Fordel StudiosEquity’s 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC
What Happened
TechCrunch’s Equity crew is bringing 2025 to a close and getting ahead on the year to come with our annual predictions episode! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan were joined by Build Mode host Isabelle Johannessen to dissect the year’s bi
Our Take
Look, predictions are mostly theater, but the consensus matters here. Everyone's betting agentic AI becomes the actual product layer, not a feature. IPOs incoming, VCs still hungry.
Fair enough. But there's nothing controversial; it's what the data already said in October. More interesting: what doesn't happen that everyone expects? That's where edges hide.
My bet: most announced agents ship as glorified chatbots with a few scripted flows.
What To Do
When an agent startup launches, test if it actually reasons or if it's pattern-matched templates.
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