a16z Podcast
Why hasn’t AI transformed everyday work as quickly as coding? Town CEO Jean-Denis Greze argues the bottleneck isn’t intelligence, but making AI useful to people who don’t have the time or technical skills to build their own automations.
Jean-Denis joins a16z General Partner Alex Rampell to share why he pivoted Town from tax software to a personal AI assistant built around email, calendars, and the workflows that run businesses. They discuss why consumer-grade experiences may win in enterprise AI, how Town discovers and automates tasks users wouldn’t think to delegate, and why model neutrality and data ownership matter as AI labs increasingly compete with application companies.
They also explore what happens when agents begin acting on our behalf, from managing everyday work to shopping and commerce, and why the next generation of software may need to adapt to each user rather than the other way around.
Resources:
Follow Alex Rampell on X:https://x.com/arampell
Follow Jean-Denis Greze: https://x.com/jgreze
Learn more about Town:https://town.com
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
Find a16z on X
Find a16z on LinkedIn
Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify
Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
-
Why AI Agents Can Beat the Incumbents
a16z’s Seema Amble and Elena Burger sit down with Lio co-founder and CEO Vladimir Keil to ask where AI-native startups have an advantage when incumbent software companies already own the customer, the data, and the…
-
Rebuilding the Internet for Privacy | Barrett Lyon on DoxxNet
a16z’s Joel de la Garza sits down with DoxxNet founder Barrett Lyon to discuss what it would take to rebuild the internet around privacy, direct communication, and less dependence on centralized intermediaries. Barrett explains why…
-
The $1 Trillion AI Buildout | State of Markets
a16z’s David George, Sarah Wang, Alex Immerman, and Santiago Rodriguez unpack 25 key charts from the latest State of Markets presentation, from the scale of the AI infrastructure buildout to what adoption looks like inside…
-
The Personal Agent Race Is Here | Anish Acharya & David Pawlan
a16z General Partner Anish Acharya sits down with Assistant Benchmark creator David Pawlan to unpack the sudden explosion of personal AI agents and what it will take for one to become part of everyday life.David…
-
AI Can Write Code. Why Isn’t Software Better?
a16z’s Ben Horowitz and Martin Casado sit down with TypeSafe AI founder Diogo Almeida to ask a simple question: AI has become remarkably capable, so where is all the automation? Diogo argues that coding agents…
-
Building a Team at AI Speed | Harvey’s Maggie Landers
a16z’s Katie Kirsch sits down with Harvey VP of Talent Maggie Landers to discuss what happens inside a company growing at AI speed, and how you preserve culture while adding more than 1,000 employees in…
-
Aaron Levie, Steven Sinofsky & Martin Casado: How Do You Secure a World of AI Agents?
Erik Torenberg sits down with Box CEO Aaron Levie, and a16z’s Martin Casado, and Steven Sinofsky to debate how the AI industry should think about safety, security, and regulation as increasingly capable agents move into…
-
The Reputation Graph of Silicon Valley | Introducing Cosign
a16z’s Erik Torenberg sits down with Josh Elman, Olivia Moore, and David Booth to introduce Cosign, a new product built around professional reputation and the people, companies, and products you’re willing to put your name…
-
The Case Against an AI Pause | Eddy Lazzarin
a16z crypto General Partner Eddy Lazzarin joins Theo Jaffee on MTS to debate the increasingly prominent calls to slow AI development and whether the current safety conversation is conflating very different kinds of risk. Eddy…
-
Amjad Masad on Rethinking College for the AI Era
Erik Torenberg sits down with Replit founder and CEO Amjad Masad and Horowitz and Andreessen Academy co-founder and CEO Gagan Biyani to ask what education should look like for a generation growing up with AI.…
