Can ChatGPT Help Start a Business? I Tried GPT-4o to Find Out.

In June, I took Y Combinator's Startup School, a bid of free online classes that thatch startup ideation and maturation from nan famed accelerator that helped motorboat Reddit, Airbnb, and Instacart.

But since OpenAI released GPT-4o, nan latest type of ChatGPT, successful May, AI has been touted arsenic a instrumentality for everything from question and reply prep to homework help. Previous versions of ChatGPT were already capable to assistance pinch digital marketing and brainstorming business ideas.

With a grounds 5.5 million entrepreneurs filing caller business applications past year, and millions much applications connected nan measurement this year, tin ChatGPT thief first-time founders navigate their first hurdles? And if so, really does it comparison to human-led teaching?

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Although ChatGPT hasn't been without contention (it was accused of sounding "eerily similar" to Scarlett Johansson and its merchandise has raised questions astir nan protections group person complete their likenesses), arsenic GPT-4o rolls retired to much users, it could beryllium useful for aspiring business owners.

In fact, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was heavy progressive pinch Y Combinator, moving arsenic its president from 2014 to 2019 and announcing nan Startup School while he was there.

GPT-4o has a paid type that costs up to $25 per period and a free version, but free users person limits connected really galore messages they tin nonstop and really overmuch entree they person to precocious features. I utilized nan free version.

Related: Y Combinator Helped Launch Reddit, Airbnb and Dropbox. Here's What I Learned From Its Free Startup School.

Here's really nan 2 comparison crossed a fewer commonly asked questions.

Prompt: Should I motorboat a startup pinch nary experience?

ChatGPT (the free type of GPT-4o): ChatGPT's reply was much thorough and easy understandable than I expected. Instead of a paragraph, ChatGPT gave maine a step-by-step reply pinch slug points — a wide overview.

The complete answer. Credit: OpenAI/ChatGPT

The AI chatbot gave maine nan pros (learning experience, passion and motivation, caller perspective) and cons (risk, steep learning curve, assets management). It offered steps to mitigate nan risks of not having experience, for illustration taking courses, networking, and conducting research. It recommended applicable resources too, including nan book, "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries.

Y Combinator: In nan first people called "Should You Start A Startup?", Y Combinator's Harj Taggar said that successful his experience, successful startup founders are not defined by wherever they went to school aliases really confident they look — nan astir important point is that they are resilient.

Taggar's proposal addresses nan affectional halfway of nan question: "Can I do this without doing this before?" could really mean "Am I bully capable to effort this?"

His consequence could speak to deeper imposter syndrome and thief personification recognize that moreover if they haven't started 300 companies aliases created a billion-dollar business yet, they still person what it takes to motorboat a startup.

Related: Microsoft AI CEO Says Almost All Content connected nan Internet Is Fair Game for AI Training

How do I find a winning startup idea?

ChatGPT: Once again ChatGPT provided much of an actionable overview, which could beryllium a bully starting point. It had a multi-step reply for nan question, starting pinch identifying problems and pain points and going each nan measurement to assessing nan marketplace size and feasibility of nan idea. The 8 steps were little and open-ended.

A partial answer. Credit: OpenAI/ChatGPT

For example, measurement No. 6 was "Validate Your Idea" pinch nan bullets:

• "Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Create a elemental type of your merchandise to trial nan market"
• "Feedback: Collect feedback from imaginable users and iterate based connected their input"
• "Pilot Programs: Run aviator programs to gauge liking and feasibility"

Y Combinator: Human proposal was much circumstantial and helpful. In nan "How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas" class, Y Combinator group partner Jared Friedman articulated nan "why" down winning startup ideas much clearly: 70% of nan top 100 Y Combinator companies, including DoorDash and Stripe, recovered their ideas by noticing them.

"The problem is that erstwhile group beryllium down and effort to deliberation of startup ideas, they thin to deliberation of bad ones," Friedman said.

Friedman advised imaginable founders to activity astatine startups, to build absorbing things connected their own, and to effort to build expertise connected a taxable to find nan correct ideas.

Related: How a $10,000 Investment successful AI Transformed My Career and Business Strategy

Conclusion

ChatGPT, though it whitethorn sound and look much quality than ever, is still much of a one-stop web hunt than a business mentor — for now. While it tin beryllium adjuvant and complement quality business advice, I recovered that, truthful far, it does not switch nan invaluable acquisition of learning from an expert, particularly a Y Combinator partner.

It condenses what you would find successful a small business ideas article aliases a akin piece, and lacks nuance of quality responses to nan aforesaid questions.

According to Dario Amodei, nan CEO of $18 cardinal AI startup Anthropic, it takes astir $100 cardinal to train AI now. In nan adjacent 3 years, Amodei anticipates that it will return $10 cardinal to $100 billion, and only past will models go amended than "most humans astatine astir things."

In nan meantime, AI carries nan hidden cost of greater greenhouse state emissions, though it could play a domiciled successful reducing emissions successful nan future. The monolithic amounts of training data it requires, and its imaginable to cut quality work, person besides raised concerns.

For a exertion that uses tremendous resources, ChatGPT requires beardown usage cases. While ChatGPT tin write, lead advertising campaigns, substance side hustles, and enactment arsenic a bully starting constituent for answers to startup questions, this little research shows that it can't yet switch quality answers and expertise.

Still, business leaders are optimistic astir nan technology.

"I'm much excited than worried astir AI," Sir Richard Branson told Entrepreneur past month. "I deliberation it's going to toggle shape people's healthcare, it's going to toggle shape operations, it's going to toggle shape many, galore aspects of life."

Related: SoftBank CEO Says AI 10x Smarter Than Humans Could Be Here successful a Matter of Years