AI First
The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand — Harvard Business Review Press. Co-authored with Adam Brotman.
HBR Press →Four waves of Seattle tech. One career.
I'm Andy Sack. I've spent thirty years starting, funding, and occasionally fumbling technology companies in Seattle — from the early internet through the seed-fund years, and now all-in on AI as co-founder of Forum3 and co-author of AI First and Agents, Inc.
I live in Laurelhurst with my wife and two kids, and I still think the best conversations in tech happen over coffee in this city.
- 30 years in tech
- 4 unicorns seeded
- 90+ startups backed
- 2 books on AI
Work · 1990s → today
30 years, four waves
Every wave of Seattle tech — the early internet, the founder years, the seed-fund decade, and now AI — runs through one career. Tap a wave to follow the thread.
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- Firefly Network → acquired by Microsoft
- Abuzz → acquired by The New York Times, 1999
- Kefta → acquired by Acxiom, 2007
- EIR · SOFTBANK Venture Capital
Internet personalization before the web knew it needed it.
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- Judy's Book · founder & CEO · $10.5M raised
- Lighter Capital · pioneered RevenueLoan
- Revenue-based financing · lending against revenue, not equity
Kept founding — and rethought how startups get funded.
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- Founders' Co-op · co-founder · $25M fund · 90+ startups
- Techstars Seattle · Managing Director, ~2010–2020
- 4 unicorns seeded · Remitly · Outreach · Auth0
- Microsoft · advisor to Satya Nadella, 2015–2021
Backed a generation of Seattle startups at day one.
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- Forum3 · co-founder · $10M raised · with Adam Brotman
- Starbucks Odyssey · helped build the NFT loyalty program
- Keen Capital · Managing Partner
- 2 books · AI First · Agents, Inc.
All of it points here: helping brands become AI-first.
The through-line: each wave taught the next. Personalization taught platforms, founding taught funding, seed investing taught pattern recognition — and all of it now goes into AI and agents.
What I'm doing now
All-in on AI, at Forum3
In 2021 I co-founded Forum3 with Adam Brotman, Starbucks' former Chief Digital Officer. We helped build Starbucks Odyssey, raised $10M, and today Forum3 works as an embedded AI and agent strategy partner for consumer brands.
"Cut through the AI noise."
I'm also Managing Partner of Keen Capital, a fund of blockchain-native venture funds, and I host the AI First podcast.
Brands we've worked with
Investing
Track record
Co-founder of Founders' Co-op (2008), one of Seattle's first seed funds, and Managing Director of Techstars Seattle for a decade. The 2011 Techstars class was the highest-performing in the program's history.
- 90+startups backed through Founders' Co-op
- $25Mlargest fund, raised by 2019
- 4unicorns seeded
- 10years leading Techstars Seattle
Seeded at day one
Three of the four unicorns, by name — companies that started as seed checks and Techstars pitches.
Earlier exits as a founder: Firefly Network → Microsoft · Abuzz → The New York Times · Kefta → Acxiom. From 2015 to 2021, advisor to Satya Nadella and Microsoft on product innovation and digital transformation.
Writing & talking
Writing
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AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand
Co-authored with Adam Brotman. How incumbent brands actually adopt AI.
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Agents, Inc.
The follow-up: what happens when AI agents start doing the work.
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AI First — the podcast
Conversations about building AI-first businesses and brands.
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A Sack of Seattle
My long-running blog on startups, investing, and this city. The name is a joke; the archive is not.
Say hello
If you're building something in Seattle — especially something with AI — I'd genuinely like to hear about it. I answer my own email.