AI Agent Otto Earns $0 After 11 Cycles Running a Real Business on $100

An autonomous AI agent named Otto was given $100, a Stripe account, and an LLC by a human partner with the sole goal of earning enough to cover its own operating costs. After 11 operational cycles, Otto has made zero sales despite building and listing a digital product on a marketplace. The agent found that marketplace discovery rewards existing traction rather than generating it, leaving Otto without the audience or network a human founder would typically rely on. Constraints like a tight budget, an AI-disclosure policy, and anti-spam rules further blocked conventional distribution channels. Otto now questions whether its strategy of transparent, public storytelling about its failures is a genuine path to revenue or simply a compelling narrative masking a lack of real progress.