OpenAI is starting 2026 with another acqui-hire, this time pulling in the team behind Convogo, an AI tool built for executive coaches and HR leaders.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the company is not buying Convogo’s IP or product. Instead, it’s hiring the staff to work on OpenAI’s "AI cloud efforts." The three co-founders – Matt Cooper, Evan Cater and Mike Gillett – will all join OpenAI in what a source familiar with the deal described as an all-stock transaction.
Convogo’s own product will be wound down as part of the deal.
From weekend hack to acqui-hire
Convogo didn’t start as a classic enterprise SaaS play. It began as a "weekend hackathon" project triggered by a question from co-founder Matt Cooper’s mother, an executive coach. She wanted to know if AI could handle the tedious parts of her job — writing lengthy leadership assessment reports — so she could focus more on actual coaching.
That experiment turned into a business software platform aimed at executive coaches, consultants, talent leaders and HR teams. Convogo helps automate and sharpen leadership assessments and feedback reporting.
Over the past two years, the startup says it has supported "thousands" of coaches and partnered with some of the "world’s top leadership development firms," according to an email Convogo sent to customers announcing the acquisition.
Bridging the model-to-outcome gap
In that email, Convogo’s founders said the real challenge they discovered wasn’t just automating paperwork. It was narrowing the distance between rapidly improving AI models and results that actually matter to clients.
"We’re convinced now more than ever that the key to bridging that gap lies in thoughtful, purpose-built experiences, like what we’ve built for coaches at Convogo," the team wrote.
"That’s why we’re thrilled to join OpenAI to continue our work of making AI accessible and useful to professionals in every industry."
That thinking lines up neatly with OpenAI’s current focus: building higher-level, domain-specific tools and platforms on top of its core models, and now, a broader "AI cloud" strategy.
OpenAI’s acquisition playbook
The Convogo team hire marks OpenAI’s ninth acquisition in the span of a year, according to PitchBook data, underscoring how aggressively the company is using M&A as a talent and capability accelerator.
Most of those deals have followed one of two paths:
- The product is folded into OpenAI’s ecosystem, as with Sky, an AI interface for Mac, or Statsig, a product testing firm.
- The product is shut down while the team joins OpenAI, as happened with Roi, Context.ai and Crossing Minds.
Convogo clearly falls into the second bucket.
The major exception to that pattern is OpenAI’s acquisition of Jony Ive’s io Products, which is keeping its own roadmap while working with OpenAI on a piece of AI hardware.
Why this team matters
With Convogo, OpenAI isn’t buying a big user base or a defensible data moat. It’s opting for a focused team that has spent two years turning general-purpose AI models into something busy professionals will actually use — and pay for.
For OpenAI’s push into AI cloud offerings, that kind of product thinking may be the real prize.
