Seth Goldstein

Seth Goldstein's career defies conventional categorization. Over three decades, he has founded companies in interactive advertising, financial research, social music, and digital art—domains that appear disparate but share a unifying thesis: technology's highest purpose is enabling human creativity and connection.

This biographical study argues that Goldstein's pattern recognition—his ability to identify platform shifts before mainstream adoption—stems from an unusual synthesis of artistic training and entrepreneurial instinct. Where technologists often optimize for efficiency and artists for expression, Goldstein has consistently sought the intersection: technologies that make new forms of human experience possible.

When the World Wide Web emerged as a commercial medium in 1994–1995, Goldstein recognized its transformative potential with characteristic speed. In August 1995, at age twenty-five, he founded SiteSpecific from his apartment in New York City—one of the first interactive marketing agencies in the country.

"It was really the glory years of the internet before it became overrun by MBAs and bankers and all sorts of mercenaries and opportunists. It was naïve and wonderful and it really felt like we were doing something original."

SiteSpecific created innovative campaigns for Duracell, Microsoft, and AT&T, pioneering techniques that would become standard in digital marketing. The Duracell corporate site won a Clio Award. Within eighteen months, SiteSpecific grew to over $3 million in annual revenue. The company became the subject of Harvard Business School's first case study on internet marketing.

In May 1997, CKS Group acquired SiteSpecific for approximately $6.5–12 million.

The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the emergence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a significant cultural phenomenon. Goldstein began experimenting with digital art, creating AI-generated videos from photographs. When he minted his first NFT:

"I woke up the next morning and realized that my NFT had been sold while I was asleep, and that there was ETH in my wallet. This was a breakthrough moment for me, as it dawned on me how significant this file format could be as a creative unlock. This moment reminded me of what I felt with the dawn of the Web in the summer of 1995."

In 2021, Goldstein founded Bright Moments with Phil Mohun, beginning with a small gallery space beneath the Venice Beach sign. The venture pioneered "live minting"—in-person events where artists and collectors witness the generation of algorithmic art together in real time.

Under Goldstein's leadership, Bright Moments expanded to nine cities: Venice Beach, New York City, Berlin, London, Mexico City, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Paris, and Venice, Italy. The journey concluded in April 2024 with "The Finale" at the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice.

"I know I'm not going to do something like this again in my lifetime. We accomplished something that goes beyond money or status—we said we were going to go to ten cities and we finished what we said we'd finish."

Across his ventures, Goldstein has articulated a consistent methodology:

1. Enter early — Engage with emerging platforms 3–5 years before mainstream adoption.

2. Prioritize experience — Technology should enable new forms of human experience, not optimize existing ones.

3. Build community — The community created around a platform is more valuable than the product itself.

4. Think long-term — "You can't sprint through a marathon."

5. Embrace adaptability — Pivot when necessary while maintaining focus on long-term vision.