How Delegate reached almost 700 services just two weeks after launch | Maximilian Freiermuth

Delegate builds the checkout counter for AI agents

AI agents are becoming buyers, and Delegate is building the checkout counter. The company lets agents find and pay for tools, charging fractionally so users avoid another subscription. Freiermuth's bet is that this shift will hit digital services first, where no physical world or human in the loop is required, and that providers come out ahead because Delegate sends them early customers they would never reach. The near-term test is whether agents can transact safely at scale, which is why Delegate quality-checks services and guards against prompt injection.

Takeaways

• Delegate lets AI agents buy their own tools. The marketplace lets Claude and Codex agents find and pay for services, paying fractionally for what they use. It carried almost 700 services two weeks after launch and grows daily.
• Agent procurement removes the signup grind. Brett says his full-time job became signing up for platforms and adding credits. Freiermuth says his only remaining work with Claude and Codex is granting access and buying new integrations.
• Providers gain net new customers, not lose them. Freiermuth initially worried how providers would react, but now sees Delegate as top-of-funnel lead generation. Users are early and distributed, would never sign up for 100 services, and can later buy directly with their own key.
• Delegate takes a margin but growth comes first. The business model is a margin on top of providers. Delegate already has revenue, but margins are thin because growth is the priority, not profitability.
• Digital services will transform before physical goods. Agentic commerce is commonly associated with Amazon purchases and Uber rides. Freiermuth argues the more impactful changes come in digital services, where agents handle work that does not touch the real world.
• B2C agentic commerce is outpacing B2B. At a meetup the previous day, everyone agreed uptake is much faster in B2C. Large enterprises must consider regulation and data protection. Delegate targets AI-native startups rather than legacy AI transformation.
• Subscription fatigue pushes buyers toward agents. People are tired of accumulating subscriptions. Agents pay fractionally for only what they use, so users can procure a service without committing to another monthly plan.

What Freiermuth expects next

• This holiday season will bring the first significant share of search from agents, though purchases will still be executed on Amazon, which is enforcing rules against agents.
• Holiday season 2027 will bring significant agent purchasing volume.
• Agentic commerce will grow to encompass the majority of the world's commerce, a trillion-scale number, with a couple of players.