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When OpenAI first introduced the ability to create custom GPTs, there was a two month period before the GPT Store launched. During that time, millions of people built their own GPTs. By the time the Store officially opened, OpenAI announced that more than 3 million GPTs existed. Most were experimental or one off ideas.
The developer behind AI Gen realised early that the ecosystem would eventually become crowded, and that the real opportunity was in being present everywhere before most people understood how the platform would evolve. So he took a high volume approach and created thousands of GPTs. He experimented with automated idea generation, created tools for many different topics, and succeeded in publishing one of the largest GPT collections in the entire ecosystem.
As a result, when the GPT Store launched, GPTs by AI Gen were already deeply embedded across the platform. AI Gen GPTs began showing up in a wide range of searches. Traffic grew quickly. Tens of thousands of chats per day became normal, and soon accumulated millions of conversations across his GPT portfolio.
To illustrate how wide his coverage became, here are examples of AI Gen's GPTs showing up for completely different search keywords inside the OpenAI ecosystem.
This approach allowed AI Gen's GPTs to appear in almost any search query that a user might type, and also had the benefit of establishing a familiar brand name in a new ecosystem. AI Gen captured attention by being early and by covering a wide range of problems instead of focusing on a single niche.
However, despite the massive traffic, monetisation was still a challenge. There was no built-in payout system at the time, and AI Gen needed a way to turn usage into reliable income.
This is where our partnership began. Not only did AI Gen install our product GPT Tool to add a subscription paywall to some of his GPTs, we also collaborated on new features and improvements related to improved retention, conversion, and recurring revenue. Together we experimented with:
• email reminders before and after subscription events
• writing new email templates for onboarding and retention
• abandoned cart flows
• abandoned cart discount tests
• geographic awareness inside the monetization algorithms
• geographic pricing that creates fair discounts in lower income locations
• targeted follow up emails that increase the chance of subscription recovery
• ongoing A B tests to improve conversion rates over time
Each experiment taught us something new, and we used the results to refine and improve the next iteration. The abandoned cart discount test was one of the most interesting examples. We ran a controlled experiment, measured user reaction and conversion uplift, and eventually decided to keep the discount permanently because it produced better outcomes for both the creator and the users.
Through these optimisations, AI Gen built a stable and growing revenue stream from their GPT collection. Within six months of monetising with Top Road, AI Gen grew his GPT business to more than USD 10,000 per month in recurring subscription revenue from a wide base of GPTs which diversifies revenue risk. We're excited to see what the future brings!
