I survived the evolution from UNIX to Cloud to AI.

Most executives didn't.

Here's what 25 years watching technology kill entire industries taught me about the internet's trust crisis—and why Webflow + AI is the only survival strategy that matters.

1980s. UNIX systems. Mainframe to PC transition.

I watched billion-dollar companies ignore the shift.

"Personal computers are toys." "Mainframes are enterprise-grade." "This will never scale."

They were dead before they knew it.

Blockbuster laughed at Netflix. Yellow Pages dismissed Google. Borders ignored Amazon.

Same pattern. Different technology. Same corpses.

The executives who survived weren't the smartest.

They were the ones who saw the constraint shift before anyone else did.

The internet has 1.2 billion websites. Only 17% are active. That's 996 million digital corpses rotting online. SiteefyDemandSage

Let that sink in.

83% of all websites ever created are abandoned. How Many Websites Are There in the World? (2025) - Siteefy

Not failed. Abandoned.

Why?

Because the internet became a trust bridge that collapsed under its own weight.

WordPress powers 43.5% of all websites—522 million sites. How Many Websites Are on the Internet? (2025 Stats) But here's what nobody tells you:

Most WordPress sites are digital graveyards maintained by people who have no idea what they're doing.

Outdated plugins. Security holes. Broken links. Content from 2017.

Your competitors' websites? Probably dead and they don't even know it.

Enter AI. The newest disruptor.

Its goal? Reliable, trustworthy information.

Here's the problem: AI doesn't index dead websites. It doesn't reward abandoned content. It doesn't trust platforms that can't prove they're alive.

Google's algorithm shift. ChatGPT's source selection. Perplexity's trust filters.

They're all asking the same question:

"Is this website actually maintained, or is it digital rot?"

252,000 new websites are created daily. How Many Websites Are There in the World? (2025) - Siteefy Most will join the 83% graveyard within 12 months.

Why?

Because they're built on legacy platforms that require constant technical maintenance just to stay alive.

WordPress needs plugin updates. Security patches every week. Hosting management. Developer troubleshooting. Theme compatibility fixes.

That's not a website. That's a second job.

Let's talk data.

WordPress: 64.3% CMS market share CMS Market Share: The Most Popular Website Platforms in 2025 Wix: 3.4% market share WordPress or Wix? | Market Share Stats 2025 | CreativeMinds Webflow: 1.2% market share with 493,226 active websites Webflow Market Share and Statistics 2025: A Data Analyst’s Perspective - Enricher.io

"But Charles, WordPress is winning!"

Wrong.

WordPress market share declined 2.7% in the last year while Wix grew 35.9% and Shopify grew 6.3%. CMS Market Share Trends: Top 10 Content Management Systems (May 2025)

You know what that tells me?

The market is fleeing legacy complexity for managed simplicity.

SMBs are tired of hiring developers just to change a headline.

Executives are done with websites that break when a plugin updates.

AI changed the game. Software embedded with AI is the solution.

The New York Times, Dropbox, Vice, TED, and Orangetheory Fitness all use Webflow. The best companies build their websites on Webflow | Webflow Blog

Not WordPress.

Webflow.

Why?

Because Webflow excels in ease of use (84%), ease of setup (88%), and visual design tools (88%) I Tried Webflow Vs. WordPress in 2025, Here’s the Winner while maintaining enterprise-grade performance.

Here's what that means for your business:

✅ No-code visual builder = Your marketing team can make changes without waiting for developers

✅ Built-in SEO optimization = AI search engines actually index and trust your content
✅ Native performance = Fast load times without plugin bloat

✅ AI-enhanced workflows = Automated optimization without manual intervention

Michael Kors uses Webflow to keep backend code minimal and website load times extremely fast. Top 16 Companies That Use Webflow | 253 Media

Retool went from reactive updates to a proactive growth engine with Webflow. Customer stories | Webflow

These aren't startups. These are established brands that switched because legacy platforms couldn't keep up.

Here's what makes my fractional CTO expertise different from every other consultant:

I'm the only CTO with brand strategy certification who was part of a major corporation rebrand.

At Navistar, I didn't just build systems.

I rebuilt development teams during one of the most chaotic corporate transformations in manufacturing history.

International Harvester → Navistar.

Billion-dollar restructuring. Technology infrastructure overhaul. Brand identity collapse and rebuild.

I built Executive Information Systems for C-suite executives—real-time dashboards monitoring Critical Success Factors across global operations.

Not theory. Not tutorials. Real enterprise systems under crisis conditions.

That's the difference.

Most fractional CTOs learned on small projects and scaled up.

I learned on billion-dollar collapses and scaled down.

When I tell SMBs how to build crisis-proof digital infrastructure, I'm not guessing.

I've already watched what happens when you get it wrong.

Here's the reality:

Businesses that want to stay in business using the internet have to up their game.

AI doesn't care about your WordPress site from 2018.

Google doesn't rank abandoned content.

ChatGPT doesn't source dead links.

You have two choices:

Webflow's 10% CAGR in market share reflects increasing adoption among designers and enterprises who need speed without complexity. Webflow Market Share and Statistics 2025: A Data Analyst’s Perspective - Enricher.io

The constraint shifted.

It's no longer "who has the best content."

It's "who has the most trustworthy, maintained, AI-indexed digital presence."

I built MAD 2.0 because I've seen this movie before.

Mainframe → PC: Executives who adapted survived. Others died.

Yellow Pages → Google: Businesses that pivoted thrived. Others vanished.

WordPress → AI-Native Platforms: Companies that migrate now will dominate. Others will join the 83% graveyard.

My fractional CMO/CTO service does three things:

Not content marketing. Strategic intelligence.

Visual frameworks that compress 25 years of technology disruption into 90-second decision tools.

5.18 billion internet users exist. 83% of websites are abandoned. How Many Websites Are There in the World? (2025) - Siteefy

That's not a failure rate. That's an opportunity.

While your competitors maintain digital graveyards, you can build AI-optimized infrastructure that actually works.

HelloSign, Mural, and UpGuard all use Webflow Top 16 Companies That Use Webflow | 253 Media for the same reason Fortune 500 executives hire me:

Because complexity kills businesses, and simplicity scales.

I survived UNIX → Cloud → AI.

I watched Blockbuster die.

I saw Yellow Pages collapse.

I'm not here to sell you another WordPress site.

I'm here to show you the constraint that will kill your competitors—so you can control it instead.

Stop Reading. Start Seeing.

P.S. - If you're still maintaining a WordPress site thinking "it works fine," you're already behind. AI search doesn't index "fine." It indexes "trustworthy, maintained, and optimized." The businesses that dominate your industry in 3 years are migrating to AI-native platforms right now. [Get MAD Intel Here →] Limited to 100 founding subscribers. No exceptions.