Agentic

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, 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/

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

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

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