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Inside ChatGPT: The fastest growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI)

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Nick Turley is Head of ChatGPT, the fastest-growing product in history, with 700 million weekly active users (10% of the world’s population). He was part of the original hackathon team that shipped ChatGPT in just 10 days, helped it grow from zero to billions in revenue, and leads product for what may be the most consequential product of our time. We recorded this the day before GPT-5 launched. We discuss: The 10-day sprint from deciding to ship ChatGPT to Sam Altman’s tweet (and why it was originally called “Chat with GPT-3.5”) How they ran a willingness-to-pay Van Westendorp survey in their Discord to decide on the $20/month price point that everyone copied The “Is it maximally accelerated?” philosophy that drives OpenAI’s insane shipping velocity Why ChatGPT’s retention curve “smiles”—users leave, then come back months later using it more The accidental decisions that changed history, including not having a waitlist The impact ChatGPT will have on SEO and product growth The counteri

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth Inside ChatGPT: The fastest-growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI) 130 8 1× Preview 0:00 Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -1:35:37 -1:35:37 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Inside ChatGPT: The fastest-growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI) 🎙️ OpenAI’s VP on GPT-5, the 10-day sprint that launched ChatGPT, why “maximally accelerated” beats perfection, and how a Google Form determined the $20/month price that everyone copied Lenny Rachitsky Aug 09, 2025 ∙ Paid 13

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