Agentic

89% of all global venture capital in Q1 2026 went to AI companies. Q1 alone nearly matched the prior five quarters of AI deal value combined.

George Bandarian, General Partner at Untapped Ventures, presents the full Q2 2026 State of AI + Autonomous Economy- the live data deck from Boston, Toronto, and NY Tech Weeks - covering the venture landscape, frontier model capabilities, enterprise adoption data, and the Autonomous Economy investment thesis.

In this episode, we go deep into:

If you're a founder building in the Autonomous Economy at pre-seed or seed — let's chat: https://bit.ly/4bq7APh

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

Plus, connect with us here:

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:

Meet the Founders:

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/

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:

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:

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

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

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:

1. Peter Walker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterjameswalker/
2. George Bandarian: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/⁠
3. 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

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:

1. ​ Ben Collins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bentcollins
2. ​ Dakotah Rice: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dakotahrice/
3. ​ Tushar Nair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tushar-nair-b08988222/
4. ​ Woz: https://www.linkedin.com/company/withwoz/
5. ​ Harper: https://www.linkedin.com/company/harperinsure/
6. ​ George Bandarian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/
7. ​ 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