OpenAI announced the launch of OpenAI Grove, a first-of-its-kind program targeting "pre-idea" founders - technical talent at the very beginning of their company-building journey. The five-week intensive runs from October 20 to November 21, 2025, at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters with applications closing September 24, 2025.
Targeting Pre-Idea Founders
Grove targets engineers who might start companies but haven't figured out what to build yet. OpenAI's catching them before they decide on a tech stack - basically brain-washing them into thinking GPT is the answer to everything before they even know the questions.
The program offers early access to unreleased AI tools, direct mentorship from OpenAI technical staff, and networking with other participants. Participants get insider perspectives on OpenAI's roadmap in exchange for building their startups as walking advertisements for OpenAI's platform.
This is smarter than Y Combinator's scatter-gun approach. YC takes 200+ companies per batch and hopes 2-3 become unicorns. I watched a YC batch where half the companies pivoted three times during the 12 weeks because they never had a real idea to begin with. For comparison, other top startup accelerators like Techstars focus on later-stage companies. At least OpenAI admits they're recruiting people who don't know what they want to build yet.
The Real Value Proposition
The real hook is early access to AI capabilities that aren't public yet. This could give Grove participants a 6-12 month head start over everyone else stuck with standard APIs. In the AI startup funding world, that head start is the difference between success and becoming just another ChatGPT wrapper.
The mentorship gives you direct access to OpenAI's teams who'll tell you exactly what you want to hear about building on their platform. YC at least admits they want 7% equity for their bullshit advice. OpenAI just wants your soul and your entire platform strategy.
Grove creates a cult of entrepreneurs who all think the same way about AI. They'll collaborate on projects, refer business to each other, and convince themselves that OpenAI is the only viable platform. It's like a startup incubator designed to create an echo chamber where everyone reinforces the same platform choices.
Platform Integration Strategy
Grove is OpenAI's master plan to lock entrepreneurs into their ecosystem before they know what hit them. Once you build your prototype using OpenAI's tools and APIs, switching to Anthropic or Google's Gemini means rewriting everything from scratch. They're betting you won't bother.
AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure all run similar schemes with startup credits. But those just give you free infrastructure. OpenAI's approach is more insidious - they're programming how you think about AI problems from day one.
The timing isn't coincidental. With competition heating up from Anthropic, Google's Gemini, and Meta's Llama models, OpenAI needed a new strategy. Instead of competing on price or features, they're just buying the next generation of AI entrepreneurs before anyone else can talk to them.
The Selection Process and Criteria
According to the program announcement, Grove seeks technical talent with entrepreneurial interest but without fully-formed business ideas. This includes software engineers considering startup careers, researchers interested in commercializing their work, and technical professionals exploring AI applications.
Applications require demonstrating technical competency rather than business plans. OpenAI values candidates who can build and iterate quickly, understand AI capabilities and limitations, and show potential for creating scalable technology companies.
The five-week intensive format suggests OpenAI plans multiple cohorts throughout 2025-2026, potentially scaling to hundreds of entrepreneurs annually. This could create a significant pipeline of OpenAI-native startups across various industries and applications.
What This Means for Everyone Else
OpenAI just upgraded from selling APIs to manufacturing AI entrepreneurs. Instead of waiting for developers to find their platform, they're building the developers themselves - programmed with OpenAI values from the start. With AI startups capturing 53% of global VC funding, this strategy makes perfect sense.
This could pump out more AI startups, but they'll all think and build the same way. If Grove shapes how hundreds of entrepreneurs approach AI problems, we're looking at less innovation, not more. OpenAI gets to influence entire market categories before they even exist.
For existing AI startups, Grove participants are gonna be your competition - except they'll have inside information, better platform access, and direct connections to OpenAI's investor network. Good luck competing against entrepreneurs who get the roadmap six months early.
The Long-Term Platform Play
Grove isn't just about creating startups - it's about creating OpenAI evangelists who will spread their influence throughout the tech industry. Every Grove graduate becomes a walking advertisement for OpenAI. They'll hire developers who know OpenAI's tools, recommend the platform to their corporate clients, and influence their entire professional networks.
OpenAI also gets free market research. By working with entrepreneurs across different industries, they learn about customer pain points and market opportunities before building their own products to compete with you. It's brilliant - get entrepreneurs to do your market research and customer development for free.
Most importantly, Grove makes OpenAI the default choice for AI entrepreneurship. When talented engineers think about starting AI companies, OpenAI becomes the obvious platform because they've already built the community, the support, and the ecosystem advantages that make other choices seem risky.
The first Grove cohort will be a proof of concept for this ecosystem strategy. If successful, expect OpenAI to dramatically expand the program and potentially inspire similar initiatives from competing AI platforms. The race to capture entrepreneurial talent has officially begun, with AI startup accelerators becoming increasingly competitive for founder attention.