a16z’s Top 100 Gen AI Apps
a16z’s Top 100 Gen AI Apps
a16z just published the 7th edition of its Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps. Nearly half of U.S. consumers say they use AI, but only about 4.5% pay for ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. Spend is concentrated: people who pay tend to buy tools that help them build and create.
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Startup Tip
Make prospects prove they have authority
If a deal drags for six months, you usually failed to qualify on day one. Max Freeman, SVP Sales at Ramp, has a simple fix he shared on 20VC. After a strong discovery call, offer to bring your senior technical people to the next demo, but only if the prospect brings whoever actually controls the budget. Think VP of Procurement or CFO. If they agree, they have real pull. If they refuse or deflect, they’re window shopping.
Most founders treat long cycles as something to fix at the end. Drop the price, send another follow-up, hope it moves. Freeman’s point is the opposite: cycle length is decided in the opening minutes. Qualify hard early, and you stop burning engineer time on people who were never going to buy.
Don’t spend scarce technical time until the person with budget shows up.
Max Freeman
SVP Sales at Ramp
Community Stories
Apple acquires Swiss Samplab
An EU Digital Markets Act filing shows Apple took certain assets from Zürich-based Samplab GmbH and offered jobs to some of the team. Deal value undisclosed. Founded in 2020 by Manuel Fritsche and Gian-Marco Hutter, Samplab used AI to turn polyphonic audio into editable MIDI while keeping the original timbre. Electronic producers liked it. The product shut down in September; the site now redirects to Apple.
For the Swiss scene, another specialized audio company ending up inside a global giant.
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