CRN breaks down the five biggest things the channel needs to know about the OpenAI Partner Network—from specializations and tiering to its $150 million channel investment.
OpenAI, one of the hottest companies in the world, is placing its bet on channel partners to scale the AI company into enterprises and more businesses by unveiling this week its inaugural partner program: the OpenAI Partner Network.
CRN spoke with OpenAI’s partner program leader, Colleen Kapase, to get all the details that every channel partner needs to know about OpenAI’s partner program and channel strategy for the future.
“This is a massive opportunity for any partner out there,” said Kapase, vice president of global strategic partners and ecosystem for OpenAI. “We’re really showing here that we need these partners, we care about them, we’re co-investing with them, and we’re going to do some amazing things together.”
[Related: OpenAI 5 Huge Hires From Google, Meta, OpenClaw And ServiceNow In 2026]
Ahead of OpenAI’s IPO likely this later this year, here are the five biggest things solution providers should know about the OpenAI Partner Network.
OpenAI Onboards Large Partners, But Wants Small Partners Too
OpenAI isn’t just seeking out huge global system integrators (GSIs) and consulting giants, but partners as small as 100 employees.
“There’s room for both large and small partners to succeed with us,” said Kapase, vice president of global strategic partners and ecosystem for OpenAI.
Although partners who have already officially signed up to the program are huge solution providers—such as Accenture, Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey—OpenAI is seeking highly skilled AI companies with successful AI track records.
“We have amazing 100- to 150-people companies that are AI-native and really are focused on nothing but AI and transformation. They have just as much of a space and a play and an expertise in our network as the large folks do,” Kapase said. “So there’s room for both.”
OpenAI’s $150 Million Channel Investment
OpenAI is initially investing $150 million in the channel with the launch of the OpenAI Partner Network to support and help partners bring the benefits of AI to more organizations more quickly.
“The [$150 million] is going to be used for enablement, for service delivery, cost offsetting, for MDF funds, etc.” Kapase said. There’s an alignment across our entire leadership that: partners are important, we need them, and the $150 million is a signal to our partners of our investment in them.”
The company plans to train and enable 300,000 certified consultants by the end of 2026.
OpenAI’s Three-Tier Partner Network Details
The OpenAI Partner Network aims to incentivize partners for the value they create and provides them access to the resources and support needed to build successful AI practices.
Partners can progress through the program’s three tiers: Select, Advanced, and Elite.
Each tier has a high bar for sales performance, technical capability, co-sell engagement, and deployment experience.
The program makes it easier and more flexible for partners to work with OpenAI, whether they are co-selling, deploying, building, or helping customers connect to OpenAI technology.
“There will be very highly technical, capable requirements [regarding the tiers],” Kapase said. “We’re looking for enterprise-ready partners that know how to do AI transformation.”
OpenAI Codex, Cybersecurity And AI Agent Specializations
Partners in the program can earn new OpenAI specializations that signal deeper expertise in high-impact areas such as Codex, cybersecurity, and AI agents.
OpenAI’s specializations are designed to help customers identify partners with proven capabilities in the areas that matter most to their AI transformation.
At the same time, these specializations aim to give partners a clearer path to build expertise, stay current with OpenAI’s rapid product delivery cycles, and bring more targeted solutions to market.
“Partners need to get in there and earn one of those specializations. So that’s the first criteria to move up the [partner program] ladder,” said Kapase.
OpenAI’s Forward Deployment Program
Lastly, OpenAI is piloting a Forward Deployed Experts (FDE) program only available to its top-tier Elite partners.
“This is going to be our highest-level training for our partners on-site here at headquarters, led by our own FDE-capable employees,” Kapase said.
The FDE program is for partners working on complex AI enterprise deployments.
The program is designed to help partners better align with OpenAI’s own Forward Deployed Engineering teams when customers’ need deeper deployment support.
“We’re going to build out a bench of partners with FDE to accelerate deployments. We want them to operate as an extension of our team,” she said.
These partners will gain exposure to OpenAI technologies, playbooks, and transformation patterns, helping them bring more OpenAI-native expertise into customer environments.
