Copyright Los Angeles Times
It’s one of L.A.’s fastest-growing companies. But marketing company Hawke Media was not an overnight success. Founder Erik Huberman overcame obstacles, upheld grit and utilized modern-day technology to expand. However, it didn’t happen overnight – the company’s rise, driven by its artificial intelligence (AI) platform Hawke AI, was nearly a decade in the making “It took us nine years to get that to market,” Huberman said. “Once we did, it unlocked a whole new way to scale.” This long-term vision created a turning point in the marketing agency to evolve into one of the most data-driven growth engines in the industry. AI has recently blown up and has been a vital part of growth within many companies. Prior to AI’s widespread use, Huberman already had his eyes set on how it could develop Hawke Media’s future. Early mentors Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil advised that AI would transform marketing. “They said, ‘This is what’s coming,’ and they were right,” he said. “So I thought, if that’s coming, we need to build something to meet that future.” The company endured trials and tribulations resulting in more than $1 million in failed tech attempts. “Five years in, we had all this data but no working platform,” Huberman said. “If that had been my only business, it would’ve failed.” Despite the challenge, Huberman’s persistence resulted in Hawke Media’s data visualization startup. He launched Hawke AI in 2022, just months before ChatGPT’s viral debut. The timing couldn’t have been better. “We’d been building for eight years,” Huberman says. “Then suddenly, AI was everywhere and we were ready.” Huberman admits that before the company’s breakthrough, they had encountered struggles in their upcoming years of entrepreneurship. “There’s this creamy middle where nothing’s happening: you’re failing, iterating, trying again,” he said. “But that’s where the real work happens.” He believes two things kill most companies: getting underwater financially, and giving up. “If you avoid debt you can’t repay, and you don’t quit, you’ll survive,” said Huberman. That resilience is grounded in balance. “If everything rides on your company’s success, you’ll burn out,” he added. “You need other things like family, hobbies and travel to keep perspective. Hawke media is looking towards more expansion, heading into the new year. Huberman sees AI’s influence being a tool onwards further growth but also warns against overhyping it. “AI is driving the market, but it’s short-term overrated and long-term underrated,” he said. “People think it’s going to change everything overnight. It won’t. It takes years.” He believes AI will play a crucial role in driving smarter marketing strategies but suggests the real transformation lies in how it’s applied, not just that it’s used. “The companies that win,” he says, “will be the ones that build real systems around AI, not just chase the buzz.” For Hawke Media, that means expanding its AI-driven platform while maintaining its core philosophy of being both adaptable and people-centered. Heading into 2026, Huberman envisions a future defined by thoughtful growth where technology empowers creativity and strategy outpaces hype. Being one of the fastest growing companies out of 90,000 agencies, Hawke Media differentiates itself by “delivering results.” “Ninety-nine percent of agencies aren’t very good,” Huberman said. “If you just do what you say you’re going to do, you’re already in the top one percent.” Their formula is simple: be excellent and easy to work with. “Our mission is to be the best at what we do and easy to work with,” he said. “That’s rare in our industry.” Huberman went into this process with a long-term goal in mind and has built the success of Hawke Media through the mindset of doing this “forever.” “Build this so that you want to do it forever,” he concluded. “That mindset drives good decisions. You focus on what lasts, not what sells fastest.”
