The article emphasizes that this situation serves as a reminder to founders and investors about the importance of building a sustainable company with a solid, standalone product. It also highlights the risks startups take when they base their fortunes on extending the features and functionalities of larger corporations, as their unique selling points can be easily incorporated by these corporations, potentially leading to their downfall.
Key takeaways:
- A recent update to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which allows users to upload PDFs and ask questions about them, poses a threat to many startups, especially 'wrapper startups'.
- 'Wrapper products' are services that 'wrap' around an API like ChatGPT, using the underlying technology to offer a service not directly available from the API.
- The update to ChatGPT shows the vulnerability of such startups, as their unique selling proposition can be made redundant by a feature update from the underlying technology provider.
- This situation serves as a reminder to founders and investors that nothing can replace a sustainable company with a solid, standalone product.