The New Model Dilemma: Should You Switch?

the vibe

A Lunch & Learn with a16z × OpenRouter A new model drops. It tops the benchmarks. Do you switch? New models are launching faster than ever, but better benchmarks don't necessarily mean better results for your product. For founders and technical leaders building with AI, every major model release brings the same questions: Is it actually better for our use case? Is the improvement worth the migration? What happens to cost, latency, reliability, and user experience? And as usage scales, what does that decision mean for our unit economics? Join a16z and OpenRouter for an intimate Lunch & Learn exploring how to make those decisions with real-world data. Justin Summerville, Head of Data & Analytics, will share what OpenRouter is seeing across real-world model usage: how developers respond when new models launch, what drives rapid adoption, and why some models maintain surprising loyalty even when newer alternatives emerge. He’ll be joined by Brandon Lewis, OpenRouter’s Head of Finance & BizOps to bring the business and economics perspective: how model choice translates into cost at scale, what teams should consider when evaluating price vs. performance, and where seemingly small infrastructure decisions can have meaningful financial impact. Together, we’ll explore when to switch, when to stay, and how to evaluate the real tradeoffs between performance, cost, latency, and reliability in an increasingly multi-model ecosystem. Agenda 12:00–12:30 PM — Registration, networking & lunch…