Firsthand has built the first AI-powered Brand Agent platform, transforming the way marketers and publishers engage consumers through their own AI agents, anywhere online. Operating across both owned properties and paid media, Brand Agents make a company’s expertise accessible in real time, dynamically adapting to consumers’ interests and guiding them toward the information they need to take action. Core to the Firsthand Brand Agent Platform™ is Lakebed™, Firsthand’s AI-first data and knowledge rights management system that ensures companies retain full ownership and control of their expertise. Firsthand is led by Jon Heller, Michael Rubenstein, and Wei Wei, whose previous ventures helped build the foundations of modern digital advertising. Backed by Radical Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Aperiam Ventures, and Crossbeam Venture Partners, Firsthand is now pioneering the next evolution of AI-driven consumer engagement. Firsthand is headquartered in NYC, with team members working together in-office three days a week.
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In this week's #RadicalReads, Firsthand Co-Founder and Co-CEO Michael Rubenstein joins Radical Partner Molly Welch on our podcast Radical Talks to discuss how Brand Agents are reshaping the trillion-dollar advertising industry for a world of agent-driven consumer interactions: https://lnkd.in/eQMwyT7S
AI is rebuilding the commercial layer of the internet. In the latest episode of Radical Talks, Firsthand Co-Founder & Co-CEO Michael Rubenstein joins Radical Ventures Partner Molly Welch to discuss why the current advertising model is structurally broken, and why the next era will be defined not by static ads but by intelligent Brand Agents. Drawing on decades of experience helping build the modern advertising ecosystem at DoubleClick and AppNexus, Michael makes the case for why this platform shift is larger than a new format or optimization layer — and what it means for the trillion-dollar market being rebuilt underneath it. The conversation covers: - Why AI changes the relationship between marketers, publishers, and consumers - How Brand Agents create adaptive consumer journeys in real time - Why context is becoming valuable again - What happens when AI intermediates discovery and decision-making - Why the future belongs to brands that own their own AI presence Check out the full episode below 👇
Did you catch Michael Rubenstein on Marketplace (APM)? In this segment, he joins Sabri Ben-Achour to unpack how AI is changing the economics and experience of digital advertising. The biggest takeaway: AI isn’t just a new channel — it’s changing how consumers discover, evaluate, and decide. More of that journey is happening in AI-mediated environments, often before a brand or retailer is ever visited. That raises a fundamental question: how do brands show up with accuracy, control, and usefulness in those moments? That's exactly what we're focused on: delivering direct, adaptive brand experiences that reflect a company's actual knowledge and intent. Read (or listen) via link in comments 👇
AI isn’t just changing technology; it’s changing how culture forms and how brands participate in it. At 2:30pm today, Firsthand's Michael Rubenstein will be speaking at The Female Quotient Lounge alongside Orlando Reece, Stacy Minero, Rebecca Panico, Patrick O'Keefe, and Erin Dailey Harris to discuss what it takes to build culturally fluent brands in an AI-driven world. If you're at #CES2026, we hope to see you there!
Firsthand is proud to be named a founding "Brand Experience" partner in HorizonOS Labs, the innovation accelerator at the center of HorizonOS HorizonOS Labs brings together brands and an open ecosystem of technology partners to test, validate, and scale new AI-powered capabilities, combining human intelligence with emerging technology to drive growth. At Firsthand, we focus on the frontier end of that work: using AI as a new medium to create adaptive, interactive brand experiences that engage consumers directly. If you’ll be at #CES2026, we’d love to connect and share how we’re approaching AI in this next chapter. Thanks to the team at Horizon Media for bringing HorizonOS Labs to life and sharing our vision for AI-powered Brand Experiences.
We’re heading to CES and bringing Brand Agents with us. As AI reshapes how consumers discover, learn, and make decisions, companies are looking for ways to show up with more relevance and impact. Brand Agents offer a new path forward: adaptive, in-journey experiences that guide consumers based on what they actually need in the moment. We’ll be on the ground at the Aria in Las Vegas, meeting with publishers, marketers, and agency leaders who want to understand how this next wave of AI will shape their consumer relationships and revenue strategies. To schedule time with our leadership team, click the link in the comments ⬇️
AI answer engines are changing how people discover, evaluate, and decide. That shift affects marketers and publishers in equal measure: it rewires where consumer questions get answered, and who gets to shape those answers. In this week’s episode of The Media Copilot, our Co-CEO Michael Rubenstein explains how Brand Agents help marketers and publishers build a direct relationship with consumers, ensuring they show up with their own expertise at the exact moments people are seeking answers. They get into: - How Brand Agents stay rigorously on-message by drawing only from brand-approved knowledge - How contextual intelligence keeps every interaction relevant to what the consumer is actually trying to figure out - How both marketers and publishers can use Agents to create higher-value engagement — from stronger mid-funnel consideration to new, AI-driven media products As AI reshapes the structure of the internet, Brand Agents give companies a direct, controlled way to help consumers in the moments that matter. Check out the full episode at the link in the comments ⬇️
Marketers everywhere are rethinking what it means to “show up” in the age of AI. It’s no longer just about optimizing campaigns; it’s about transforming how brands engage consumers in the moments that matter most. This latest blog explores what that looks like in practice, and how Brand Agents are helping marketers move from fixed messages to adaptive, real-time experiences. Read more from Wylie, below.
As my posts on here can testify, I’ve been deep in AI for a while, not just building with it, but trying to understand where it can drive innovation. That’s what drew me to Firsthand. We’re not bolting AI onto existing systems for incremental gains; we’re focused on how AI fundamentally transforms marketing in order to become more useful, relevant, and impactful. We’ve spent the past few months talking with marketers about what that looks like in practice. This new post shares some of what we’ve learned, and how Brand Agents are helping brands show up in more adaptive, engaging ways. You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/eSKC-n4S Or better yet, leave me a comment and lets chat!
We couldn’t agree more. The next evolution of marketing isn’t a new ad format; it’s a new kind of interaction between brands and consumers. With Brand Agents, ads become dynamic, conversational experiences that help people discover, compare, and act in the moment. The internet is becoming agentic — and publishers and marketers who adapt first will lead it.
In 1994 the first display banner advertisement ran. It was for AT&T and it served on Wired. Those of us in Adtech have put a ton of work into building out the infrastructure of how those ads are targeted, served and measured. But fundamentally they haven't evolved much. Today, marketers start with a creative, evaluate all the inputs and launch the ad hoping it hits the target. But, what if the ad could continue interacting with the user after it's launched? What if it knows everything about the brand, is dynamic, and has a chat-like experience with users talking with them to guide them to their products and services? Is it even still an ad? Marketers no longer need to get only one shot at the target per creative. Generative AI now allows marketers to make the message dynamic and customized. The brand's creative now becomes 3D and meets the user in their need-state, talking with them and driving higher conversions. It's been 31 years and it's time to evolve. The future is #AgentsNotAds Firsthand https://lnkd.in/eZjYdcvJ
We’re thrilled to share we’ve been named to the 2025 #Disruptors60 list! Curated by Greenfield Partners and live on TechCrunch, this list spotlights the most groundbreaking startups turning AI into real-world impact. We’re building the next chapter of digital engagement -- one where brands use AI not to optimize ads, but to power real-time, meaningful interactions. This recognition validates that work. Special thanks to our friends, customers, and partners for the continued support. See the full list: www.disruptors60.ai #Disruptors60 #GreenfieldPartners #TCDisrupt #AI