Agents Own the Customer
Travis Scher@travisscher
+1.9%
since Oct 8
The idea
I believe AI agents will soon handle huge volumes of shopping, paying, and trading on our behalf, which breaks the old moats of ad-driven marketplaces since an agent skips straight to the purchase. This basket backs the companies that keep the customer relationship through the agent itself (Meta, Apple), the software where business agents do their work (Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Intuit, Shopify), the payment rails that take a cut of every agent-driven purchase (Visa, Mastercard), and the platform where agents will place trades (Robinhood).
What it owns
- Every purchase an agent makes still has to be paid for, and these companies take a cut of each one. · Visa Inc.It earns a small fee on each card purchase, so every transaction an agent makes on a card pays Visa as long as agent spending runs over cards rather than alternative rails., Shopify Inc.It wires millions of merchants into agent shopping, providing the catalog and checkout that agents need when making purchases on behalf of customers., Mastercard IncorporatedIts tokenization lets an agent pay with a card without exposing the real card number, keeping agent purchases on its network and earning fees on those transactions.29%
- Company agents will run inside the work software businesses already live in, and these firms own that software. · Microsoft CorporationCompany agents built and run inside its enterprise software and cloud infrastructure mean the business relationship flows through Microsoft's platform., Salesforce, Inc.It holds companies' customer records, making it the natural home for agents that sell to and serve those customers from within Salesforce's platform., ServiceNow, Inc.It runs the back-office workflows where business agents will do routine work like IT tickets, HR requests and approvals, allowing companies to automate these tasks on its platform., Intuit Inc.It sits on small businesses' and households' money through QuickBooks and TurboTax, so its own agents could handle books, taxes and payments while keeping customers inside its products.29%
- These companies already own the screen and the daily habit, so the agent people use is likely to be theirs. · Meta Platforms, Inc.Its messaging and social apps are habit-forming destinations where agents embedded in WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook could keep customers shopping and transacting within Meta's ecosystem rather than leaving for competitors., Apple Inc.Running a private agent on its own devices lets it own the relationship when customers use AI to shop and pay, rather than ceding that bond to a third-party app.24%
- When agents start investing and trading for people, they need a brokerage built for apps and automation. · Robinhood Markets, Inc.It has the platform built for apps and automation, so when agents start placing trades for people, they can do it through its infrastructure.10%
- Cash8%