My Code | AI Transformation Index

My Code is a high-opportunity, low-durability situation: it sits in a structurally exposed agency intermediary position in multicultural digital media, whe...

My CodeMedia & Entertainment (Advertising Agencies)Falfurrias Capital Partners

Overview

My Code (H Code Media) is the largest multicultural digital media company in the U.S., generating revenue by connecting brands with U.S. Hispanic and broader multicultural audiences through a fee-for-service model spanning creative services, content creation, influencer marketing, programmatic advertising, and first-party data insights.

Executive Summary

My Code is a high-opportunity, low-durability situation: it sits in a structurally exposed agency intermediary position in multicultural digital media, where AI is simultaneously the biggest productivity lever and the biggest existential threat. The business's entire production function is AI-applicable, and a PE sponsor bringing disciplined AI transformation could dramatically compress the labor cost structure and potentially reposition the company from an agency model toward a data and intelligence platform — but the same AI wave enables brands to in-house, platforms to self-serve, and AI-native boutiques to enter with no legacy cost base. The strategic imperative is to use AI to migrate up the value chain toward the proprietary audience data and cultural intelligence layer before the agency model commoditizes entirely.

Durability

How resilient is this business against AI disruption?

FactorValue

Market Substitutability

3

Profit Pool Migration

3

Barrier to Entry

4

Disintermediation Exposure

3

Switching Costs

4
Total34.0
×

Opportunity

How big a deal is AI for this business?

FactorValue

AI Applicability

8

Improvement Magnitude

7

Transformation Upside

6

Domain Intelligence Amplification

5
Total65.0

47.0

Ciridae AI Score

Durability Rationale

My Code's durability is structurally challenged because it operates as an agency intermediary in a space where the barriers to AI-native entry and brand in-housing are low — no regulatory moat, no physical assets, and moderate client switching costs. The profit pool is migrating toward platforms and data owners, and the core agency coordination and creative production layers that drive revenue are exactly what AI disintermediates. The genuine durability kernel — first-party Hispanic audience data and community trust — is real but insufficient to anchor the current business model against structural compression from platforms, AI-native competitors, and brands building internal multicultural capability.

Opportunity Rationale

The AI opportunity for My Code is substantial and largely unrealized: almost the entire production function — content creation, campaign management, analytics, audience targeting, and client reporting — is cognitive and AI-applicable, and the current workforce of ~115 employees across these tasks represents significant compressible labor. The step-change in efficiency is meaningful, and the transformation path — from a labor-intensive agency model to a leaner platform or intelligence product — is plausible. The key limiting factor on the opportunity ceiling is that the domain intelligence being amplified is a mix of genuine cultural expertise and procedural media execution, and the company's small engineering team means it currently lacks internal capacity to capture this value without external catalysis.

Key Risks

Durability could be worse than assessed if major platforms (Meta, Google) accelerate native multicultural audience targeting tools, effectively making My Code's intermediary position redundant faster than the first-party data moat can be strengthened.

Opportunity could be harder to realize than assessed if authentic cultural fluency proves more difficult to replicate with AI than expected — meaning the company can't automate its way to a leaner model without sacrificing the cultural credibility that differentiates it from generic agency competitors.

Company Overview

HeadquartersSanta Monica, California, United States
Products / Services
Creative services, content creation, influencer marketing, publisher distribution, first-party data insights, multicultural digital marketplace and intelligence platform
Deal Partners
Alexander JutkowitzEd McMahanHugh McCollMarc Oken

PE / Ownership History

EventDetails
Ariel Alternatives acquired a majority stake in My Code from Falfurrias Capital Partners
November 2023
Ariel Alternatives' Project Black fund acquired a 58.5% majority stake in My Code from existing shareholders including Falfurrias Capital Partners. Alexander Jutkowitz, Executive in Residence at Falfurrias Capital Partners, is the only named Falfurrias individual linked to the transaction.
Falfurrias Capital Partners invested in H Code Media
August 30, 2021
Falfurrias Capital Partners made a capital investment in H Code Media to help build end-to-end capabilities for publishers and advertisers across existing and new markets. The investment was aimed at scaling H Code's content studio, publisher network, and intelligence center, with a focus on diverse and underrepresented communities. Lisa Sherman, President & CEO of the Ad Council, joined H Code as a Board Member.

Executives

NameBackground
Amani Duncan
CEO
Previously worked at NYSE Board Services as a candidate, Principal Consultant and C-Suite Advisor at Grit & Glory Agency for nearly 3 years, Independent Board Member at Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, among other roles.
Moises Magana
CFO
Previously CFO and Operational Strategy at MEM Enterprise, CSO at Cookies Retail, CFO Treasurer at MedMen, and other roles.
Marchelle J. Wright
Chief People Officer
Former Chief People Officer at Group Black, Senior Vice President Human Resources at ViacomCBS, Vice President Human Resources at CBS Interactive, among others.
Veronica Gilton
CTO
Previously Head of Platform Technologies at Brace (acquired by Stavvy), CTO and VP of Engineering at Evolve Media, LLC, among others.
Edgar Hernandez
Chief Strategy Officer
Founder of Hernandez Media Consulting LLC, Chief Revenue Officer at BuzzFeed and Complex Networks.
Jennifer White
COO
Former Senior Vice President of Business Strategy and Monetization at BuzzFeed. Previously worked at the intersection of adtech, publishing, and branded work.