Strategy question
Should OpenAI prioritize consumer (ChatGPT) or enterprise (API and AgentKit) growth? Make the case.
- OpenAI
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Strategic prioritization judgment weighing two large, different-shaped growth opportunities against each other.
How to approach it
- Frame both options concretely: consumer means ChatGPT subscription growth and engagement, enterprise means API and AgentKit revenue from businesses building on OpenAI.
- Compare unit economics: consumer subscriptions are lower revenue per user but massive volume, enterprise API revenue scales with usage and often carries better margins per account.
- Compare strategic value: consumer scale drives brand dominance and data, enterprise revenue funds compute and proves durable business demand beyond hype cycles.
- Consider competitive pressure: consumer faces direct competition from Gemini and Grok for mindshare, enterprise faces competition from cheaper open-weight deployments.
- Recommend a stance, for example continuing to prioritize consumer scale short term because it drives brand and data advantage, while investing steadily in enterprise for durable revenue, and justify with a clear tradeoff.
What a strong answer includes
- Makes an actual recommendation rather than listing pros and cons without a decision, since the question asks to make the case.
- Supports the recommendation with a specific reason, like consumer scale generating the usage data and brand loyalty that reinforces every other business line.
- Acknowledges the counter-case, that enterprise revenue is more predictable and defensible against price wars in the consumer app market.
- Names a concrete metric that would change the recommendation, like enterprise revenue growth rate overtaking consumer revenue growth rate for two consecutive quarters.
Common mistakes
- Refusing to pick a side and just listing both options without a recommendation.
- Ignoring that these are not mutually exclusive and both get meaningful investment regardless of which is prioritized.
Likely follow-up questions
- What data would make you reverse this recommendation in six months?
- How would resourcing differ between these two priorities at the team level?
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More questions from OpenAI
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop