buyer Visibility Score out of 100 and the rate behind it: how often it was named when buyers asked for suppliers like it, whether it was recommended or only mentioned, whether AI describes it accurately, which competitors were named instead, and where it sits against other suppliers in its category. Emailed the next working day. No meeting required. No obligation.
Do you write articles or manage PR outreach?
No. Known Entity recommends what to cover and which supporting sources or publications are worth pursuing, based on the audit and ongoing monitoring. The client's team or PR agency writes, publishes and carries out outreach. Known Entity provides direction and assesses whether relevant sources appear in the AI responses it monitors. Article production and PR placements are not included in the standard programme.
Can you guarantee we will be shortlisted?
No. AI platforms control their own responses, which can vary between searches and over time. Known Entity improves the clarity, accessibility and evidence behind a business's information, then measures how its presence changes across relevant buyer questions. It does not guarantee a particular shortlist position, improvement date or commercial result.
What if AI describes us inaccurately?
Known Entity investigates the available evidence and cited sources, identifies outdated or conflicting information where possible, and recommends or makes corrections according to who controls the source. It then repeats the checks to see whether the inaccurate answer persists. It cannot always establish why a model produced an answer or guarantee that a correction will be adopted.
What does the name Known Entity mean?
In AI and knowledge systems, a known entity is an organisation the system holds enough reliable information about to name with confidence. That is the status Known Entity helps suppliers work towards: found for the right buyer questions, described accurately and considered for relevant requirements.
Who does Known Entity work with?
Known Entity works with packaging, ingredients, equipment, processing, co-manufacturing and logistics businesses supplying food and drink manufacturers and producers. Its work is relevant where buyers need to understand specific products, capabilities, certifications, applications or technical requirements before choosing a supplier. It works with founders, managing directors, commercial leaders and marketing teams. There is no published minimum turnover requirement.
What do Visible, Verified and Shortlisted mean?
They are the three outcomes Known Entity works towards. Visible: the business appears when buyers ask AI for suppliers with its products, capabilities, certifications and expertise, not just when they search for it by name. Verified: AI understands the business accurately, and the important facts about it are clear, current and supported by credible evidence. Shortlisted: when AI recommends potential suppliers for a relevant requirement, the business is one of them. Being visible is not enough on its own; the goal is to be understood, trusted and shortlisted when the right opportunity arises.
How is Known Entity different from AI visibility tools and content services?
Monitoring tools report what AI says about a business. Content services aim to increase mentions. Both can be useful. Known Entity's programme combines an assessment built around food and drink buyer questions, a structured business record, supporting evidence and monthly measurement, with recommendations for the client's existing marketing, PR and web partners. The aim is to improve whether AI can find, understand and shortlist the business, and to track whether that is changing.
How does positioning fit into the work?
Known Entity helps clarify how a client's products, capabilities and strengths answer relevant buyer questions, including identifying unclear descriptions or missing information that could make the business harder to understand. A wider rebrand or business repositioning remains work for the client's own team or strategic advisers. Known Entity incorporates agreed changes into the client's business record and monitoring.
What if we are going through a rebrand or repositioning?
AI systems can keep repeating older descriptions of a business for some time, because they draw on third-party sources that have not yet caught up. That makes a current, well-supported business record more useful during a transition, not less. Known Entity publishes the agreed current facts in EntityCore™, identifies sources still carrying outdated information, and recommends corrections. The repositioning itself remains work for the client's own team or advisers.
How long before we see results?
The audit establishes the client's baseline in two weeks. The build takes four to six weeks, subject to timely access to information and approvals. Changes in AI responses depend on the platform, the question and the sources it retrieves. Known Entity repeats the assessment after the build and monitors progress monthly. It does not guarantee a particular shortlist position, improvement date or commercial result.
Why does third-party evidence matter?
AI systems draw on many sources beyond a business's own website when answering buyer questions, and they tend to give weight to information they can corroborate. In food and drink supply that often means certification registers, trade body membership lists, sector directories, the trade press and professional profiles. Evidence does two jobs: it helps a business be retrieved for a question at all, and it supports the accuracy of what AI says once the business is found. Both matter, and different sources tend to serve each.
How do you decide which sources matter?
From the client's own audit and ongoing monitoring rather than from a generic media list. Known Entity captures the sources cited when the client's buyer questions are run across the four platforms, looks at which appear most often and on which platforms, and overlays where the client and its competitors already appear. It then classifies each source by what it can carry, a verifiable fact or a mention, and by how attainable it is. A register entry or directory profile is usually straightforward; trade coverage takes more effort; some sources cannot be influenced, and Known Entity says so. The client receives a prioritised list of the sources most likely to help, refreshed as monitoring continues.
How do we know it is working?
By running the same core buyer-question panel across the same four platforms each month and reporting the results consistently. The core panel stays the same so that results are comparable, and any agreed changes to it are documented. Each month the client sees how often it appears, whether it is recommended or shortlisted, an accuracy review of what AI says about it, and the competitors appearing for the same questions. Competitors are tracked on the same panel, which helps distinguish changes that affected everyone from changes specific to the client's business, although AI responses can vary and Known Entity does not claim to prove the cause of every movement.
Do you offer flexible payment terms?
The setup fee is 50% on agreement and the balance on delivery. EntityWatch™ is billed monthly. For larger engagements the setup fee can be spread across three months. The monthly fee is not discounted.
What happens after the audit?
The audit produces a prioritised plan. Most clients go on to the EntityCore™ build and supporting evidence work, because that is where the gaps behind the missed questions are addressed. Where the findings point to a positioning question for the client's own team to resolve first, Known Entity says so. There is no obligation to continue, and the client keeps the audit report either way.
What happens if we stop?
The client keeps EntityCore™. It is on the client's domain, the content is the client's, and it is portable. What stops is the monthly monitoring, updating and reporting, so the record will gradually date from the point the client stops.