UGLY TALK: SF TECHWEEK AGENTIC ECONOMY
The next buyer may not be a person scrolling your website. It may be an AI agent acting for them.
That changes the game fast. Agents can research, compare, recommend, negotiate, and buy without getting tired or distracted. They do not care about your clever headline if they cannot read your data, trust your signals, or complete the task.
Most companies are still building for human attention. The next wave may reward companies that are built for machine decision-making too.
This Ugly Talk gets into the messy part of the Agentic Economy. What breaks when agents start influencing what people buy, which tools companies choose, and which brands get surfaced first?
A panel of fintech founders, AI founders, and fintech executives.
After the fireside chat, we’ll have a Builder Showcase, where 6–8 selected founders will each get 2–3 minutes to share what they’re building.
🎯 Why you should be in this room.
Understand what agent-led buying actually means before it turns into another AI buzzword.
Hear how fintech and AI operators are thinking about agents as buyers, gatekeepers, and infrastructure users.
See where the real opportunities are: payments, identity, trust, data access, marketplaces, and software distribution.
Learn what companies may need to fix before agents become part of the customer journey.
Hear what builders have tried, what failed, and what they are betting on next.
💬 What's on the table.
What is the Agentic Economy, and where is the hype getting ahead of the truth?
How do autonomous agents change shopping, software buying, and business purchasing?
If agents are more goal-oriented than human shoppers, what happens to branding, persuasion, and customer experience?
What infrastructure needs to exist for agent-led buying to work, including payments, permissions, identity, trust, and agent-readable data?
Who captures value when new systems form around agents?
How should fintech companies prepare for agents that influence or execute financial decisions?
What failed experiments can teach us about where the market is actually going?
🤝 Who's hosting it.
Alan Zong - Co-Founder & Partner, UpscaleX
Alan Zong is Co-Founder and Partner at UpScaleX, a San Francisco-based seed fund investing in AI-native applications and commercial innovations. He brings 10+ years of experience across VC and CVC and has been an early backer of multiple unicorns and decacorns. Alan holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and previously led innovation investment at Alibaba International.
🙋 Who's getting in.
Tech founders building in the Agentic Economy.
Fintech founders watching new purchasing behavior, payment flows, and infrastructure needs.
AI founders building tools, workflows, marketplaces, or agent-ready systems.
Product leaders thinking about discovery, conversion, trust, and customer experience when the “user” may not be human.
Operators who want the real conversation before the market has a clean playbook.
🤝 Who's backing this.
UPSCALE X
We don’t just write checks—we roll up our sleeves and build alongside you. Our unique co-building approach means you get hands-on support from day one, with our team working as an extension of yours to accelerate product development, refine strategy, and drive growth. From seed investment to Series A and beyond, we’re committed to being your long-term partner. We invest in founders who are building transformative AI and digital commerce companies, and we provide the capital, expertise, and network to help you scale faster and smarter.
⭐ About Ugly Talk
Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough "aha!" moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.
With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we've built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.
Official Website: UglyTalk.com
📢 Important Notice for Ugly Talk Attendees
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