a16z crypto show The end of ads? AI agents are about to change how we buy
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Apr 27, 2026 
Sam Ragsdale, founder and CEO of Merit Systems building infrastructure for agentic commerce. He explains agentic commerce, the headless merchant thesis, how agents reshape friction and discovery, and why payments and instant settlement matter as agents start spending on users' behalf.
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Agents Are Chatbots That Use Computers For You
- Agents are chatbots that can use a computer on your behalf, turning complex multi-step tasks into disposable programs.
- Eddy Lazzarin: agents write ephemeral code (JS/Bash) for tasks, costing cents to generate and execute instead of lengthy engineering work.
Headless Merchants Sell To Agents Via APIs
- Headless merchants serve agents via APIs rather than human-facing storefronts, optimizing for per-API pricing and instant access.
- Noah Levine: agents prefer an API endpoint and clear pricing with credit-card signup or instant keys over enterprise sales friction.
Remove Sales Friction To Win Agentic Distribution
- Remove onboarding friction like enterprise sales and visible API pricing so agents can autonomously use your service.
- Sam Ragsdale: agents will choose instant credit-card or stablecoin-payable APIs over offerings requiring sales calls or special setup.