AI Agent Arena

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 APPLY here

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?