Freebean's founder built a brand-on-can ad network serving free coffee — 100K cans distributed, storefront now open in NYC

Adam Korsunsky founded Freebean while finishing his senior year at the University of Michigan and has never held a full-time job. The company's model is simple: brands pay to have their logo printed on canned cold brew, which Freebean distributes for free to consumers at conferences, college campuses, corporate accelerators, and through gifting programs.

Freebean has now distributed 100,000 cans across channels including Entrepreneurs First, Antler, and Techstars partnerships. Ramp is a named customer, using the cans primarily for corporate gifting.

“Freebean is a targeted, trackable, and tangible out of home advertising medium built on free coffee... We just crossed the 100,000 can mark across a bunch of different channels... Paper was everywhere at their direct competitor's conference — the highest converting booth at the conference without a booth.”

The ad pitch

Korsunsky's core argument is that physical, consumable advertising creates a reciprocity effect that digital and out-of-home formats can't replicate. A billboard delivers nothing to the viewer. A free coffee delivers something worth a few dollars, and the consumer opts in to seeing the brand in exchange. Korsunsky's tagline for advertisers is that it's "an ad you sip, not skip." He cites the statistic that 66% of US adults drink coffee daily, which means any brand's customer base overlaps heavily with the format regardless of industry.

The clearest case study he offers is Paper, which distributed Freebean cans outside Figma's Config conference — a direct competitor's event — without buying booth space. The campaign reportedly went viral on Twitter and was called the highest-converting presence at the conference.

NYC storefront

Freebean opened what Korsunsky describes as the world's first free coffee shop in New York City between Bryant Park and Grand Central. The grand opening was on a Wednesday. Current brand partners at the storefront include Ramp, Novig, Warp, Outset, Peepr, and Bland. Consumers walk in and choose whose can they want — Korsunsky describes it as a "choose your own adventure" for ad-supported coffee. He notes that even in New York, where sentiment toward AI advertising skews negative, foot traffic hasn't pushed back on AI-company sponsors.

On the product side, Freebean is exploring thermochromic ink — similar to the Coors cold-activation indicator — that would display different messaging depending on whether the can is chilled or warming up.