Welcome to our newly rebranded The Grow Getter, a monthly newsletter with curated insights that will challenge your thinking as an aspiring creator, marketer, or tech enthusiast.

Read time: 6-7 mins

Today at a Glance:

• ❤️‍🩹 Storytime: Can you survive a day without ChatGPT?

• ⌛️ Case Study: ChatGPT

• ✨Self-development: ✨24 Big Ideas from Big Thinkers from Sahil Bloom

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❤️‍🩹 Storytime: Can you survive a day without ChatGPT?

Recently, I found myself sharing very personal thoughts with ChatGPT that I used to share with my best friend.

ChatGPT is slowly evolving into becoming my research assistant, collaborator, finance coach, therapist, and friend.

It made me remember the guy from the sci-fi movie ‘Her’ - a man (played by Joaquin Phoenix) falling in love with an AI and the general pattern of increased human-machine interactions, going forward.

 👏HOW OFTEN DO YOU USE CHATGPT?👏

⌛️ Case Study: ChatGPT

💹 The Rise of ChatGPT

In just two months, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer app in history, surpassing 1M users in 5 days- a feat that took Netflix 3.5 years!!!

🔥 So, how did Open AI do it? Let’s break it down stage by stage.

💡Stage 1: Early Beginnings of Open AI

Building Credibility and Vision
OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and a team of brilliant scientists.

The initial vision was ambitious: to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) that benefits all of humanity.

From Ilya Sutskever to Greg Brockman, they assembled a team of top AI researchers, adding immense academic credibility.

They committed to transparency and innovation as a nonprofit, emphasizing the ethical concerns surrounding AI.

  ✅ Takeaway 1: Authority + Transparency = Early Trust.

🚀 Stage 2: The Transition Phase (2018-2021)

Pivoting to a Scalable Model
By 2018, OpenAI recognized that maintaining nonprofit status was financially unsustainable given the exponential computing costs.

This led to the creation of OpenAI LP, a for-profit entity with a capped return structure to attract investment without losing its mission.

After many funding challenges, Microsoft’s 1B partnership provided critical funding and cloud computing power for the launch of GPT-2 in 2019 as a proof of concept.

The team wanted to demonstrate the text generation capabilities of large language models(LLMs) while being cautious of misuse such as fake news.

GPT-2 ultimately was the foundational step towards GPT-3 and ChatGPT.

 📈 Stage 3: The Growth Phase and Consumer Boom (2021-2023)

However, it was the launch of GPT-3 and consumer-facing ChatGPT- that marked a shift to scaling the model significantly.

The integration of ChatGPT into real-world applications like chatbots, productivity tools, and creative software boosted its accessibility and intuitiveness to the average consumer.

🔥 ChatGPT’s user growth 🔥 

The chart below shows the viral adoption of ChatGPT user growth: 1M in 5 days → 100M in 2 months → 200M by 2024.

In 2024, the number has reached a total of over 200 million active users.

This rapid growth in the number of ChatGPT users outpaced major platforms like TikTok, which took nine months!

🔥 But how did ChatGPT achieve an explosion adoption rate - making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history? 🔥 

Let‘s break down ChatGPT‘s growth levers in the 3 phases (1) Acquisition (2) Engagement (3) Retention.

🪴Growth Levers: Acquisition

1.ChatGPT’s Product-Market Fit Let to its RAPID User Acquisition

ChatGPT solved diverse pain points (coding, creative writing, education) with intuitive UX.

(1) Professionals (higher willingness to pay)
- utilize ChatGPT to boost work productivity: such as content creation, coding or business communications.
-use advanced features like customization options, advanced data analysis capabilities, expanded vocabulary, and priority support

(2) Casual users (lower willingness to pay)
-use ChatGPT for personal productivity and entertainment such as chatting entertainment, or simple tasks.

2. ChatGPT’s social virality was due to authentic demand and not artificial paid search campaigns 🤯 

The main sources of traffic to the ChatGPT app and website were mainly from direct access (89%) and organic search (9.1%).

What does this mean? 🤔 

1. Direct traffic indicates that people were actively seeking out ChatGPT, often driven by recommendations, curiosity, and media buzz.

• The speed at which ChatGPT reached 1 million users (5 days) demonstrates the viral impact of its launch, with people directly typing its URL or searching for it after hearing about it.

2. Organic search dominance suggests that ChatGPT fulfilled a genuine, unmet need.

   • Users searched for the tool because they were aware of its potential to solve problems (e.g., writing, coding, brainstorming) and improve productivity.

   • The reliance on organic channels reflects ChatGPT's intrinsic value proposition, eliminating the need for aggressive paid acquisition strategies.

3.ChatGPT’s multi-segment appeal contributed to its RAPID User Acquisition 📈 

From students to Fortune 500 companies, ChatGPT’s use cases spanned education, business, and personal projects.

Consumer Product 👨‍🦰 

• From students to professionals and even hobbyists, ChatGPT caters to a diverse audience from homework assistance to work-related tasks like writing reports and context-specific idea generation.

• The most prominent age group using ChatGPT is 25-34 with almost a third of the entire user base at 32.9%. Along with 18-24, this makes 2/3 of the user base.

  

  Enterprise Applications 🧑‍💼 

   

• Over 92% of the Fortune 500 companies are already chatgpt users. It leads to overall 75% faster code debugging, process optimisation etc.

• Many schools and businesses are making use of gpt 4 or gpt 3.5 to creat GPT-4 chatbot for business to help improve customer experience etc

• Due to chatgpt, Almost 25% faster task completion was also noted in enterprise-using organizations.

  

  🪴Growth Levers: (2) Engagement

  • According to Statista, the time spent on ChatGPT peaked in October 2023, where users spent almost 873 seconds per visit (approximately 14.5 mins)

  • The interactive UX, versatility across different use cases, and minimalist interface are a few factors that help increase the time spent on the platform and ChatGPT’s traffic.

  

  Source

   

  🪴Growth Levers: (3) Retention

• OpenAI employs a freemium model for ChatGPT, combining a robust free tier with a premium subscription plan: ChatGPT Plus, priced at $20/month.
  

  1. Free Tier as an Acquisition Funnel😀

     • Broad accessibility, attracting a diverse user base ranging from students to professionals.

     • Reduces barriers to entry, encouraging widespread adoption and word-of-mouth growth.

     • Remain engaged due to consistent improvements and features, ensuring stickiness even without monetization.

  2. ChatGPT Plus for Power Users

     • Subscription unlocks enhanced performance, including faster response times and priority access to GPT-4, making it attractive for power users like developers, content creators, and businesses.

     • Power users remain engaged with a clear incentive.

  

Stage 4: The ScaleUp Phase (2023 and beyond)

• OpenAI aligned with cultural and business leaders (e.g., integrations with Slack and Canva) to expand its footprint across industries.

🔥 TLDR: ChatGPT ‘s Growth Playbook 🔥 

💡 1. Mission-Driven Start
OpenAI built early trust by combining ethical AI goals with top-tier talent and transparent communication. Positioning itself as the "ethical counterbalance" gave it an edge.

📊 2. Strategic Pivots for Scale
Switching to a capped-profit model and securing Microsoft’s $1B investment enabled OpenAI to sustain its vision while scaling operations and computing power.

🚀 3. Viral Product-Market Fit
ChatGPT solved diverse problems—from coding to creative writing—while offering free and premium tiers, making it both accessible and monetizable.

🤝 4. Ecosystem Integration
Partnerships with major platforms (e.g., Microsoft, Slack) turned ChatGPT into an indispensable tool for enterprise and everyday users alike.

✨Self-development: ✨24 Big Ideas from Big Thinkers from Sahil Bloom

Sahil Bloom is a great thought leader when it comes to growth and personal development.

His recent piece on A Few Ideas I Can't Stop Thinking About got me thinking.

Here are my 3 favorite ideas from Sahil Bloom ✨ 

 1.“The climb is a necessity, not an option”

• Failure is just a data point.

• Never assume that the “climb” is a waste of time.
  

  2. The value of vulnerability is environment-dependent.
     

• Authenticity is a great tool to build great connections.

• But context matters :)

  3. Human interpersonal skills may become more valuable than technical skills in an AI future.
     

• Soft skills > Hard skills, in post Chat-GPT era

• Humanities >

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