Okara: 4B tokens/day with AI agents for CMOs on Vercel

What happened?

Okara, a startup founded by Fatima Rizwan, has launched a system of artificial intelligence agents that function as chief marketing officers (CMOs) for over 120,000 companies. The platform processes 4 billion tokens per day — equivalent to approximately 3 billion words — and operates on Vercel's infrastructure, using its AI Gateway and Sandboxes. The team of just four people has managed to scale to this volume thanks to full infrastructure automation, eliminating the need to manually manage integrations with multiple AI providers. Originally, Okara integrated eight model providers via separate SDKs, each with its own key management, image handling, and edge cases. When expanding to open source models, the approach became unsustainable: each new model required an engineer to stop product development to write an adapter. Migrating to Vercel AI Gateway replaced each custom integration with a single configuration, outsourcing retry and fallback logic to Vercel's routing, including zero data retention support for sensitive chat sessions. This allowed new AI models to be available to users on the same day of their release.

Why is this important?

This case demonstrates that a small team can deliver marketing services at massive scale through specialized AI agents. Okara replaces the traditional model of agencies and subscriptions that cost over $15,000 per month, allowing solo founders to access distribution capabilities that were previously only available to large teams. According to Rizwan, "Distribution is stuck in the pre-AI era: fragmented across subscriptions and agencies that cost over $15,000 a month before a single dollar comes back." Additionally, integration with Vercel allows new AI models to be available on the same day of their release, accelerating innovation. This approach contrasts with the traditional agency model, where deployment cycles can take weeks. Okara not only reduces costs but also democratizes access to advanced marketing strategies, leveling the playing field for startups and small businesses. In a market where AI adoption speed is critical, Okara's ability to integrate models on the same day of their release gives it a significant competitive advantage.

Consequences and context

Okara's approach reflects a trend toward democratization of marketing through autonomous agents. By outsourcing tasks like SEO, content, and social media to sub-agents, companies can reduce costs and time. However, it raises questions about branding quality and human oversight. Vercel's infrastructure, with its AI Gateway handling retries and fallbacks, allows Okara to focus on product rather than managing multiple AI providers. This case is an example of how serverless infrastructure and AI agents are enabling small teams to scale to levels previously reserved for large corporations. Compared to earlier events, such as business process automation (BPA) or chatbot adoption, Okara represents a qualitative leap: it not only automates tasks but orchestrates a complete marketing strategy with specialized sub-agents. This could pressure traditional agencies, which face competition from more agile and cost-effective solutions, as well as marketing tool subscription platforms, which may see their value reduced as they are replaced by a single integrated agent.

What should readers know?

• Scalability: With only four employees, Okara processes 4B tokens/day, showcasing the power of automation and serverless infrastructure. This is equivalent to processing the content of approximately 8,000 400-page books each day.
• Specialized sub-agents: Eight agents cover SEO, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), social media, content, Reddit, and Hacker News, each with specific functions. For example, the SEO agent scans websites, detects technical issues, and automatically generates pull requests with fixes, running in isolated Vercel Sandboxes.
• Integration with Vercel: AI Gateway unifies multiple AI providers, and Sandboxes allow code analysis in isolated environments to generate automatic pull requests. The migration eliminated the need to maintain integration code for each provider, reducing complexity and development time.
• Market impact: Traditional agencies may face pressure from more agile and cost-effective AI solutions. With a monthly cost significantly lower than agencies' $15,000, Okara democratizes access to high-level marketing services.
• Privacy: Okara uses zero data retention options in Vercel for sensitive chat sessions, addressing security concerns in handling client data.
• Model adoption: The ability to launch new models on the same day they are released is possible because AI Gateway abstracts differences between providers, allowing Okara to test and deploy without delays.

“Distribution is stuck in the pre-AI era: fragmented across subscriptions and agencies that cost over $15,000 a month before a single dollar comes back.” — Fatima Rizwan, founder of Okara.

Technical analysis

Okara originally integrated eight model providers with separate SDKs, which created complexity. By migrating to Vercel AI Gateway, they unified configuration, outsourced retries and fallbacks, and eliminated the need to maintain integration code. Vercel Sandboxes allow the SEO agent to scan websites, detect technical issues, and automatically generate pull requests with fixes, all in an isolated environment. This not only improves security but also accelerates fixing technical SEO errors. The AI Gateway handles routing between providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and open source models, with automatic fallback logic if a provider fails. Additionally, zero data retention in chat sessions ensures sensitive information is not stored, meeting privacy requirements. Vercel's serverless architecture allows Okara to scale without worrying about server management, and Sandboxes provide an isolated execution environment for tasks requiring file system access, such as website scanning.

Future implications

Okara plans to expand its agent suite and target larger teams. The ability to launch new models on the same day they are released suggests a competitive advantage in adoption speed. This model could be replicated in other domains, such as sales or customer support, where small teams can operate at scale with AI agents. The trend points toward a platformization of business services, where a single platform orchestrates multiple specialized agents. This could lead to a drastic reduction in employment at traditional agencies, but also to the creation of new roles in AI supervision and strategy. From a technical standpoint, the combination of Vercel's AI Gateway and Sandboxes sets a new standard for startups looking to scale quickly without heavy infrastructure investment. Okara's success could inspire other entrepreneurs to build AI agents for functions like sales, human resources, or finance, accelerating digital transformation across multiple industries.