• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 18, 2011

AudienceScience President Jeff Hirsch will step down Sept. 30 to "pursue smaller entrepreneurial interests" by helping to grow startups. CEO Jeff Pullen will continue to handle all daily responsibilities.

With plans to remain in technology supporting advertisers, Hirsch will look for niches across the ad industry to help grow. "I love taking a company that's a bit smaller and having the ability to be creative and free to make things happen," Hirsch told MediaPost. "It's a good time for me to follow that entrepreneurial passion."

Hirsch acknowledges -- yet likes -- the risk in taking small companies and expanding on the model. He co-founded Fastclick and became one of the early employees at ValueClick, along with a few software and advertising companies in the pre-Internet days.

While Hirsch declined to reveal his next move, he did admit the industry lacks expertise in engaging with consumers. There's a lot of room for developing ways to "have a deeper engagement" with consumers that influence purchases, choices, and preferences in a "respectable way."

Hirsch will remain on the board at AudienceScience. With more than 200 employees in offices across eight countries, the company supports clients such as American Airlines, Financial Times, Gannett, New York Times Digital, Nikkei.com, T-Com, and Orange in 25 countries.

AudienceScience, formerly known as Revenue Science, offers a behavioral targeting platform and marketplace for the digital media industry. The company grew by providing audience data for online ad targeting.