On Oct. 19, a16z posted excerpts of a conversation in which Town founder Jean-Denis Greze described the risk of his AI app competing with its model suppliers. “We're competing against our suppliers,” he says in the excerpts. In its episode description, a16z identifies OpenAI and Anthropic as companies Town buys tokens from.
Greze does not describe a planned move by either company. He says someone at OpenAI, Anthropic or Google could decide to compete with Town. His answer is to focus on what customers need and choose among AI capabilities, including frontier models and open-weight options, for each business. He thinks that approach could save customers money and reduce the risk of choosing the wrong partner. He also urges businesses to consider who provides their AI and who routes it, according to a16z's excerpts.
Town is an AI assistant that works from email and calendar, according to a16z's video description. In the earlier portion of the conversation, Greze says customers of his previous tax product asked for help with meeting and email tasks. He says he moved away from that business because, in his judgment, established tax companies could automate work for existing customers faster than his startup could gain market share. His case for provider choice, including potential savings, remains an argument about how Town should serve customers, not a measured result presented in a16z's excerpts.
