Conductor CEO Seth Besmertnik steps down after 20 years

Conductor co-founder Seth Besmertnik is stepping down as CEO after two decades. Chief Product Officer Wei Zheng will take over as Conductor makes answer engine optimization a bigger part of its business.

Besmertnik will remain on Conductor’s board. In a LinkedIn post announcing the move, Besmertnik said he would continue supporting Zheng and the company as a major shareholder.

Zheng takes over. Zheng has been Conductor’s chief product officer for the past five years, overseeing product strategy. Conductor said she led the development of Conductor AI and its broader AI and data strategy. That included building the data foundation behind its enterprise platform.

• Besmertnik credited Zheng with pushing Conductor four years ago to build a data platform. The platform brought together signals now used to measure visibility in AI search.
• “She had both the vision plus ability to drive execution that brought us to the amazing place we’re in today,” Besmertnik said.

Why we care. Besmertnik has been synonymous with Conductor for two decades. He led the company through its early days, its sale to WeWork, its return to independence, and its growth into a major enterprise SEO platform. His departure as CEO marks the end of an era for one of the search industry’s longest-running founder-led companies.

Besmertnik’s 20-year run. Besmertnik co-founded Conductor in 2006. The company initially operated as LinkExperts before becoming Conductor in 2008 and growing into an enterprise SEO platform.

• WeWork acquired Conductor in 2018. Besmertnik then led an employee buyback in 2019 that returned the company to independence and gave more than 250 employees co-founder status.
• Conductor later expanded through acquisitions, including ContentKing and Searchmetrics.
• In his announcement, Besmertnik called leading Conductor “the best job I ever had.” He said Zheng was the clear choice to lead the company into its AI future.

What’s next for Besmertnik. He hasn’t announced another operating role or venture.

• “For the first time in my life, I have no idea what I’m doing next week. Going to see where that takes me,” he wrote.

AEO becomes the focus. The leadership change comes as Conductor puts AEO at the center of its product strategy. The company said the shift will shape how it develops its platform, serves customers, and invests in growth.

• Conductor launched Conductor AI a year ago. The company said hundreds of enterprises have since adopted the technology.
• Zheng said Conductor’s next phase will go beyond measuring whether a brand appears in an AI answer. The company wants to help brands understand why they are or aren’t being recommended. It then wants to help them turn those insights into changes to their content and websites.