FirstMark partner and author of the MAD industry map, Matt Turck, summarizes the evolution of work in three lines: talking to people in 2016, talking to Zoom in 2021, and talking to agents in 2026.

This is not a product launch but a compression of the transition in office interfaces. 2016 corresponds to office and travel meetings; 2021 corresponds to video conferencing becoming the default collaboration layer post-pandemic; 2026 corresponds to delegating tasks to executable software agents instead of holding another meeting. Turck has long tracked data and machine learning applications, including customer service agents, enterprise intelligence, and automation companies, and hosts Data Driven NYC and the MAD podcast.

The same week's product events provide footnotes to these three lines: HR platforms are outsourcing internal agents and claiming to replace hundreds of full-time equivalents with agents; coding editors are integrating charts and multi-agent windows into conversations; in-car voice systems are connecting documents and external coding agents into the steering wheel. Video conferencing has not disappeared, but an additional layer has emerged where "you can leave after speaking."

The three lines omit the intermediate state: chatbots from 2023 to 2025 are still stuck in drafts and Q&A, while the narrative for agents in 2026 emphasizes learning processes through screen recording, integrating with enterprise systems, and continuing to operate in the cloud. Investors use a ten-year scale to write the interface change as irreversible, rather than focusing on the market share of a specific app.

In market mechanisms, what is bought is early funds that treat "agents equal to new interfaces" as a configuration principle, while what is sold is the next layer of entry after meeting software. Funding is shifting from collaborative seats in enterprise software budgets to automation billed by task or agent; beneficiaries are agent vendors that can connect to finance, HR, and code repositories, while those under pressure are tools that only sell meeting room minutes and cannot finish the conversation. Event-driven is a definition, not a financial report.

Talking to people consumes coordination, talking to video consumes schedules, and talking to agents consumes permissions and audits. Each time the interface changes, the billing unit shifts from headcount to completed work packages.

Source: Public Information