The agenda is designed to foster thought-provoking conversations, meaningful connections, and critical deal-making. In addition to curated networking sessions, here is a preview of what we’re planning for this fall.

Registration & Light Refreshments 

Time: 12:30 PM – 1:15 PM

Arrive, reset, and connect over light bites and refreshments as founders, investors, and industry leaders gather to set the tone for an energizing afternoon. This opening hour provides space for introductions, investor conversations, and pre-pitch momentum-building. Expect a packed room and high energy right from the beginning.

Kickoff Session & Investor Presentation 

Time: 1:15 PM – 1:20 PM

Rob and Tom open Day 1 by welcoming attendees and setting the tone for two days focused on the financial, technological, and structural forces reshaping advertising. They’ll outline the goals of AdEF, highlight the significance of the Founder & Investor Pitch, and preview how today’s discussions feed directly into the broader themes explored on Day 2.

Time: 1:20 PM – 1:45PM

Tom takes the stage to provide a concise, insight-driven overview of the economic and technological shifts shaping the advertising landscape. His remarks set the strategic foundation for Day 1, giving attendees the context they need for the pitches and discussions ahead.

Founder Pitches

Time: 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM

We will have our first four 15-minute pitches where each company presents a tightly constructed thesis to our voting audience. The first two minutes of each pitch start with the audience getting a chance to read a 2-page Bezos-style memo about the company (think condensed pitch deck). Each founder will have 8 minutes to pitch our audience and esteemed investor panel, consisting of ~20 venture capitalists and corporate development investors. The investor panel will then have 5 minutes of fast-paced Q&A to pressure-test assumptions and evaluate commercial promise.

Break

Time: 2:45 PM – 3:15 PM

A moment to decompress, recalibrate, and continue conversations sparked by the first round of pitches. Investors and founders are encouraged to use this time to deepen dialogue, exchange early reactions, and refuel before the second half of the competition.

Company Pitches

Time: 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM

After the break, the format continues with another round of four fast-paced, founder pitches mirroring the structure from earlier in the day.

Keynote Wrap-Up & Audience Voting, and Award Ceremony

Time: 4:15 PM – 4:45PM

When it’s all said and done, the audience has voted, we’ll announce the AdEF pitch winner and award the AdEF Charging Bull. Let the bragging rights begin!

Networking Reception

Time: 4:45 PM – 5:45 PM

Close out the day with an elevated reception sponsored by Revving and designed for investor-founder matchmaking and deal-flow momentum. Continue the debates, unpack the insights, and connect with the people shaping the next wave of industry innovation.

Registration & Breakfast Reception
Time: 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Start the day with coffee, conversations, and connections, sponsored by [TBD]. Meet fellow industry leaders and get ready for a deep dive into the economic and financial forces shaping the future of adtech.

Opening & Welcoming Remarks
Time: 9:00 AM – 9:10 AM
A brief introduction to set the stage for the day’s discussions, highlighting key themes and what’s at stake for the industry, along with a few housekeeping items to keep a jam-packed day moving along. Rob and Tom will also highlight what happened on Day 1 at the Founder/Investor pitch at Horizon Media.

Present & Future According to Rishad Tobaccowala
Time: 9:10 AM – 9:20 AM
Rishad Tobaccowala opens the day with sharp insights on where advertising is headed and how leaders should prepare for seismic shifts. Rishad opens Day 2 with a clear-eyed assessment of what has changed, what has not, and what leaders still misunderstand. Rather than prediction, this session focuses on pattern recognition: how work, organizations, media, and leadership are being reshaped, and how advertising executives should respond.

The Venture Capital Lens: Building in the Agentic Era
Time: 9:20 AM – 9:50 AM
Fireside Interview with Leading VCs. This chapter sets the early-stage “origin story” of tomorrow’s advertising ecosystem. Where is private capital flowing in the agentic era? What are founder behaviors in the new high-stakes environment? What categories are overbuilt vs. under-invested? How is AI changing the cost structure and use of funds between development vs. sales/marketing success? The discussion also tackles a provocative question raised last year: what does the future of “the website” actually look like?

The Attention Economy
Time: 9:50 AM – 10:15 AM
In our inaugural Advertising Economic Forum in 2024, we had an amazing 1-on-1 to get inside the mind of Joe Marchese. Joe is returning to the stage this year to talk about the attention economy and his new book on that very subject. Attention is the scarce resource that connects media, creative, pricing, and outcomes, yet it remains inconsistently defined and measured. This session examines how attention is evolving from a conceptual framework into an economic input, how it reshapes planning and buying decisions, and what it means for valuation across channels.

The Venture Capital and Limited Partners
Time: 10:15 AM – 10:45 AM
This is the conversation behind the checkbook. Before products scale, before platforms consolidate, and before public markets assign multiples, capital makes a choice. This session examines the earliest and most consequential decision in the advertising economy: where venture capital, and the limited partners behind it, choose to place long-term bets. Unlike founder-centric conversations, this chapter pulls the curtain back on the capital stack itself, revealing how GPs and LPs evaluate risk, conviction, time horizons, and structural change in an era where AI and agentic systems are redefining how media and creative work gets done.

Morning Networking Break: Refuel, Converse, and Charge Up
Time: 10:45AM – 11:20 AM
We got off to a great start. We are on the path to enlightenment. That’s our economic unit of production at the Advertising Economic Forum. Now it’s time to connect, collaborate, and caffeinate. Grab a treat, and engage in high-value conversations. 

Moving Up the Investor Continuum: Private Equity
Time: 11:20 AM – 11:50 AM
As advertising companies across the supply chain evolve and mature, private equity becomes a critical part of the capital continuum. This session examines how PE investors evaluate management teams, operational leverage, margin expansion, and exit optionality. Founders and executives will gain clarity on what makes a company “PE-ready.”

Public Market, 7 Companies Up or Down? Winning or Losing in 2026?
Time: 11:50 AM – 12:25 PM
5 minutes on 7 public companies + Q&A assessing seven public companies shaping the advertising ecosystem. Each company receives a focused, time-boxed analysis covering business model resilience, moat (if any), competitive positioning, capital allocation, and exposure to structural change. The goal is not prediction; it’s about disciplined comparison.

Agentic Commerce: What Will and Won’t Be?
Time: 12:25 PM – 12:55 PM
1-to-1 Keynote interview with Michael Komasinski, CEO of Criteo.

LUNCH BREAK
Time: 12:55 PM – 1:55 PM
A full-service, seated lunch designed for uninterrupted conversation and relationship-building. Following lunch, enjoy espresso and the very best French chocolates, a small detail that reflects the forum’s commitment to quality at every level.

Coffee/Chocolates
Time: 1:55 PM – 2:10 PM
Espresso, Coffee, and Chocolates Sponsored by Index Exchange.

M&A: The Corporate Development Perspective
Time: 2:10 PM – 2:40 PM
This session goes inside how corporate development teams evaluate acquisitions, from strategic fit and valuation to integration risk and long-term optionality. Whether you’re building, buying, or advising, this is a clear view into how real M&A decisions get made.

Media Money Flows: Where Money Goes Today, Where it is Heading From and to This Year and Next Year.
Time: 2:40 PM – 3:15 PM
This session synthesizes everything discussed so far into one essential question: where does advertising money actually flow today, and how is that changing? Using a cross-market lens, we examine shifts between channels, platforms, and business models, and what those flows signal about winners, losers, and emerging constraints.

Afternoon Networking Break: Refuel, Converse, and Charge Up
Time: 3:15 PM – 3:35 PM
Stretch your legs, get a refreshment, reconnect, and prepare for the final chapters of the day.

Financing Working Capital Along a Very Long Value Chain in Waiting
Time: 3:35 PM – 4:00 PM
Advertising operates across a long, capital-intensive value chain with inherent timing mismatches. This session explores how working capital is financed, where stress accumulates, and why payment terms, credit, and liquidity are becoming strategic issues, not back-office details.

Back to Where it All Begins with Founders, Venture Capital, and Outsourced Innovation. The Winners From Day 1 Go Deeper with Eric Franchi
Time: 4:00 PM – 4:25 PM
This session revisits Day 1, where eight founders presented bold theses across agentic commerce, creative, and agency models to a panel of investors, competing for the AdEF Charging Bull. Each pitch opened with a two-page “Jeff Bezos–style” memo, followed by live debate and investor evaluation, with the audience voting on the most compelling ideas. Venture investor Eric Franchi interviews the first-, second-, and third-place founders to explore why their theses resonated and how outsourced innovation is reshaping the future of advertising and commerce.

Keynote Wrap-Up: Reflections from Rishad’s Leather-Bound Book of Wisdom
Time: 4:25 PM – 4:45 PM
That’s a wrap. After a day full of eye-opening content, smart conversations, new connections, and green shoots of fruitful collaboration, you have gained nirvana-like enlightenment. You’ve heard diverse points of view, debates, and deep dives into adtech economics, finance, and money flow. Rishad Tobaccowala will return to the stage — not to predict the future, but to distill the present. Expect sharp insights, a touch of wit, and a final dose of clarity before we head into the evening’s networking mixer.

Closing Remarks & The AdTech Charging Bull Award
Time: 4:45 PM – 4:55 PM
A final thank you to our speakers and attendees, plus the Charging Bull Award for the influencer who made the biggest impact.

AdTech Economic Forum Cocktail Mixer: High Spirits & High Standards
Time: 4:55 PM – 6:30 PM
Raise a glass and celebrate an incredible day with premium cocktails, wine, craft beer, and gourmet snacks. Deals aren’t just made in the boardroom—they’re sealed at the bar.