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Transformative companies can come from anywhere. OpenAI supports founders at every stage of their startup journey to turn ambition into products, customers, and companies.

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Resources built by founders, for founders

Our team of former founders, operators, and investors is here to support your journey.

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Ship faster with starter repos, Build Hours, and technical guides.

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Join founder events and community programs that expand your network.

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Scale

Unlock credits and dedicated support through eligible VC partners.

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Gain an early edge with OpenAI

Startups backed by a VC partner receive dedicated technical and GTM support.

“OpenAI has been a true partner in helping us make fast, natural, multilingual conversations possible at global scale. They’ve helped us move faster on the hardest parts of voice AI and model behavior, and iterate quickly as we scaled Pingo from 0 to millions of learners.”

– Michael Xing, Co-founder & CEO

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Join upcoming events for hands-on building, technical support, and connecting with other founders.

Codex Lab: Goal mode, worktrees, and 201-level tips (June 24, 10 am PT, Virtual)

Get more out of Codex with live demos, practical tips, and new capabilities that help you move faster and tackle bigger projects.

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OpenAI for Startups FAQs

You're in the right place! We recommend checking out Build Hours⁠(opens in a new window) and code repos⁠(opens in a new window). These resources give you a head start building with OpenAI models with practical tips from founders. You can also sign up for the Startup Drop newsletter⁠ to get updates, events, and resources right to your inbox each month. Find more of our resources for startups here⁠.

Congrats on the funding. That’s a big milestone! Some VCs, like Thrive Capital, Sequoia, a16z, Kleiner Perkins, and Conviction Partners, are part of our partner network. The portfolio companies of these firms get access to additional resources.

If you’re not sure whether your VC (venture capital firm) is a partner, just ask them. They’ll know if they’re in our network and how to access OpenAI resources.

If they are, your startup may be eligible for benefits like free API credits, rate limit upgrades, and time with our solutions engineers or other technical team members. You’ll also be invited to exclusive events and get a direct line to the Startup team.

We ask for your org ID when applying for credits or at events where we give credits out, like hackathons. It’s a unique identifier tied to your OpenAI account.

To find it:

Log in to the OpenAI platform⁠(opens in a new window)
Click the cog icon (or your org name) in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings → Organization settings⁠(opens in a new window).
Under the General tab, you’ll see your unique Organization ID.

Running out of credits usually means you’re getting traction. Once your credits run out, you’ll automatically switch to standard billing. No downtime, no surprises. If you’re growing fast or hitting limits, our team may be able to help with upgraded rate limits or enterprise plans.

If you’ve hit a snag, check out our Help Center⁠(opens in a new window) to find the answers you’re looking for.

We’ve seen what matters most to leading enterprises - and when you build with OpenAI, you get the same security and privacy foundations they rely on. It signals credibility to your customers from day one. Security and privacy are core to our mission, trusted by companies like Morgan Stanley, Amgen, and BBVA, plus countless startups selling to large enterprises.

To dig into the details, you can read more about our business data policies⁠ and enterprise privacy commitments⁠, and head over to our Trust Portal⁠(opens in a new window) for detailed documentation.

Build what’s next

If you have the ambition to build a company, our team is here to support you.

Join an event Start building

Shape what’s next

Resources built by founders, for founders

Build

Grow

Scale

Gain an early edge with OpenAI

Build with OpenAI live

Codex Lab: Goal mode, worktrees, and 201-level tips (June 24, 10 am PT, Virtual)

Build Hour: Image Gen 2 (July 23, 10 am PT, Virtual)

Build Hour: Building Agents (July 29, 10 am PT, Virtual)

Build Hours (On Demand)

Hear from the founders bringing bold ideas to life

OpenAI for Startups FAQs

I'm interested in building a startup—where should I start?

How do I create an OpenAI account for my startup?

My startup is backed by a VC. What does that unlock for my startup?

I’m ready to start building with the API. Do you offer API credits?

I’m ready to apply for credits. What should I have on hand?

How do I find my OpenAI org ID?

As a founder, what kind of events and resources can I tap into?

What happens when I use up my credits?

Does OpenAI offer Zero Data Retention (ZDR) for startups?

I'm building in a regulated domain. How can I navigate data privacy, security & compliance?