Relay is shutting down. What about your work?
An American AI automation startup is closing its doors. The company is called Relay. Its staff is moving to Google to work on AI in Chrome. For most Dutch business owners that sounds like news from another world. But underneath it sits a question that lands close to home: what happens if the AI tool you use stops? If your quotes, your emails or your planning live in that software, a piece of your work stops with it.
What actually happened at Relay
Relay built AI automation software. You connected your programs to each other and the tool did the clicking you used to do yourself. That chapter is now over.
Founder Jacob Bank said his team is moving to Google, to the Chrome team. There they will work on helping people get things done with AI in Chrome. He is not saying much more yet. The report is at TechCrunch AI.
For that team it is good news. For the people who ran their work through Relay it feels different. Their processes lived in that software.
Why I keep seeing this pattern
It usually goes like this. A small company builds something useful. You start using it. You build your week around it, your colleagues get used to it, and after a while part of your business runs on it. Then a big company buys the team, or the money runs out, and the plug comes out.
You normally get a polite notice. You can normally export your data. But an export is a file, not a working automation. Everything you set up has to be rebuilt somewhere else, in a different way, with different buttons. That costs you exactly the evenings you had just won back.
I am not saying you should avoid young companies. I am saying: know in advance what happens when they stop.
Data safety starts with a boring question
Business owners often ask me whether their data is safe with AI tools. They are thinking about hackers. I find the duller question more useful: where does it sit, and who can pull the plug?
Walk through your tools and write down three things for each one:
- Where does my information physically live? A server in the Netherlands is a different thing from a server in the United States.
- Can I reach it myself? Could you download a full, usable copy today, without help?
- What happens if this company stops tomorrow? Is that written down somewhere, or are you just hoping?
Three questions, ten minutes of work. After that you know what your business is leaning on.
Why I run on my own server in the Netherlands
I run on my own server in the Netherlands. That is a choice about risk, not a nice line for a website.
Your customer list, your appointments, your way of working: none of that should disappear because a company on the other side of the ocean changes its plans. If something changes in the technology underneath, that is mine to sort out. You notice nothing, because your work sits in your own place.
And if you ever want to leave, you leave with your things. That is how it should be.
What you can do with this tomorrow
You do not have to cancel anything today. Do this instead:
- Take a blank sheet and write down which tools you use for customer contact, quotes, planning and invoices.
- Mark the ones your business genuinely leans on. Usually that is two or three.
- For those few, download an export today. Open the file. If none of it makes sense to you, you have learned something.
- Write down in plain words how the process works that this tool handles for you. That sheet is your insurance. Software can be replaced; your way of working is then at least written down somewhere.
Want to go through it together and see what would happen if a supplier stopped? Email me at info@mia-automation.com. I am happy to think it through with you, calmly.
Frequently asked questions
I never used Relay. Does this news matter to me?
Yes, because it is not about Relay. It is about what happens to your work when a supplier shuts down or gets bought. That can happen with any tool. Walk through your main tools once and you will know where you stand.
How do I know whether my data is safe with an AI tool?
Look past the padlock on the website. Find out where the servers are, whether you can download a usable copy of your own data, and what the terms say about the company stopping. If the server sits in the Netherlands or Europe, you also know which law your information falls under.
A tool I depend on is being acquired. What now?
Stay calm, you usually have time. Download an export of everything first. Then write down how your process works, in ordinary words. Only after that start looking for something else. Whoever has the process on paper switches far faster than someone holding only a file.
