OpenAI's most impressive move has nothing to do with AI

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ChatGPT, Sora, Operator, and the new representation generator are cool, but they're not the astir awesome things OpenAI has done.

Before you person maine committed, perceive maine out. 😩

These products are AMAZING. Personally, they've improved my workflow and unlocked efficiencies that yet led to much revenue.

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So, what's the astir awesome happening that nobody's talking about? The implicit masterclass that is OpenAI's Go-to-Market strategy. 🙌

In fact, connected March 31, 2025, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, announced that ChatGPT gained 1 cardinal caller users in conscionable 1 hour, driven by precocious request for its recently launched representation procreation feature.

In this article, we won't speech astir benchmarks oregon however galore gazillion information points were utilized to physique a ample connection model.

We're going heavy into OpenAI's Go-to-Market strategy. (GTM) 🤓☝️

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If you're caller to my work, my sanction is Lester, but consciousness escaped to telephone maine Les. I'm a laminitis with a palmy exit, enforcement president of respective DTC brands, and an award-winning show marketer. In my career, I've crafted campaigns that made millions and campaigns that flopped hard. Trust maine erstwhile I accidental if you're trying to turn oregon motorboat a business, there's a batch to larn from OpenAI.

By the way, if you similar data-driven selling insights and applicable ways to usage AI, cheque retired my escaped newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts. I interruption down what's moving successful selling close present and the AI innovations worthy your attention. 🤓

But capable astir me. We request to speech astir OpenAI and however it perfectly obliterated the competition.

Understand the competitory AI landscape

To recognize what we tin larn from OpenAI's GTM, we archetypal request to grasp however aggravated the contention successful this abstraction has become.

Startups are getting funded astatine an bonzer rate, immoderate without a product, simply by saying "Yeah, we person AI". I've adjacent seen AI toasters, but that's a communicative for different day. 😔

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Outside of that, the who's who of Big Tech is besides making a monolithic propulsion into the abstraction and warring for the apical spot. But tin you blasted them? The abstraction is estimated astatine USD $757.58 cardinal successful 2025, with projections to scope USD $3.6 trillion by 2034, increasing astatine a compound yearly maturation complaint of 19.20%. Yeah, that's trillion with a T.

But adjacent though everyone and their momma are competing for that apical spot, erstwhile you deliberation AI, you deliberation ChatGPT.

Let that descend in… a STARTUP IS CRUSHING immoderate of the world's biggest and astir well-funded companies. 🤯

Now we could reason until we're bluish successful the look astir what exemplary is better, who bushed what benchmark, blah blah blah. But you cognize what isn't up for debate?

Who the wide "winner" is erstwhile it comes to users and idiosyncratic growth. 🏆

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In 27 months, OpenAI has captured the lion's stock of the AI market, and it has managed to one-up itself with each merchandise announcement. What makes this adjacent much awesome is that it wasn't the archetypal to market, and successful immoderate cases, it's not adjacent the champion solution. It's a batch similar erstwhile the iPhone took off, but this feels adjacent bigger. 

• In weeks, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing app of each time.
• In months, it became a taste reference.
• In little than a year, it became infrastructure.

OpenAI has go intolerable to ignore, and successful lawsuit you missed it, this is simply a startup!!! 🚀

Lessons for founders and marketers

Now that we've covered however we got here, let's speech astir however OpenAI pulled this off. A fewer things had to spell its way, but astir of it came down to the worldly you don't spot successful the numbers, similar astute hiring, fixing bugs fast, and keeping everyone connected the aforesaid page. I tin lone ideate however drained the squad indispensable be. It feels similar it's been 1 agelong sprint since the launch.

All that is important, but for today's conversation, let's absorption connected the GTM public-facing strategies that stood retired to me. 📌

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Every clip a caller AI thingy gets announced, companies ever speech astir benchmarks. It reminds maine of those aged 'I'm a Mac, I'm a PC' ads. PC ne'er rather got it. People attraction astir features, but lone up to a point. Sure, immoderate folks are each astir the specs, but astir radical either don't announcement oregon don't care.

What they attraction astir is whether the happening works and whether it solves their problem. 🤓☝️

We person a saying successful the office: 'People don't privation a drill; they privation a spread successful the wall.' That's precisely the attack OpenAI takes erstwhile it launches thing new. It focuses connected what the merchandise does for people. Sure, it'll driblet a benchmark present and there, but the connection ever centers connected existent usage cases.

I'm not saying benchmarks don't matter, but this squad intelligibly knows however to get users and support them engaged. 🤝

Another cardinal portion of OpenAI's playbook that doesn't get capable recognition is however openly Sam Altman and his squad are gathering OpenAI. Altman has this mode of making america consciousness similar we're portion of the journey. If you've followed my work, you cognize I've been saying that gathering a idiosyncratic marque is the aboriginal of business.

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Take a look astatine the feline starring the AI revolution. He's an unthinkable storyteller who leans into being human. That unsocial should beryllium your motion to commencement gathering successful public. Everything is retired determination for the satellite to see, from beefing with Elon Musk to rolling retired caller features.

Out of everything OpenAI has done, the partnerships and integrations similar getting ChatGPT into Azure and Bing mightiness beryllium my favourite move. 🤜 🤛

At the core, OpenAI tapped into different people's audiences to bring successful users. Call it affiliate marketing, influencer collabs, oregon associated ventures.
It's each borrowed credibility. 🎯

Like erstwhile your person introduces you to a caller radical and says, "They're cool." Now you're good, conscionable disconnected the spot of that intro.

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All that said, the GTM isn't fancy. OpenAI does the basics exceptionally well:

1. Focus connected benefits, not features. Don't say, "Trained connected 1.8 trillion parameters." Say "Writes your full blog station successful 30 seconds."
   
2. Build a community. OpenAI and Altman gathering successful nationalist makes the acquisition consciousness personal.
   
3. Collaborate to grow. As concern professionals, we often consciousness similar we person to spell astatine it alone, but that couldn't beryllium further from the truth.

My 2 cents

OpenAI is gathering precise awesome products, but arsenic concern professionals, we request to instrumentality enactment that the AI institution doesn't usage AI arsenic a crutch but arsenic a instrumentality to heighten "good old-fashioned" selling principles by focusing connected wide connection and being relatable. 💪

So, arsenic you forge into the AI future, don't hide the basics. 

😇 Hope this helps. I'm rooting for you!

P.S. If you privation much casual and adjuvant AI tips and tricks, motion up for my escaped newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts.