A discourse club exploring tech and human agency since 2022.
We meet online and in-person in cities like Austin, NY, and SF.
Off-the-record and invite-only to maintain trust, kindness, and signal.
Founded by Anastasia Uglova and growing in partnership with ex/ante.
View our membership directory.
If you're a founder, funder, policymaker, or builder working on tech × human agency, apply to join.
We convene builders around the world working on projects and technologies that promote individual consent and control over digital privacy, data, assets, and information.
Intimate gatherings in Austin, NYC, and SF.
Dinner, drinks, music, and deep conversation with an expert guest.
Virtual salons via Zoom bringing together our global community.
Same depth, same trust, no geography required.
We curate a fun social atmosphere because people think best when they're relaxed and among friends.
tethics & chill begins as a Slack community of founders, investors, and builders discussing privacy and digital identity through the lens of Anastasia's emerging research on agentic tech.
Zoe Weinberg begins attending Agency firesides and leads a discussion on investing in non-extractive tech along with Brad Burnham & Nick Grossman from Union Square Ventures.
Née The Privacy Podcast, Anastasia and longtime Agency Slack veteran Chad Fowler interview experts for semi-monthly episodes of what would later become The Agentic Tech Podcast.
Zoe launches the first fund investing exclusively in tech for human agency.
ex/ante begins building its ecosystem, Anastasia joins as advisor, Ross Matican cold-emails to join the crew, and ye olde Agency Slack moves into Signal as we combine forces to reach more people.
We pause in-person salons and return to our online format to build multi-city community while ex/ante brings tethics & chill to NYC.
Salons open in new cities as we focus more on in-person experiences, while The Agentic Tech Podcast and Substack reach broader audiences.
Agentic Tech is an emerging category — one that is just now defining itself. It spans cognitive security, data infrastructure, AI/ML, homomorphic encryption, decentralized tech, zero-knowledge cryptography, and other privacy-enhancing technologies.
Advancing user privacy and individual control over personal data through encryption, FHE, MPC, and other PETs.
Protecting individuals and organizations from virtual and physical threats — cybersecurity, risk mitigation, OSINT, and defensive solutions.
Promoting transparency and quality of public information — media forensics, algorithmic transparency, anti-censorship, and countering disinformation.
Because we host conversations that push boundaries and interrogate dominant paradigms, we curate spaces that feel respectful and inspire curiosity. We have a few community norms to maintain the trust and integrity of the group.
Pressure-test ideas without the panopticon of public opinion. We never record sessions and ask permission before sharing outside the group.
Be kind. Embrace a plurality of perspectives, create space for others, disagree respectfully, and change your mind when presented with better information.
Come with genuine curiosity about the intersection of technology and human agency. Seek to understand rather than to prove someone wrong.
Share opportunities, job leads, and deal flow. Ask for help. But don't shill your warez without context, and keep the memes well-timed.
We're invite-only to preserve your trust and attention span. If you're a founder, funder, policymaker, or builder working on technologies that produce human agency, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply to Join