Priscilla Russo

Hello! My name is Priscilla, and I am an aspiring early-stage investor. I've made my way from Arequipa, Peru to Palo Alto, CA. I spend my time working with founders, reading everything, and occasionally uncovering a good conspiracy theory!

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Check out my blog where I break down sectors like fintech, vertical SaaS, and AI and find investment ideas along the way.

• Priscilla's Two Cents

Dear OpenAI, My Agent Needs Its Own Wallet

Like many of you, I’ve delighted in watching an AI agent navigate Expedia to book the perfect flight—until a login or payment prompt yanks me back to reality. Most AI agents, including OpenAI's Operator, still rely on humans at critical steps in the web browsing and checkout experience. They use outdated fixes like cookie copying and screen scraping to reduce friction. These measures underscore a problem I have been researching for the past couple of months: our digital identity system isn't ready for AI agents.For a truly seamless experience, AI agents need their own digital wallets – secure, verifiable identities that build trust and streamline online interactions. This means robust onboarding, clear links between human and AI IDs, precise and dynamic credentials, and tight permissions. I argue that liability will likely fall on AI agent providers, so they should take the lead (or partner) to create new agent wallets and identifiers.

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AI in Banking: Should I Build or Should I Buy?

OpenAI's CFO, Sarah Friar, made it clear at Money20/20: AI is here; it's "happening right now! If you think it’s experimental, it’s not... Whoever you are, it matters to you now."For financial institutions (FIs), the question isn't if they'll embrace AI, but how. With nearly 60% of small and medium-sized financial services providers already working with AI vendors and large banks increasing AI-related hiring by 17% YoY, the question isn’t if FIs will adopt AI. Rather, it’s whether they will build their own solutions or buy them from external vendors.

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Cracking the Financial Services Tech Stack

With AI eating software, founders are leaving no stone unturned in their search for markets ready for AI-driven automation. Unsurprisingly, financial services, with its substantial IT budgets, is a prime target. With rapid advancements in AI and a fundamental shift in buyer appetite, startups can not only overhaul the outdated software stack but also automate the labor-intensive processes within financial services—tripling their potential market opportunities.

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Product Recommendations

I love trying new products! Below are some of my favorites.