Andrew Rutledge Joins Firsthand as CRO, Publishers to Help Them Unlock AI-Powered Growth

Adtech veteran with 20+ years of sell-side experience joins Firsthand to help publishers take back control of audience relationships with AI agents.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, March 25, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Firsthand, the AI-powered Brand Agent platform transforming how brands attract and engage consumers, has hired Andrew Rutledge as CRO, Publishers to accelerate the company’s sell-side go-to-market efforts.

Firsthand, which announced a $26M Series A round earlier this month, is already helping some of the world’s largest publishers drive revenue by using AI to surface the most relevant content to readers, bolster affiliate commerce or subscription goals, and power new advertising experiences. Rutledge will expand the company’s sell-side go-to-market, helping publishers take back control of their audience relationships by putting cutting-edge AI in their hands.

“AI is reshaping how consumers interact with content, creating major opportunities for publishers to strengthen audience relationships while driving revenue,” Rutledge said. “I’ve seen monumental shifts like these before and helped publishers build sustainable business models in response. I’m excited to help Firsthand’s publisher partners harness AI to navigate this next wave of transformation and drive long-term growth.”

Rutledge, a multi-time CRO and publisher adtech pioneer, has played a pivotal role in shaping the modern publisher ecosystem through leadership roles at AppNexus, Yieldex, PubMatic, and DoubleClick. With deep expertise in media monetization and innovation, he has a proven track record of scaling businesses and driving success for top publishers. At Firsthand, he will spearhead AI adoption among publishers seeking to build sustainable revenue streams.

“Andrew is the ideal person to help Firsthand’s publisher partners deploy AI Brand Agents to drive growth,” said Michael Rubenstein, co-CEO and co-founder of Firsthand. “He has an unparalleled passion for helping publishers to adopt industry-leading technologies and has spent his career demonstrating that. He also shares Firsthand's passion for AI and its transformative potential for publishers. Having seen publisher tech evolve over the past 20 years, Andrew is in a unique position to help publishers build new and sustainable growth drivers with this latest wave of transformational technology.”

Rutledge stepped into his role at Firsthand in March. To learn more about how publishers can use Firsthand’s Brand Agents to drive sustainable growth, visit our website.

About Firsthand

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.

Brand Agents make a company’s expertise accessible in real time, adapting to consumers’ interests and guiding them towards the information they need to take action. Operating across both owned properties and paid media, they help companies connect, inform, and build trust in ways never before possible.

While most AI applications in marketing and advertising focus on back-office automation and efficiency, the Firsthand Brand Agent Platform™ is focused on front-line consumer engagement — directly shaping the consumer experience rather than optimizing internal workflows. Central to this is Lakebed™, the company’s AI-first data and knowledge rights management system that ensures brands retain full ownership and control of their content and data.

Backed by leading investors and built by digital advertising pioneers, Firsthand is shaping the future of consumer engagement. To learn more, visit www.firsthand.ai.

Joe Zappa
Sharp Pen Media
+1 516-477-1617
joe@sharppenmedia.com
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