ChatGPT for Startups: 10 Workflows That Use the Live Web (2026)
ChatGPT for startups is usually pitched as a writing tool: emails, landing page copy, investor updates. The bigger win for a small team is getting ChatGPT to do the web work nobody has time for, like checking competitor prices, building a lead list or comparing fares for the team offsite. On its own, ChatGPT can't reliably do that work on today's websites. With the TinyFish plugin, it can search the live web, read any page, complete tasks inside websites and watch pages for changes. Below are 10 founder workflows that use it, each with a prompt to copy.
Building a startup on the live web? Apply to TinyFish for Startups: free TinySearch and TinyFetch at 4x rate limits, plus up to $12,000 in value.
We're TinyFish, so this guide uses our plugin. It's one API behind the scenes, with Search, Fetch, Agent, Browser and Monitor, and ChatGPT picks the right part for each request.
The 10 workflows at a glance
| # | Workflow | What ChatGPT does with TinyFish | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Competitor pricing table | Reads each pricing page | Free (Fetch) |
| 2 | Lead list from a directory | Clicks through filters and pages | A few cents (Agent) |
| 3 | Competitor review summary | Pulls reviews into a table | Free to a few cents |
| 4 | Investor research before a meeting | Searches and reads fund pages | Free (Search + Fetch) |
| 5 | Startup program deadlines | Reads official program pages | Free |
| 6 | Customer survey in Google Forms | Builds the form in your account | A few cents |
| 7 | Team travel comparison | Searches a booking site | A few cents |
| 8 | Vendor and partner checks | Searches public registers | A few cents |
| 9 | Competitor hiring alerts | Watches careers pages | $0.005 per check |
| 10 | Events and speaking slots | Finds events and CFP deadlines | Free |
"A few cents" assumes an agent task of a handful of steps at $0.016 per step. Search and Fetch are free.
How we grouped these: by the job a founder is doing that day: selling, fundraising, running the company and hiring. Each one is written as a prompt you can paste into ChatGPT today.
How to add TinyFish to ChatGPT
- Open the TinyFish plugin on chatgpt.com.
- Tap Install plugin, then sign in with your TinyFish account when ChatGPT asks.
- Start a new chat, select TinyFish and ask it to do something on the web.
No code and no API keys. If your team prefers to add tools as connectors, you can add TinyFish as a custom MCP connector with the server URL agent.tinyfish.chat/mcp/chatgpt instead. Full details are in the TinyFish plugin docs.
What it looks like
Here's ChatGPT using TinyFish on Vexere, a Vietnamese booking site, to find a one-way flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on 2 February 2027 during the Tết holiday rush. TinyFish opens the site, fills in the route and date and reads the results. ChatGPT then turns them into a summary: 43 fare listings across three airlines, with VietJet Air lowest at 3,360,581₫ and a recommended daytime flight 371,208₫ cheaper than Vietnam Airlines.
That's the pattern for every workflow below: you describe the job, TinyFish does the clicking and reading, and ChatGPT gives you the answer with sources.
Selling
1. Build a competitor pricing table
Pricing pages change quietly. Before a pricing decision or a sales call, you want every competitor's current plans side by side, not what you remember from last quarter.
Use TinyFish to read the pricing pages of [competitor 1], [competitor 2] and [competitor 3]. Give me one table with each plan's name, monthly price, annual price, usage limits and what's included. Link each pricing page and note anything that says "contact sales".
Why TinyFish: Fetch reads pricing pages that load with JavaScript, which plain browsing often misses, and it's free. For a scheduled version of this, see how to track competitor prices automatically.
2. Build a lead list from a directory
Startup directories, marketplace seller lists and member directories are some of the best lead sources, but they hide results behind filters and "next page" buttons.
Use TinyFish to open [directory URL], filter for [industry] companies in [country] with [size], and list the first 25 with company name, website, one-line description and location. Don't sign up or contact anyone.
Why TinyFish: Agent clicks through filters and pagination like a person would. For deeper research on each lead, run workflow 4's research pattern on the top ten.
3. Summarise what customers say about a competitor
Complaints about a competitor are your positioning, written by their customers.
Use TinyFish to open [competitor]'s listing on [review site or app store] and pull the 30 most recent reviews into a table with date, rating and text. Then group the 1–3 star reviews by the main complaint and tell me the top three.
Why TinyFish: Fetch pulls reviews from the page; Agent handles "load more" buttons when reviews are hidden.
Fundraising
4. Research an investor before the meeting
Walking into a pitch knowing a partner's recent investments and what they've written lately changes the conversation.
Use TinyFish to research [investor name] at [fund]. Read the fund's website and portfolio page and find anything they've published or been quoted in over the last 6 months. Give me: their stated focus, five recent portfolio companies in or near [your space], and two questions I should expect. Link every source.
Why TinyFish: Search finds recent posts and interviews, Fetch reads the fund's own pages so you're not relying on an outdated database.
5. Check startup program terms and deadlines
Cloud credits, AI credits and accelerators change their terms often. Read the official page before you plan around a perk.
Use TinyFish to read the official pages for [program 1], [program 2] and [program 3] and tell me, for each: what a startup gets, who qualifies, how to apply and any deadline. Only use the programs' own websites.
We keep a list in Startup Credits in 2026: The Complete List and AI Credits for Startups, but terms move, so it's worth checking the source the day you apply.
Running the company
6. Create a customer survey in Google Forms
Creating and editing Google Forms is the single most common thing people ask TinyFish to do in ChatGPT. For a startup, that usually means customer discovery surveys, beta waitlists and event sign-ups.
Use TinyFish to create a Google Form called "Beta feedback" with: name, email, company, role, how often they use [product] (multiple choice: daily, weekly, monthly), the one thing they'd change (paragraph) and whether we can follow up (yes/no). Don't publish it yet.
Why TinyFish: Google Forms has no ChatGPT plugin of its own, so TinyFish works inside the site for you. Here's the full Google Forms walkthrough.
7. Compare travel for a team offsite or conference
Founders book a lot of travel on a budget, often on routes where local booking sites have better fares than global ones. The demo above is this workflow.
Use TinyFish to find the five cheapest one-way economy flights from [city] to [city] on [date] for 1 adult on [booking site]. Compare airline, departure time, arrival time and price, and tell me which is cheapest. Don't book or enter personal information.
Why TinyFish: Agent fills in search forms and reads results on sites without an API. Always add "don't book" so it stops before anything is purchased.
8. Check a vendor or partner in public records
Before signing with a new supplier or partner, check they are who they say they are.
Use TinyFish to look up [company] on [Companies House or your country's company register] and tell me its status, registered address, directors and date of its last filed accounts. Link the register page.
Why TinyFish: Most registers need a search form filled in first, which Agent does. Fetch then reads the filing pages.
Hiring and growth
9. Get alerts when competitors hire
A competitor hiring three enterprise salespeople or its first person in your city tells you where they're heading.
Use TinyFish to set up a monitor on the careers pages of [competitor 1] and [competitor 2] that checks every Monday at 9am and tells me about any new roles, with title, location and team.
Why TinyFish: Monitor re-checks the page on a schedule and reports only what changed. Each completed check costs $0.005 plus its Fetch, which is free.
10. Find events worth attending or speaking at
Small teams get a lot out of the right two or three events a quarter. Finding them, and their speaker deadlines, takes time.
Use TinyFish to find conferences and meetups about [topic] in [city or region] between [month] and [month]. For each, give me dates, expected audience, ticket price and whether there's an open call for speakers with its deadline. Link the official event pages.
Why TinyFish: Search finds events across sites, and Fetch reads each event page for dates and deadlines instead of guessing from a snippet.
Using TinyFish in ChatGPT every week? Apply to TinyFish for Startups. Wallet credits cover TinyAgent, TinyBrowser and TinyMonitor runs.
Tips for better results in ChatGPT
- Select TinyFish and say "use TinyFish". Otherwise ChatGPT may answer from memory.
- Name the exact site when you know it. A specific pricing page or directory is faster and more accurate than "search the web".
- Ask for a table and sources. Tables are easy to paste into a doc or spreadsheet, and links let you check every number.
- Add a stop rule for anything that books, buys, submits or sends: "don't book", "stop before submitting".
- Use monitors for anything that changes (prices, jobs, deadlines) instead of re-asking every week.
What it costs
TinySearch and TinyFetch are free. TinyAgent costs $0.016 per step, TinyBrowser $0.002 per browser-minute and TinyMonitor $0.005 per completed run plus its Search or Fetch, all from your TinyFish wallet. Most workflows in this guide cost nothing or a few cents per run.
Startups can get more through TinyFish for Startups. Tier 1, for independent teams before launch, includes free TinySearch and TinyFetch at 4x rate limits for 6 months, $100 in your wallet every month for 6 months and 50 concurrent TinyAgent and TinyBrowser runs. Tier 2, for accelerator- or investor-backed startups, includes free TinySearch and TinyFetch at 4x rate limits for a year, 50% off TinyAgent and TinyBrowser for 24 months and $500 in your wallet to start. Here's how the program works.
When to move from ChatGPT to code
ChatGPT is the fastest way to find out whether a web task works. Once you run the same prompt every day, or want it inside your product, move it to code: the same TinyFish API sits behind the plugin, so the task carries over. If your team uses Codex, connect it with one command:
codex mcp add tinyfish --url https://agent.tinyfish.chat/mcpOur founder's guide to building an AI agent covers the rest.
Ready to build? Apply to TinyFish for Startups for free TinySearch and TinyFetch at 4x rate limits, wallet credits and a direct line to our engineers.
Keep reading
- Claude for Startups: 10 Workflows That Use the Live Web
- 25 AI Startup Ideas Built on Live Web Data
- Best AI Tools for Startups in 2026
- TinyFish for Startups: Up to $12,000 in Credits, Tiers and How to Apply
- 8 Best ChatGPT Plugins in 2026
Follow TinyFish for new guides and startup builds: X (@Tiny_Fish) · LinkedIn · Discord
AI disclosure
Content on this website may be created or refined with the assistance of AI tools and is subject to human editorial review.
