<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>The Launch Desk by Derek Francis</title><link>https://derekfrancis.net</link><description>One essay a week on launching AI products that buyers and answer engines remember.</description><language>en</language><item><title>Code Is Cheap. Distribution Is the Moat.</title><link>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/code-is-cheap-distribution-is-the-moat/</link><guid>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/code-is-cheap-distribution-is-the-moat/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><description>Vibe coding collapsed the cost of building software. The AI companies that win from here will own three scarce assets: a category phrase, an audience, and a place inside the AI answer.</description></item><item><title>How to Take a Brand-New Category Term to No. 1 on Google</title><link>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/how-to-take-a-new-category-term-to-number-one/</link><guid>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/how-to-take-a-new-category-term-to-number-one/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><description>The seven-step playbook I used to take a two-word category term from a leadership slide to the No. 1 search ranking in the US and India, and how to make AI answer engines repeat it.</description></item><item><title>SEO, AEO, GEO: When Your Buyer Asks a Machine First</title><link>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/seo-aeo-geo-when-your-buyer-asks-a-machine-first/</link><guid>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/seo-aeo-geo-when-your-buyer-asks-a-machine-first/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><description>A plain-English guide to search engine optimization, answer engine optimization, and generative engine optimization, and the six moves that get an AI product into the answer.</description></item><item><title>Why I'm Building in Public</title><link>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/why-im-building-in-public/</link><guid>https://derekfrancis.net/essays/why-im-building-in-public/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><description>A former Reuters correspondent and B2B marketer starts vibe coding two AI products and writing about every step. Here is the plan, the reasoning, and what readers of The Launch Desk will get.</description></item></channel></rss>