This story was first published in our newsletter — subscribe to get our next update in your inbox: https://www.ehandbook.com/subscribe
OpenAI is one of the fastest companies to hit $1 billion in annual revenue.
ChatGPT reached 200 million users in two months, 4.5x faster than TikTok.
OpenAI’s blitzkrieg speed and sheer scale are historic, but what’s even more mind-boggling is they did it without a marketing team.
Now with more than 350 team members, there still isn’t a marketing team.
And from OpenAI’s career page, they don’t plan on creating one. Out of the 71 open roles at the time of this writing, none are in marketing.
So how does OpenAI create a strong brand, become a category leader, and grow to $100 billion in annual revenue without spending a single dime on marketing?
You’re about to find out.
Zarina Stanik was the sole marketer working at OpenAI when ChatGPT launched to the world.
Her LinkedIn says she’s still working at OpenAI, but in an interview on July 13, 2022, she says, “I’m no longer with the company.” She hasn’t posted on Linkedin in six months.
Stanik said she got the job when someone in her network reached out to her as she was approaching her 8th year as “Director of Events & Community” at Ceros, a content creation company for enterprise marketing teams.
Her OpenAI role was called “Enterprise Marketing” according to her LinkedIn. Her main focus was commercialization of the ChatGPT product, helping the Go To Market team sell to large businesses through sales…