After a week of intense coding, one might expect San Francisco’s builders to unwind in the mountains, beaches, or vibrant club scene of the Bay Area. However, the reality is quite different – AI hackathons take over when the workweek ends.
San Francisco has experienced a surge in AI hackathons in recent years. Every weekend, technologists gather to discuss the latest AI advancements, network with like-minded individuals, and most importantly, bring ideas to life through working demos. While some hackathons offer prizes, the true winners often leave with the seed of a startup idea.
According to Agency cofounder Alex Reibman, San Francisco is the ideal place to embark on ambitious projects. Competitive yet collaborative hackathons provide a platform for growth and innovation.
At a hackathon in San Francisco last summer, Reibman explored building AI agents capable of web scraping. While agents are a hot topic in Silicon Valley, Reibman and his team faced challenges with their initial attempts.
To address these challenges, Reibman’s team developed internal debugging tools that not only improved the agents’ performance but also won them the hackathon.
This success led to the founding of Agency, offering tools to observe and troubleshoot AI agents in real-time. The core product, AgentOps platform, has garnered significant traction and secured $2.6 million in funding.
Chief operating officer Adam Silverman describes AgentOps as “multi-device management for agents,” ensuring their behavior aligns with expectations.
Agency partners with AI model developers like Cohere and Mistral to provide comprehensive agent creation and monitoring services. The startup’s platform is compatible with various AI frameworks and popular tools such as Microsoft’s AutoGen and CrewAI.
Beyond the dashboard, Agency offers consulting services to assist businesses in creating and managing AI agents. The startup’s clientele includes hedge funds, consultants, and marketing firms.
As major players like OpenAI and Google expand their agent products, startups like Agency aim to evolve alongside these advancements and collaborate rather than compete.
