The Albany Gazette - SpeakUp, the Speaker- and Podcast-Guest Booking Marketplace, Becomes AI-Native: Run by 31 AI Agents and Bookable Inside Claude, ChatGPT, and Other AI Assistants

NEWARK, DE / ACCESS Newswire / May 28, 2026 / SpeakUp, the AI matching app for the global speaker economy, today announced what it calls the first fully AI-native marketplace: a company where artificial intelligence powers the product, runs the operations, and now serves as the interface itself.

The announcement combines three milestones reached in the past quarter:

1. SpeakUp now runs on an AI-operated workforce of 31+ specialized agents covering outbound sales, customer lifecycle, content, support, and marketplace operations - supervised by a small founding team.

2. SpeakUp has launched native Model Context Protocol (MCP) support - making it one of the first marketplaces in the world directly accessible from any MCP-compatible AI assistant, including Claude and ChatGPT.

3. SpeakUp has crossed 100,000 users across 28 countries and 9 languages - exactly one year after its public launch in April 2025.

"Every marketplace today claims to be 'AI-powered.' We're something different - we're AI-native," said Nick Zhuchkov, Co-Founder and CEO of SpeakUp. "Our matching engine is AI. Our sales team is AI. Our distribution is AI. The only humans left are two founders, a few advisors, and the customers. That's not a marketing line - that's the operating model."

WHAT "AI-NATIVE" MEANS - IN PRACTICE

SpeakUp's claim rests on four layers of AI operating in production today:

• Matching layer: Organizers publish their events; speakers build their profiles. SpeakUp's AI engine automatically matches the two on topic, language, budget, audience, geography and etc. - generating a shortlist of best-fit speakers for each event in minutes instead of weeks.

• Operations layer: A fleet of 31+ specialized AI agents handles outbound prospecting (5,000+ personalized messages per week), inbound qualification, demo scheduling, onboarding, support, content, and marketplace vendor management.

• Distribution layer: With native MCP integration, an organizer can now ask their AI assistant - "Find me three female AI speakers in Portuguese, budget under $5K, available July 12" and SpeakUp handles discovery, shortlisting, outreach, and booking inside the conversation.

• Growth layer: AI agents run lifecycle email, push notifications, churn prevention, and re-engagement - achieving 6x the GTM operating leverage of traditional SaaS companies.

WHY THIS MATTERS FOR THE SPEAKER ECONOMY

The global speaker economy estimated at over $5B annually, has historically run on ~20% bureau commissions, manual outreach, and opaque pricing. SpeakUp's model inverts every assumption:

• Zero commission. Speakers keep 100% of their fees.

• Direct booking. No bureaus, no middlemen.

• Conversational interface. Book from inside any AI assistant via MCP.

• Subscription pricing. $79-$399/month for organizers, $29-$149/month for speakers.

"The bureau industry charges $40,000 retainers for what we provide for $179 a month and now you don't even need to log in. You connect SpeakUp to Claude or ChatGPT once, and you work with it straight from your AI assistant, like any other product," said Helen Kareva, Co-Founder of SpeakUp. "Speaker bureaus are the travel agencies of 2026. We're the AI-native platform that replaces them."

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT MILESTONES

• A redesigned UI/UX optimized for mobile-first speaker discovery and conversational booking workflows

• SpeakUp Ambassadors: a global program now live in 28 countries, with tiered rewards for founders, speakers, podcasters, journalists, and media creators

• A dual-sided referral program: 30% off monthly and 50% off annual subscriptions for both inviter and invitee, on both sides of the marketplace

ABOUT SPEAKUP

SpeakUp is the AI-native marketplace for the global speaker economy - helping conference organizers, podcasters, media, and brands discover and book speakers, experts, and guests without bureaus or commissions. SpeakUp operates across 28 countries and 9 languages. Founded by Nick Zhuchkov (Forbes 30 Under 30) and Helen Kareva. SpeakUp is a UAE National Nominee for the 2025 World Summit Awards (WSA) in the Business & Commerce category - nominated by the UAE Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) and a winner of the TV pitch competition "The Final Pitch"

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding revenue, profitability, and growth. Actual results may differ.

Media Contact: [email protected]
Anastasia Asheulova
www.speak-up.pro

SOURCE: SpeakUp

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(F.Jackson--TAG)