Agentic

10 Top AI Founders building the Autonomous Economy share their secrets

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:00:00 +0000

George Bandarian, General Partner at Untapped Ventures, brings 10 of his portfolio founders on stage at the 2026 Annual General Meeting in LA — the builders actually making the autonomous economy real across compute, robotics, AI models, longevity, and enterprise agents.

These are the stories of the founders in the trenches.

In this episode, we go deep into:

The Compute Revolution: Why thermodynamic computing could deliver 10,000x energy efficiency gains over GPUs, what scientific quantum advantage actually means (and why Blue Qubit is one of only five companies to have achieved it), and why the current NVIDIA-dominated paradigm simply can't power a world of a billion robots
The Convergence Layer: How on-device foundation models are bringing cloud-quality AI underground, into cars, phones, and factories where connectivity is zero, and why the safety layer for next-gen robotics matters more than the robot itself
Longevity and the End of Pharma as We Know It: Why measuring aging coherence in real time could let us catch cardiovascular disease 20 years before it strikes, how decentralized citizen science is generating more trial data annually than all FDA drug trials combined, and the moonshot company scanning human brains cell by cell to create digital replicas of people
Agentic Experiences at the Enterprise Edge: How AI-native companies are replacing McKinsey-style consulting, why autonomous agents achieved 58% supplier completion in 5 weeks versus 20–30% over two years manually, and what it really means when a single broker can generate 25x the revenue of a traditional one
The Human-in-the-Loop Reality: Why enterprises expect perfection from agents but accept mistakes from humans, and how the best founders are managing that gap right now

Meet the Founders:

Guillaume Verdon — Founder & CEO, Extropic
Mathias Lechner — Co-Founder & CTO, Liquid AI
Kasim Abdullahi — Head of GTM, Harper
Philipp Wehn — Founder & CEO, Nexxa.ai
Sarah Tang — Founder & CEO, Sluicebox
Michael Andregg — Founder & CEO, Eon Systems
Bruno Balen — Founder & CEO, ANI
Jeff Chen — Founder & CEO, Radicle Science
Andrew Singletary — Founder & CEO, 3Laws Robotics
Hayk Tepanyan — Founder & CTO, BlueQubit

If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—let’s chat: https://bit.ly/UntappedE17ytgb

Learn more about Untapped Ventures: https://untapped.ventures

Plus, connect with us here:

2. George Bandarian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

3. Untapped Ventures - https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

The Next Platform Shift - Why We Stopped Being an AI Fund

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

George Bandarian, General Partner at Untapped Ventures, breaks down the Autonomous Economy thesis - a new economic framework where billions of AI agents and robots execute work end-to-end without human involvement - and why this shift may dwarf every previous technological revolution, from internet to mobile.

What is the Autonomous Economy (AE)? It’s what happens when billions of AI agents and physical robots can transact, decide, and complete work independently - no human in the loop, no approval required. And it’s already beginning.

In this episode, we dive deep into:

The Autonomous Economy Thesis — What it actually means when agents and robots can transact and execute work without any humans involved, and why this is bigger than any AI trend you're currently following
The 5-Layer AE Value Stack — From intelligence and compute substrate to autonomous enterprise experiences, where the next trillion-dollar companies will actually be built
Human In the Loop to No Loop — Why running 14 Claude Code agents at once is just the beginning, and what fully autonomous operations will look like across every industry
The Trust and Money Problem — The massive unsolved challenge of letting agents spend money, and why whoever cracks enterprise-grade financial rails for autonomous systems wins big
What Happens to the Humans — Vinod Khosla's prediction that 80% of jobs will be AI-capable within 4 years, and why George sees displacement as both a crisis and a generational investment opportunity

If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—let’s chat: https://bit.ly/UntappedE17ytgb

Learn more about Untapped Ventures: https://untapped.ventures

Plus, connect with us here:

George Bandarian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

Untapped Ventures -

https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

Andrew Chen (a16z speedrun) on the Future of AI Startups, Speedrun & Why Coding Will Be as Easy as Making Videos

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 14:30:00 +0000

Andrew Chen, General Partner at a16z speedrun, joins us on Agentic to discuss what actually gets founders accepted into speedrun and why AI might be bigger than mobile, internet, and cloud combined.

In this episode, we dive deep into:

Speedrun Insider Access - What actually gets founders accepted into a16z's elite accelerator program (hint: it's not what you think)
Building in AI - From industrial AI agents (Nexxa) to consumer products, how founders should approach the AI wave
Growth Playbooks - Network effects, retention curves, and go-to-market strategies that actually work
The Future of Software - What happens when coding becomes as easy as taking a photo? Andrew's vision for disposable apps, meme software, and the death of traditional job titles

If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—let’s chat: https://bit.ly/4d25KFy

Learn more about Untapped Ventures: https://untapped.ventures

Plus, connect with us here:

1. Andrew Chen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewchen/

2. George Bandarian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

3. Untapped Ventures - https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

Request for Startups: 10 AI Ideas We’re Ready to Fund

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:31:51 +0000

We're at the halfway point of 2025, and AI is evolving faster than ever.

In this solo episode, I share Untapped Ventures’ first Request for Startups. It’s a detailed breakdown of the core areas where we’re actively looking to invest. If you're a founder building in AI or exploring ideas, this is the roadmap for what we want to fund next.

I walk through the key themes that reflect our thesis across both Agentic AI and Convergence AI. These are the ideas we believe will drive the next generation of breakout companies.

Inside the episode:

• Why service-as-software will replace traditional SaaS

• How full-stack agentic platforms are reshaping vertical industries

• The rise of outcome-based pricing and what it unlocks

• Where lean AI teams are gaining massive traction

• Why we’re excited about AI converging with biotech, neurotech, energy, defense, and more

• The profiles of founders we love to back

At Untapped, we invest from stealth and pre-salt through seed, writing checks between $500K and $2 million. Whether you're actively raising or still in the idea maze, we want to meet you.

Let’s connect!

George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian

Explore further:

1. If in Stealth, let’s chat: https://bit.ly/UntappedE18podS

2. If raising, pitch us: https://bit.ly/UntappedE18pod

Live Vibe Coaching with the LLM Pioneer Who Scaled Before ChatGPT | Will Manidis

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:44:24 +0000

Is your AI startup built to survive the next wave?

In this episode of Agentic, Will Manidis, the co-founder of ScienceIO, shares how he built for resilience from day one developing LLMs for healthcare and the frameworks that helped him scale before the world caught up.

He shares how local model training on office gaming PCs laid the unlikely foundation for ScienceIO’s reach across millions in digital health.

We also discuss:

• why OpenAI’s API continues to dominate Gemini

• the hidden fragility behind $500M fast scaling AI companies

• Will’s belief that founders must prove value before overbuilding for scale

Not often do you get to learn from someone who built an LLM before ChatGPT. Tune in now.

If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—click here, we'd love to hear from you.

Connect with us here:

1. Will Manidis- https://www.linkedin.com/in/willmanidis/

2. George Bandarian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

3. Untapped Ventures- https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

00:00 Trailer

01:41 Introduction

02:45 Thiel Fellow

07:40 Pre-ChatGPT LLMs

10:27 Biggest lessons

12:37 Contrarian takes

13:56 Difficult to sell

15:59 First exit

16:38 Getting world-class talents

23:20 Risk mitigation strategy

25:48 Defensibility and moats

37:10 Basic MVP

44:01 Q&A

50:35 Outro

The AI Platform That Could Launch 10,000 Startups | Woz

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 9 May 2025 23:34:59 +0000

Most no-code tools give you an MVP. Woz wants to give you a business.

On this episode of Agentic, I was joined by Ben Collins and Brad Eckert, co-founders of Woz, an AI platform that lets anyone build real, scalable web and mobile products with zero coding. Think Shopify, but for launching operational SaaS startups.

If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—let’s chat.

Connect with us here:

1. Woz: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/withwoz/

2. Ben Collins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bentcollins/

3. Brad Eckert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chefeckert/

4. George Bandarian: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian

5. ⁠⁠Untapped Ventures:⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures

They break down:

• Why shipping your MVP is just 1% of the journey—and what the other 99% really looks like

• The difference between vibe coding, AI engineering, and real startup durability

• What they learned from going through Y Combinator (twice), taking 80+ investor meetings, and raising a breakout seed round.

• Why automation means more software businesses and not fewer jobs

00:00 Trailer

01:07 Introduction

02:29 Empowering entrepreneurs

04:27 Woz's Vision

10:32 Success stories

13:38 The origin story

15:27 AI code generation evolution

17:29 Technical insights

19:44 The Role of AI

30:31 Job markets

31:20 Entrepreneurial mindset shift

32:56 Business building challenges

34:54 Creating a successful platform

37:45 Y Combinator experience

43:41 Fundraising insights

49:29 Advice for AI Entrepreneurs

56:31 Closing

Inside You.com’s Plan to Outthink Google and OpenAI

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 2 May 2025 22:23:15 +0000

What happens when the former Chief Scientist at Salesforce builds a search engine for enterprises?

In this episode, Richard Socher (CEO) and Bryan McCann (CTO) of You.com reveal how they’re reinventing enterprise search and agentic workflows with their latest product, Ari—a deep research assistant that goes far beyond fast facts.

We explore:

How You.com is going deeper than Google and faster than Perplexity
Why consumer LLMs aren’t enough for serious enterprise work
How a Stanford summer project led to one of the most important AI research breakthroughs
Where Socher and McCann see AGI actually emerging—and why simulation may be the next frontier

00:00 Trailer

01:56 Introduction

03:41 Richard and Bryan's Meeting

09:52 Foundations of search

12:33 Deep research agent

13:49 How You.com stands out

16:03 Custom agents

18:15 ARI use cases

19:43 Going slow to go fast

24:00 Models under the hood

26:00 AGI workflows

29:11 Adoption

33:34 Complicated workflows

36:45 AGI - are we there?

46:20 How to compete as a startup

53:32 Being right

56:23 Outro

Carta’s 2025 AI Funding & Equity Insights | Peter Walker

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Tue, 8 Apr 2025 16:59:59 +0000

Everyone has opinions about founder equity, funding timelines, and valuations—but Peter Walker holds the data.

In this special live Agentic session, I sat down with Peter, Head of Insights at Carta, to unpack what’s actually happening beneath the surface in early-stage AI startups.

Peter’s team has a privileged vantage point—cap tables, valuations, and hiring data across 45,000 startups and 83% of U.S. unicorns.

We explore:

a common equity mistake that’s quietly killing fundraising chances
why AI founders are raising bigger rounds… and keeping more of their companies
how lean teams are pushing out serious ARR—and what that means for hiring
the valuation delta between AI and non-AI startups—and why that window may be closing

If you’re raising, hiring, or advising an AI startup in this market, this one’s for you.

If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—let’s chat.

Connect with us here:

Peter Walker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterjameswalker/
George Bandarian: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/⁠
Untapped Ventures:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures

00:00 Trailer

01:26 Introduction

02:44 Untapped Ventures

08:39 Carta

10:34 Early Equity

25:05 Venture Context

34:47 AI Story

51:04 Questions

54:48 Outro

How Agentic AI is Rewiring Software, Brokers, and the Future

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:14:40 +0000

I brought Ben Collins of Woz and Dakotah Rice and Tushar Nair of Harper for a special episode of Agentic–our AGM!

Ben’s Woz lets non-technical founders build scalable apps with no engineering team—think Shopify for software while Dakotah and Tushar’s Harper quotes 476 complex insurance deals with voice AI, turning family brokerage chaos into a data goldmine.

On the docket:

Harper’s logged-call advantage for scalable precision
compute’s brewing storm (NVIDIA’s got rivals rising)
how reasoning models cut months off build times

Connect with us:

Ben Collins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bentcollins
Dakotah Rice: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dakotahrice/
Tushar Nair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tushar-nair-b08988222/
Woz: https://www.linkedin.com/company/withwoz/
Harper: https://www.linkedin.com/company/harperinsure/
George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/
Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures

00:00 Trailer

02:06 Introduction

02:20 Ben Collins

04:02 Dakotah Rice

04:37 Tushar Nair

05:21 Agentic AI hot takes

11:59 Deep dive on Woz

17:05 Deep dive on Harper

24:15 Y Combinator and the founders community

28:21 Non-technical business side of software

30:30 Agentic demand, Elon's Grok/xAI

32:27 Outro

Is Big Tech Shaping The Future Of AI? | Wendell Wallach

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 22:56:02 +0000

As AI races forward, one question looms large—who decides what’s right and wrong?

Behind the breakthroughs and multi billion-dollar valuations, a power struggle is unfolding. Big Tech is quietly shaping AI policy in the shadows, and governments are stuck playing catch-up.

In this episode, I speak with Wendell Wallach, a foremost expert on AI ethics and governance, to break down the challenges and power dynamics steering the course of AI.

Co-author of Moral Machines and a key figure at Yale and Carnegie Council, Wendell has spent decades thinking about how to align AI with human values.

We cover:

• why rogue superintelligence isn’t the biggest threat

• how Big Tech is quietly shaping AI policies

• AGI vs. ASI: When AI starts making its own rules

Connect with us here:

1. Wendell Wallach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendell-wallach-246ba69/

2. George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

3. Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures

00:00 Trailer

00:55 Introduction

01:59 AI uplifting humanity

04:09 Moral machines

09:58 Big tech oligopoly

16:00 Cold War

18:59 AI will take over the world?

29:57 Nefarious purposes

34:32 Trade-offs and safeguards

38:11 Data security

41:00 Finding product market fit

43:25 Human dangers

47:46 Outro

Ex-OpenAI Insider on AGI, DeepMind & AI | Logan Kilpatrick

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 01:14:45 +0000

He built AI-powered lunar rovers at NASA.

He was in the room when GPT launched.

Now, Logan Kilpatrick is helping developers push the boundaries of AI at Google DeepMind.

In this episode, Logan shares his front-row view of AI’s most pivotal moments—and how they hint at the next paradigm shifts.

We also get into:

• inside Open AI on Launch day

• how Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.0 Flash is flipping the script on AI economics

• the open-source vs. proprietary AI debate, and

• why AI’s next frontier is deeply integrated, multimodal agents

Plus, Logan unpacks his insights as an investor—where he sees opportunity in AI, what founders keep getting wrong, and why the most successful startups won’t look like today’s incumbents.

00:00 Trailer

01:19 Introduction

02:41 Inspired by Floppybird

03:53 OpenAI Developer Relations

08:55 Where AI is heading

14:41 Google DeepMind

17:47 As an AI founder, B2B and GSuite customer

21:29 Better model, low cost

27:12 Agentic AI and Google Gemini

29:32 AGI and DeekSeek

35:55 Investor and AI founder perspectives

44:43 What's next from Google

48:38 Outro

Move Aside DeepSeek, Here’s Liquid AI, a $2B LLM Startup from MIT, Inspired by Worms | Agentic EP 10

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Bigger AI models dominate the headlines—but what if the real breakthrough lies in making AI smaller?

In this episode, I sit down with Ramin Hasani, Alexander Amini, and Daniela Rus—who are at the helm of Liquid AI—to discuss how their approach challenges conventional architectures and unlocks new frontiers for AI deployment.

Also on the docket:

• Ramin explains how insights from a microscopic worm led to a novel AI model.

• Alexander breaks down why Liquid AI operates efficiently on local devices—without compromising modality.

• Daniela exposes a critical flaw in today’s AI incumbents and why efficiency is the next major battleground.

We also unpack all things DeepSeek—its implications for OpenAI, Meta, and enterprises scaling private AI.

00:00 Introduction

02:03 Meet the Co-Founders

03:01 The Birth of Liquid Neural Networks

06:28 Applications and Impact of Liquid AI

09:38 The Worm Model and Its Significance

16:05 Mathematical Foundations and Breakthroughs

24:29 Scaling AI for Real-World Applications

28:05 Edge Computing and AI

29:58 Future Prospects and Use Cases

31:36 The Commoditization of AI Models

32:22 Liquid AI: Reducing Intelligence Costs to Zero

32:53 Diverse Applications of AI

33:43 Case Studies and Real-World Examples

38:05 The Impact of Deep Seek on the AI Ecosystem

44:13 Advice for Aspiring AI Founders

45:40 The Importance of Technical and Non-Technical Collaboration

51:03 Ramin's Journey from Scientist to Entrepreneur

53:31 Liquid AI's Vision for 2025

55:10 Conclusion and Future Prospects

4x Neurotech AI Founder w/ $650M+ Exits Shares PMF & Fundraising | Agentic EP 09

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 7 Feb 2025 23:26:43 +0000

For years, $7.2B in U.S. government-backed neuroperformance research sat untouched—proven cognitive enhancements with no commercial application.

David Bach saw the gap. Optios is bridging classified IP with market demand, transforming military-grade neuroscience into real-world performance gains.

The upside? Monumental. The imbalance? Even bigger.

We dive into:

• how declassified DOD research is unlocking a new frontier in neurotech

• the hidden psychology behind winning investor buy-in

• what $600M+ in exits taught him about product-market fit

Connect with us here:

1. David Bach:https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-bach-md-0b81b29/

2. George Bandarian:https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

3. Untapped Ventures:https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures

00:00 Trailer

01:20 Introduction

01:46 David Bach

04:46 Journey to Harvard

10:26 Founding Optios

16:08 Tech Transfer and Market Research

22:09 The Future of Neuro-Performance

28:33 Key Lessons for Founders

33:34 Fundraising Insights

37:29 Closing Thoughts

The Secret Sauce to Scalable AI Agents | Agentic EP 08

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 14:00:00 +0000

AI agents will drive the next wave of automation—but only if they stop breaking.

In this episode, I’m joined by Alex Reibman, Adam Silverman, and Braelyn Boynton, the powerhouse team behind Agency.

Together, they’re tackling the toughest challenges in AI agent development, from failure recovery to debugging and slashing operational costs.

In this episode:

• Alex reveals why today’s AI agents break in unpredictable ways—and how Agency is solving it.

• Adam unpacks OpenAI’s latest agent release and its ripple effects across the ecosystem.

• Braelyn explains how they’re standardizing agent development, lowering barriers for builders everywhere.

Let’s dive in.

Connect with us here:

1. Alex Reibman- https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-reibman-67951589/

2. Adam Silverman- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsil/

3. Braelyn Boynton- https://www.linkedin.com/in/braelyn-boynton-75911974/

4. George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

5. Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

00:00 Trailer

01:31 Welcome to the Agentic Podcast

02:00 Meet the Founders of Agency AI

03:03 The Origin Story of Agency AI

03:31 Challenges and Solutions in AI Agent Development

04:24 Understanding the AI Ecosystem

04:53 Backgrounds of the Founding Team

09:55 The Evolution of AI Agents

18:46 Enterprise Use Cases for AI Agents

21:22 Innovative Applications of AI Agents

29:25 Building an Agentic Process for VC

32:52 Task Generation and YAML Prompting

33:23 Modifying and Scaling Agents

35:34 AgentOps and Prompt Engineering

39:23 Fundraising Journey and Lessons

43:53 Future Vision and Developer Ecosystem

46:47 Advice for Founders and Engineers

54:28 Hackathon Strategy and Community Building

01:02:36 Concluding Thoughts and Final Advice

How to Raise + Scale an AI Startup in 2025 | Agentic EP 07

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 19:07:01 +0000

AI is a platform shift unlike any other, with far-reaching implications for every startup.

In my recent webinar with the Founder’s Bay community in Silicon Valley, hosted by Mariane Bekker, I explored why AI should be the core focus for founders aiming to build scalable, high-impact companies.

Key takeaways:

• there’s hardly an application that AI can’t improve

• AI startups are exiting faster—7 years on average vs. 13 for others

• building in AI is your best shot at hitting $100M ARR

• it’s not a zero-sum market—horizontal and vertical plays can both win

• focus on solving high-value problems using AI to attract funding and top-tier talent

In this episode, I share my views on how you could build a leading AI startup that attracts funding, customers, and talent in 2025.

Connect with us here:

1. George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

2. Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

00:00 Trailer

03:19 Introduction

05:53 State of AI

11:55 Ideation

15:48 Agentic AI

26:32 Validation

29:06 Traction

31:48 Recruiting

33:00 Fundraising

35:28 Value-add

37:15 Takeaways 

39:01 Q&A

55:28 Outro

How AI Agents Cut Insurance Costs By 90% | Agentic EP 06

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 19:49:42 +0000

The insurance industry has a 400,000 agent shortage.

I sat down with Harper's founders, who use agentic AI to deliver enterprise-grade service at 1/10th the cost.

Dakotah Rice and Tushar Nair revealed how they're leveraging the $85B E&S market:

• voice AI running quotes to claims

• why selling AI tools failed, but becoming a broker worked

• how they're hitting software margins in a services business

As insurance carriers exit Florida and California, Harper couldn’t have come at a better time.

Connect with us:

Dakotah Rice: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dakotahrice/

Tushar Nair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tushar-nair-b08988222/

Harper: https://www.linkedin.com/company/harperinsure/

George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

00:00 Trailer + Introduction

04:33 Dakota's Journey to Founding Harper

05:18 Tushar's Background and Expertise

06:06 The Genesis of Harper

06:38 Challenges and Opportunities in AI-Driven Insurance

13:08 The Evolution of Harper's AI Systems

13:21 Technical Insights into Building AI Agents

16:01 The Future of AI in Insurance

17:36 Advice for Aspiring AI Founders

19:55 Focusing on the ENS Market

22:05 Scaling and Expanding Harper's Services

25:37 Innovative Sales Solutions for Insurance

26:14 Customer Acquisition and Marketing Strategies

27:42 Voice AI: Revolutionizing Customer Interaction

30:15 Leveraging AI for Enhanced Customer Service

33:02 Future of AI in Business Operations

35:49 Fundraising and Business Growth Insights

40:39 Advice for Founders: Building and Scaling Startups

46:16 Co-Founder Dynamics and Relationship

50:08 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Your AI Architecture Is Wrong | Agentic EP 05

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 9 Jan 2025 23:33:10 +0000

Only 8 companies have shipped AI Agents from production. In this episode of Agentic, I brought together 3 of them, to reveal how they crossed this chasm:

1. Aria Attar (TensorStax) shows how they're tackling the 1:250 data scientist shortage with agents that drop into existing cloud environments.

2. Joe Stolte (Daily.ai), fresh off multiple exits including a $62.5 M acquisition, reveals how they turned 1B newsletter interactions into $1.2M in ARR in just 14 months.

3. Jacky Wong (Nullify) explains how they're helping enterprises where security teams are outnumbered 4:1 by developers.

Key insight? While the AI market races toward $733.7B by 2027—

Solving for deployment and LLM reliability > focussing on model capabilities.

Let’s dive right in.

Connect with us at:

1. Jacky Wong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wongja/?originalSubdomain=au

2. Aria Attar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariaattar/

3. Joe Stolte: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephstolte

5. George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

6. Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

00:00 Trailer + Introduction

02:26 Agentic AI Overview

06:49 Meet the Founders

10:42 Deep Dive into AI Security

20:01 Building Agentic Models

25:59 Deep Reasoning and Inference in AI Models

26:19 Building and Training Baby Agents

27:37 Trust and Acceptance in AI Solutions

28:49 Lessons Learned and Advice to Founders

29:40 Common Mistakes in LLM Development

33:32 Customer Acquisition Strategies

36:57 Fundraising Insights and Challenges

42:38 Driving Acceptance and Trust in AI

44:37 Reconciling AI as a Deflationary Technology

46:56 Removing Human Evaluators in Development

Where Top VCs Are Placing Their AI Bets In 2025 | Agentic EP 04

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 3 Jan 2025 05:45:18 +0000

With $90B poured into AI over the past year, where is the focus going to be in 2025? I spoke to four top investors to find out.

1. Yipeng Zhao (Embark Ventures) believes AI offers a one-year head start. Fast GTM wins. Slow movers risk irrelevance.

2. Hari Arul (Khosla Ventures) has stopped backing co-pilots altogether. His take? Human-in-loop models won’t survive past 2026.

3. James Shecter (Fika Ventures) says enterprises need the illusion of control over their AI workflows.

4. Nicole Toussaint (TenOneTen Ventures) sees the “Scopely moment” for AI agents approaching fast — and soon, market entry will outweigh engineering breakthroughs.

Tune in now.

Connect with us at:

1. Yipeng Zhao: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yipengzhao/

2. Hari Arul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hariarul/

3. James Shecter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesshecter/

4. Nicole Toussaint: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-toussaint-2874a1106/

5. George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

6. Untapped Ventures: https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

Why AI Agents Are Eating Enterprise Software | EP 03 Founders Panel

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 01:42:31 +0000

While 92% of Fortune 500s realize the surplus alpha that can be created from leveraging AI, only 25% of SMBs realize the same.

I sat with 6 founders who are building Agentic AI solutions: Jacky Wong (Nullify), Aria Attar (TensorStax), Max Ahrens (Maihem), Saurabh Sharma (You.com), Jonas Diezun (Beam AI), and Ashar Rizqi (Bounti.ai).

The key highlights from our conversation were:

- OpenAI’s function calling breaks down when scaling requires consistent outputs and error handling—just ask Jacky or anyone building enterprise agents.

- MongoDB could face disruption as AI agents take over infrastructure orchestration—Aria flagged it, and I agree.

- Calling agents "AI workers" simplifies adoption for hesitant enterprises—a shift that doubled Jonas Diezun’s sales.

- Agentic AI scales across verticals in months, not years—Ashar says the old SaaS scaling playbook is obsolete.

- Max at Maihem points out that building functional agents hinges on managing the edge cases that crash your system.

Let’s dive right in.

Connect with us here:

1. Jacky Wong- https://www.linkedin.com/in/wongja/?originalSubdomain=au

2. Aria Attar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariaattar/

3. Max Ahrens - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilianahrens/?originalSubdomain=uk

4. Saurabh Sharma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhs/

5. Jonas Diezun - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasdiezun/

6. Ashar Rizqi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashar-rizqi-6614487/

7. George Bandarian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

8. Untapped Ventures - https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/

00:00 Trailer

01:26 Welcome to the Agentic Podcast

02:21 Founder Panel Introduction

02:41 Founders' Backgrounds and Insights

10:08 Defining Agentic AI

20:00 Building Effective AI Agents

26:08 Challenges in Early AI Development

26:21 Human in the Loop: Enhancing AI Adoption

26:58 Debating the Importance of Evaluations

27:39 Technical Insights and Mistakes

29:07 Impact of Agentic Paradigm Shift on Infrastructure

29:52 Customer Adoption and Market Strategies

31:21 Go-to-Market Strategies and Early Stage Focus

39:18 Horizontal vs Vertical Approaches in AI

47:39 Final Thoughts

#ai #tech #podcast #vc

Top SF VCs Discuss Agentic & Vertical AI | EP 02

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:44:55 +0000

As we transition into agentic models, it’s evident there’s a blend of optimism and caution.

In this panel discussion, I was joined by Jon Chu (Khosla Ventures), Pranav Reddy (Conviction), Andrew Brackin (Gradient), Arash Afrakhteh (Pear VC), Alejandra Vergara (Bee Partners), and Nahim Nasser (Georgian) as we explored:

• why agentic AI will drive systemic shifts across various industries

• the need to define scalable, high-impact use cases for agent-driven solutions

• shifting dynamics of human-machine interaction

• how agentic AI is advancing in parallel with LLMs

• why regional disparities and emerging foundation models could profoundly shape future progress, and

• how value will accumulate for vertical companies beyond the API

Let’s jump right in.

00:00:00 Trailer

00:02:13 Introduction

00:11:47 Current State of AI

00:21:00 Investment Insights and Startup Pitfalls

00:30:49 Vertical vs Horizontal

00:42:09 Evaluating Business and Team Dynamics

00:51:19 Different ways to look at AI

00:58:06 The AGI Landscape

01:01:17 Outro

Connect with us here:

1. Jon Chu- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jchu/

2. Pranav Reddy- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranavgreddy/

3. Andrew Brackin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewbrackin/

4. Arash Afrakhteh- https://www.linkedin.com/in/arasha/

5. Alejandra Vergara- https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandra-vergaral/

6. Nahim Nasser- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nahimnasser/

How Maven AGI is Creating Delightful CX with Agentic AI | EP 01

agentic@untapped.ventures (George Bandarian) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:15:14 +0000

To me, agentic is intent meeting capability—systems that act autonomously, adapt intelligently, and drive purposeful outcomes.

Our guests on this episode—Jonathan Corbin, Sami Shalabi, and Eugene Mann—embody that. They're pushing AI agents forward for real-world enterprise use cases with Maven AGI.

We discuss:

• solving complex challenges with AI agents

• empowering enterprises with cutting-edge tools, and

• why agentic AI will create new roles for humankind

Let’s get into it.

Connect with us here:

1. Jonathan Corbin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcorbin01/

2. Sami Shalabi- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sshalabi/

3. Eugene Mann- https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenemann/

4. George Bandarian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/

5. Untapped Ventures- https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures/