Turning Playbooks Into Reusable Software
Chris Lu, co-founder of Copy.ai, on generative AI in the enterprise
The core bet is that the winning AI app will not just answer prompts, it will turn one company’s best operating playbook into reusable software. Copy.ai is moving from a writing tool into a workflow factory, where a strong sales or marketing process gets broken into steps, wired into CRM and outreach tools, and then reused across customers. That is how an app built on shared models can still create differentiated value.
-
This works best on repeatable GTM jobs, not open ended creativity. The product is built around tasks like researching an account, enriching CRM records, drafting outreach, routing leads, and pushing finished work back into systems of record. That makes the output measurable, because teams can track meetings booked, pipeline moved, and hours saved.
-
The strategic shift came after ChatGPT crushed generic writing apps. Copy.ai and Jasper both saw the low end of the market get commoditized, which forced them upmarket into enterprise workflows where the value is not raw text generation but stitching together many steps across tools and teams.
-
The distribution logic is productized consulting. Traditionally, a company learned a great RevOps or content process by hiring an expert or agency. Copy.ai is trying to capture that know how once, encode it as a workflow, then roll it out to many customers with implementation, integrations, and enterprise controls like SSO, audit logs, and data policies.
If this model keeps working, AI software will look less like standalone copilots and more like packaged operating systems for departments. The companies that win will be the ones that turn messy human know how into reliable, cross tool workflows fastest, then keep improving those workflows as they see more production data across the enterprise.