AI Agent Arena
About this Event
Where AI Agents Come to Work.
10 agents. 5 minutes each. No PowerPoint. Live demos only.
What will your agent do when we press GO?
Interested to Show what Your AI Agent can do GET an AI Builder Ticket and
Don't tell us what your AI agent can do. Show us.
Most AI events are people describing what their agent will do someday. This one is different. Ten teams get five minutes each to put their agent on stage and run it live, in front of a room of AI founders, builders, investors, product leaders and potential customers.
No slides. No marketing video. The agent actually does something.
We will have a few volunteers to get feedback on the spot
Join us as a Volunteer.
You do not have to be a startup. If you have built an agent that works, you can apply: an internal tool running inside your company, a side project, a workflow you automated for your own team. We care that it runs, not that it has a logo and a seed round.
The format
Every demo gets exactly 5 minutes.
30-second intro: who you are, and what problem your agent solves.
3-minute live demo: the agent does the work. Researches and makes a decision. Completes a business workflow. Talks to another agent. Operates software. Handles a customer. Writes and executes a plan. Recovers from an error.
90 seconds on why it matters: who this is worth something to, what makes it different, and what the killer use case is.
Then straight to the next demo.
The Agent Challenge
Every team gets the same real-world business problem: take a messy business request and turn it into an executed workflow. Then we watch ten different agents attack it. You can also run your own use case if it shows the agent off better.
Awards, voted by the room
Everyone in the room gets a vote. We hand out:
- 🥇 Best AI Agent
- 🧠 Most Innovative Agent
- 🤯 "Holy Sh*t" Demo
- 💰 Most Commercially Valuable
- 🚀 Best Early-Stage Team
And one overall winner: THE AI AGENT OF THE NIGHT
Run of show
- 6:00 Doors open and networking
- 6:30 The State of AI Agents, a 5-minute opening
- 6:35 Agent demos, back to back, 5 minutes each
- 7:25 Audience voting
- 7:30 Winner announced
- 7:35 Founder, builder, investor and customer networking
- 8:30 Close
Calling everyone building AI agents: show us what you have built
Not another pitch night. Not another panel. Not another event where everyone tells us how amazing their AI agent is. Bring your agent and show us what it can actually do.
Founders, engineers, product managers, ops leads, solo builders: if you have an agent doing real work, the stage is open to you.
Your agent can:
- 🤖 Execute a workflow
- 🧠 Make decisions
- 💬 Interact with humans
- 🔗 Work with other systems or agents
- ⚡ Automate something that used to require people
- 🔥 Or simply do something that makes the audience say "whoa"
Every selected demo gets:
- 🎤 5 minutes on stage
- 🎥 A professional recording of the demo
- 📣 Social promotion before and after the event
- 🤝 Time with founders, builders, investors and potential customers
- 🏆 A shot at AI Agent of the Night
- 🌐 A place in the AI Agent Showcase
The one rule: SHOW. DON'T PITCH. No 20-minute decks. No company history. Just your agent, a real problem, and what happens when you press GO.
👉 Applications are open. Apply to demo here: https://forms.gle/hj2DNfqkmUy8kmfL6
Who this is for
- Founders building AI agent products
- Engineers, PMs and ops leads who have quietly built an agent inside their company and want to show it off
- Investors looking for agent teams that are past the deck stage
- Product and engineering leaders deciding what to buy and what to build
- Anyone who wants to see what AI agents can actually do today
About the host
Raj Lal is the founder of ANCI AI, where Zara, a human-in-the-loop scheduling agent, runs in production for executive teams today. He led UX at MobileIron and SpaceIQ, runs hands-on AI workshops at Igniter Silicon Valley events across the Bay Area, and has helped hundreds of product leaders move from AI curiosity to real business deployment.
📍 Bay Area, Palo Alto JCC
⏱ 6:00 to 8:30 PM, doors and check-in from 6:00
👥 Complimentary pizza and drinks, free parking at the venue
Part of the Igniter Silicon Valley Agentic AI Bootcamp Series
Part 1: Introduction to Agentic AI and LLMs ✓
Part 2: From Ideas to Working Prototypes, No-Code ✓
Part 3: AI Agent Arena, live demos only ← You are here
SHOW. DON'T PITCH. What will your agent do when we press GO?
Igniter: Stanford Entrepreneurs & Silicon Valley Founders
An active community of more than 6,000 entrepreneurs in the heart of the Silicon Valley. to know about our next event.
Kudos again to our organizers. I don't know how they could have designed a better meetup. ;-) So many great takeaways. Most impactful for me was that some, but not all of us, are professional designers; but we are all designers. I'm an accountant so not a professional designer....but...perhaps I am a professional designer. I design accounting systems and definitely a lot of financial models in excel. Improving the experience for these tools definitely helps the user. Perhaps more of us our professional designers than we realize. My other favorite takeaway was that there is always resistance to new technology no matter how good it is. Plato was not originally a fan of the invention of books because he couldn't argue with a book they way he could with a fellow human being. ”— Scott M.
“ This was my first and want more. My intention is to attend as many as I can from now on. ”— Masa K M.
“ awesome brillant group, with a refreshing perspective on business! ”— Salma
“ The last startup meetup group you'll need to join! Great job guys! ”— Elijah A
What makes our events special?
Startup Focused
Do you have an idea for startup, a stealth stage startup trying to network or well funded startup trying to grow? Igniters community is for you.
Amazing Speakers
Our past speakers include Don Norman, Geoffrey A. Moore and Steve Blank. Our speakers are well known experts in the startup space.
Games, Prizes and Social
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Agenda
🕑: 06:00 PM - 06:30 PM
Doors open, check-in and networking
🕑: 06:30 PM - 06:35 PM
Welcome + The State of AI Agents
🕑: 06:35 PM - 07:25 PM
Live agent demos: 10 startups, 5 minutes each
🕑: 07:25 PM - 07:30 PM
Audience voting
🕑: 07:30 PM - 07:35 PM
AI Agent of the Night announced
🕑: 07:35 PM - 08:30 PM
Founder, investor and customer networking
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 5.00 to USD 50.00
