OpenAI Partnership Playbook:

[0] Build revolutionary products & offer freemium versions [essential pre-requisite]

1️⃣ Partner early with complementary, resourceful companies that are unafraid to go big

Early in Open AI history they partnered with Microsoft securing a whopping $1B investment.

2️⃣ Focus on open APIs for seamless embedding

3️⃣ If your partnership pilot proved successful, scale it to maximize reach

Most recently, Open AI notched a multi-billion-dollar investment from Microsoft at a rumored valuation of up to $29B — a more than 100x premium on its projected 2023 revenue of $200M.

Chat GPT is now embedded in many Microsoft product and it’s probably just the beginning.

4️⃣ Invest in the next generation startups built on top of your product to cement your status

Since October 2022, OpenAI’s $100M Startup Fund (backed by LPs including Microsoft) has doled out a dozen investments to primarily early-stage AI startups, including through its accelerator program Converge, which launched in November 2022.

OpenAI has dealt out its investments to a wide range of AI startups — by tying itself to many AI applications at once, the lab is proving its value to a wide array of potential clients.

Most of its portfolio companies leverage generative AI in their tools. The top themes in this crowd are:

General productivity tools: These range from note-taking apps for workers (Mem) to calendar management for families (Milo).

Industry solutions: OpenAI is opening the door to specific industries through its investments in companies like Harvey, a legal assistant built on OpenAI’s language models, and accounting automation platform Kick.

5️⃣ Launch an App Store (plugins) as adoption grows.

This will foster a thriving ecosystem, drive innovation on top of your product. It will also expand its reach and can make you a gatekeeper.

💡 Just like AI will become like electricity, OpenAI's strategy is to become a central power grid, powering countless applications with fast adoption.