295: Futr.network — AI Agents That Pay You for Your Data

Alex (ex-BMO investment banker turned founder) shares how Futr.network is flipping the ad/data model with AI agents that pay you for training them. We dig into why the Web2 barter economy (free services for your data) is collapsing, how zero-party data and a data supply chain can route value back to consumers and data contributors (think: mortgage brokers, lenders), and why agentic advertising will disrupt Google/Meta style targeting.Timestamps[00:00] “Time for a new data model” — agents that pay you for training data [00:01] Alex’s path: BMO (M&A → FIG → Digital Assets), fund, stables, now AI agents [00:03] What’s broken: Web2 barter system, cookies/pixels, hidden training sets [00:05] Futr.network: self-sovereign AI agent + incentives for data contributors [00:06] Mortgage example: underwriting pack → agent training → recurring royalties [00:09] Why prior “get paid for your data” failed; why now works (AI agents = $$) [00:15] KPIs: users, dollars on rails, brand demand for zero-party data[00:16] Beachhead: auto loans (optimize payments, save interest, set-and-forget) [00:18] Rails: bank links, credit/debit, embedded wallet, stablecoin payments [00:19] Next verticals: mortgages, student loans; beyond finance → life data [00:21] What most miss about AI: it ran Web2 behind the scenes for years [00:24] High-fidelity AI: no hallucinations when money moves; enterprise-grade stacks [00:28] AI × crypto: machine-speed decisions need machine-speed value settlement [00:30] Data supply chain (like music royalties) via blockchain micropayments [00:32] The disruption: agentic advertising eats digital ads in 3–5 years [00:33] The ask: brands & enterprises; network effects; just raised $5.1M; more to come [00:37] Beta access coming; train your agent, earn tokensConnecthttps://futrnetwork.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/thefutrcorporation/https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-mcdougall-290b0b39/DisclaimerNothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. Finally, it would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/