Alex rampell

Why a $1M Startup Wasn’t Worth Building in the Age of AI

Why a $1M Startup Wasn’t Worth Building in the Age of AI

Jean-Denis Greze, Town's CEO and former Plaid CTO, explains why he shut down a nearly $1M-revenue AI tax business for SMBs and pivoted to Town, an AI assistant that works from email and calendar. The conversation with a16z's Alex Rampell covers founder decision-making under time pressure, product-market fit, the consumer-grade enterprise thesis, token allocation as a business model, neutrality versus frontier labs, horizontal versus vertical strategy, uneven AI diffusion, and how agents may reshape commerce and advertising.

Rocket Companies CEO: Here’s How to Fix the Housing Crisis

Rocket Companies CEO: Here’s How to Fix the Housing Crisis

Alex Rampell (a16z) and Varun Krishna (Rocket CEO) discuss the housing affordability crisis, driven by asset inflation and supply constraints. They explore how Rocket Mortgage is evolving into a homeownership company by vertically integrating the entire housing funnel through strategic acquisitions like Redfin, aiming to turn a once-in-a-lifetime transaction into an everyday relationship.