The AI boom is reshaping industries, and OpenAI's ChatGPT is at the forefront, setting unprecedented benchmarks. In August 2025, it was announced that ChatGPT was on track to hit 700 million weekly active users, a fourfold growth from the previous year. This milestone highlights not just the platform's versatility but its dramatic impact across sectors. For entrepreneurs and startup founders, ChatGPT offers lessons and opportunities to take their businesses to the next level.
This article will uncover the key drivers behind this explosive growth, lessons startup founders can draw, and tools like PlayPal, the AI Friend, and the AI Grant Finder, designed to empower entrepreneurs worldwide.
🚀 Why ChatGPT's Growth Matters
- Surging AI Integration: OpenAI’s ChatGPT saw 500 million weekly users in March 2025, growing to 700 million by August. This rise underscores the increasing reliance on generative AI tools for education, business, and content creation.
- Adoption Across Industries: From educators to startups, sectors are turning to ChatGPT for productivity tools, content generation, and customer service solutions. The platform reportedly averages 16 minutes of daily use per user, trailing only tech giants like Google.
- Business Ally: Over 5 million paying customers, most of which are businesses, signal ChatGPT’s evolving role as a vital business partner.
Context for Entrepreneurs
What works for OpenAI serves as inspiration for startup founders: having a scalable solution, focusing on continuous innovation, and building products that solve real-world problems are key. As businesses adopt tools like ChatGPT, startup founders can harness AI to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and accelerate growth.
Lessons for Startup Founders
1. Keep Innovating: Stay Ahead of the Curve
OpenAI expanded ChatGPT with new functionalities, like GPT-4-powered image generation. For startups, innovation is the foundation of growth. Are you improving your core product?
2. Think Big, Global Scale Is Key
With users logging in from across the globe, ChatGPT proves that localization paired with scalability helps to capture international audiences. Startups, take note: think global from day one.
3. Leverage Data for Decision-Making
ChatGPT’s usage metrics, 16 minutes average daily use, 12+ average monthly active days, highlight how data-driven decisions drive success. Use analytics tools to monitor customer behavior and finetune your products or service offerings.
The Future of AI: Tools and Opportunities for Entrepreneurs
AI isn’t just benefitting tech giants. Startups, freelancers, and small business owners can now tap into this revolution with tools developed specifically for their needs:
1. PlayPal: Your AI Co-Founder
PlayPal is an innovative AI friend developed by Fe/male Switch. Designed as a conversational companion, PlayPal offers multifunctional guidance tailored to each user.
How PlayPal Helps Startups:
- Practice elevator pitches, product walkthroughs, or brainstorming sessions.
- Learn valuable skills like audience analysis, product positioning, and even stress management.
- Customize your AI friend to match your preferences, simulating collaboration with a real team member.
Whether you need language practice or business advice, PlayPal is free, accessible, and your ultimate assistant in scaling your vision. Learn more about how PlayPal can guide your journey as an entrepreneur.
2. F/MS AI Grant Finder and Application Writer
Securing funding remains one of the biggest challenges for early-stage startups. To address this, Fe/male Switch has developed a one-of-a-kind AI Grant Finder. This tool helps founders quickly identify grants and funding opportunities.
Not only that, it even drafts compelling application documents.
Why Use It?
- Save time researching EU grants with automated matching.
- Draft grant applications effortlessly to meet eligibility requirements.
- Avoid common mistakes in funding applications with AI-generated insights.
If you’re a European startup competing for EU grants, this tool might just be your golden ticket.
How to Fund and Scale Your Startup Using AI
Unprecedented growth in tools like ChatGPT is proof of how technology can power a business at scale. Here's a quick guide:
- Define Your Problem: What does your startup aim to solve? Use tools like PlayPal or ChatGPT to refine this further.
- Validate Your Idea: Platforms like Fe/male Switch’s Sandbox allow you to test ideas in a learning-by-doing environment.
- Develop a Funding Plan: Apply for relevant opportunities with the AI Grant Finder, then track progress and adapt.
- Optimize Operations: Use ChatGPT for customer service automation, social media scheduling, or content drafts.
- Expand Smartly: Scale globally, leveraging AI to reach multilingual and diversified markets.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Rushing to Scale Without Validation: Tools like PlayPal can help you detect early-stage issues before committing resources.
- Not Understanding Legal Agreements: Protect your startup with platforms like AI Startup Lawyer to review contracts and term sheets.
- Underutilizing AI: Many founders fail to incorporate AI into their operations, this is a lost opportunity.
The PlayPal Advantage
Need a boost in your entrepreneurial journey? Learn more about PlayPal, an AI friend designed to support and advise you. PlayPal helps startups refine their pitches, validate ideas, and find focus in an ever-changing environment.
Why Entrepreneurs Love PlayPal:
- Real-Time Feedback: Practice questions, presentations, and get instant suggestions.
- Safe to Try & Fail: Not sure how to proceed? PlayPal provides a non-judgmental gateway to experimentation.
Let your ideas thrive with cutting-edge support, right at your fingertips.
Conclusion
The rise of ChatGPT to 700 million weekly users serves as a beacon for the potential of AI across industries, especially for startups. It’s a lesson in scalability, customer engagement, and innovation. By leveraging tools like ChatGPT, PlayPal, and the AI Grant Finder, entrepreneurs can enhance productivity, secure funding, and scale operations more effectively.
If you’re ready to start your entrepreneurial journey, check out PlayPal, explore funding opportunities with F/MS Grant Finder, and bring your ideas to life. AI is no longer the future; it’s the now, and startups that embrace it will lead the next wave of innovation.
FAQ
1. How many weekly active users does ChatGPT currently have?
As of August 2025, ChatGPT is projected to reach 700 million weekly active users, a fourfold increase from the previous year. Learn more about ChatGPT growth
2. What’s driving ChatGPT’s rapid user growth?
ChatGPT’s growth is fueled by continuous AI feature updates, high adoption across industries, and increased enterprise use for tasks like content generation and automation. Check out the TechCrunch analysis
3. How many paying users does ChatGPT have?
As of July 2025, ChatGPT has 5 million paying customers, up from 3 million the previous month. Learn about ChatGPT’s monetization
4. What is the average daily use per user on ChatGPT?
On average, users spend 16 minutes per day on ChatGPT, making it one of the most engaging apps alongside Google. See user insights from Sensor Tower
5. How does ChatGPT compare to other generative AI tools in education?
ChatGPT is widely adopted in educational settings for tutoring, creating lesson plans, and automating administrative workloads. Discover more on ChatGPT in education
6. Are there tools designed for entrepreneurs to utilize AI?
Yes, tools such as PlayPal, a conversational AI co-founder, and the AI Grant Finder assist entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses and securing funding. Learn more about PlayPal
7. How is ChatGPT impacting startups in their growth journey?
ChatGPT helps startups automate operations, reduce costs, and access data-driven insights for scaling globally. Explore ChatGPT’s role in startups
8. What features were recently added to ChatGPT that increased user engagement?
In March 2025, ChatGPT introduced a GPT-4-powered image generation feature, which significantly drove user engagement. See details about new features
9. Are there tools to help startups find grants?
The AI Grant Finder by Fe/male Switch helps European startups identify grants and write applications effortlessly. Find out about the AI Grant Finder
10. How is AI expected to evolve further for businesses?
AI-backed tools like ChatGPT will continue becoming indispensable for automating creativity, customer support, and global expansion strategies. Learn how AI scales businesses
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond and launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch. The Fe/male Switch team is located in several countries, including the Netherlands and Malta.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 3,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
