No. VSTRAT is a business platform designed for real-world strategic decision-making. While we're used in top-tier business education and by leading consultancies, we're built for practitioners who need to make actual strategic choices, not just study them.

We're not a chatbot. ChatGPT gives you answers; VSTRAT structures your thinking. Think of it like the difference between asking someone for directions versus having GPS that guides you through the journey. Our tools don't replace your judgment: they augment it with proven frameworks developed over decades of research. Many of the newer strategy AI companies are actually run by our former students, which is flattering but also means they're working from what we taught them.

VSTRAT's roots go back to 2003, when we began building interactive strategy systems long before generative AI existed. In 2012, we joined INSEAD as a research project to explore how computers could augment strategic thinking. We've been doing this work for over two decades, not since ChatGPT launched. The AI strategy space now has no shortage of self-proclaimed experts whose experience began in 2023. We encourage anyone evaluating AI strategy tools to ask a simple question: what were you doing in this space before ChatGPT? Look for published software (apps or websites), patents or patent applications, case studies, and institutional adoption that predate 2022. Those are hard to fake.

Yes. VSTRAT is used in businesses, consultancies, and academic programs. If you have a specific deployment in mind, contact us at info@vstrat.ai.

We pioneered computer-aided strategy at INSEAD over more than a decade based on research more than a decade before that. In 2025, we became an independent company. INSEAD remains a customer. VSTRAT is independent.

This isn’t a coding problem. It’s a strategy cognition problem. Teams that treat it as software inevitably recreate slideware with better graphics, the same blind spots, and higher cost. Most internal builds fail not because of technology, but because strategy expertise is hard to encode.

You choose the model; we have quite a few. Models matter, but structure and interactivity compound their value.

No. We operate under strict no-training policies with all model providers. Your data is never used to train models.

VSTRAT began as independent digital strategy work. That work later led to direct collaboration with the authors of Blue Ocean Strategy, and the system was further expanded during our time at INSEAD. INSEAD formally assigned any possible ambiguity in title back to us, so the underlying work is fully owned by VSTRAT.

If you want to verify someone’s Blue Ocean credentials, the simplest test is to look for cases co-authored with Professors Kim and Mauborgne at Harvard Business School Publishing. Only a small number of people have done that; we're one of them. There are also a few others who have long teaching or institutional ties to the work. Anyone who has published with the authors will know exactly who those people are, and if there is any ambiguity, ask one of the verified people.

Teams looking for instant answers, slide automation, or strategy without human judgment. If you want AI to do your thinking for you, look elsewhere. VSTRAT is for people who want to think better, not outsource thinking entirely.