Privacy, Ad Tech, and AI: Julia Shullman, GC and Chief Privacy Officer, Telly
In this episode
Transcript
Introduction: 0:18
- Introducing Julia Shullman, GC and Chief Privacy Officer at Telly.
Blending hardware, software, and privacy at Telly: 1:00
- Creating the first-ever free-ad-supported device.
- Entering the market with an emphasis on data transparency.
- Pulling back on data use access and sharing.
- Looking to European privacy regulations to see what is on the horizon for the US.
Finding your way from M&A to privacy law: 4:16
- Pivoting from your early ambition to be a tax lawyer.
- Being drawn in by the complexity of M&A work.
- Parlaying your experience at a major firm into your first in-house role.
- Familiarizing yourself with ad server deals.
Transitioning into ad tech at AppNexus: 6:37
- Defining advertising technology.
- Searching for the right privacy counsel candidate.
- Stepping into a chief privacy counsel role alongside the biggest names in the industry.
Identifying the necessary attitude to be successful in privacy: 10:42
- The value of admitting what you don’t know.
- How to be a good supporting partner to teams across the business.
- Learning to find comfort in uncertainty.
Overseeing the transformation from AppNexus to Xandr at AT&T: 13:40
- Bringing ad tech infrastructure to power AT&T’s innovative product.
- Educating colleagues about the strategy connecting ad tech and privacy.
Taking on a GC role at TripleLift: 15:45
- Coming in during a growth phase to help founders plan their exit.
- Finding your place in small and dynamic companies.
- Building a legal team of soon-to-be GCs.
- Advising the sale to private equity during the pandemic over Zoom.
Building trust with executive team and partners at Vista Equity Partners: 22:07
- Aligning a management team during the most stressful days of the pandemic.
- Seeing the goal of private equity as finding growth opportunities, not cutting costs.
Stepping away to found a privacy and policy consulting firm: 25:57
- The difficulty of functioning as outside counsel.
- Recognizing that privacy is greatly misunderstood by many companies.
- Expanding beyond ad tech to retail media and AI.
- Tackling all aspects of a business as a founder, beyond legal and privacy.
- Preferring detailed corporate work to the distance of advisement.
Advice to lawyers searching for their next GC role: 32:12
- Emphasizing the importance of nurturing your professional network.
Considering the future of the chief privacy officer role: 33:24
- Observing an increase in business people taking over the field.
- Acknowledging the value of knowledge and experience in a complex specialization.
- Finding excitement in companies that are making privacy fundamental to their product.
Speculating on the future of privacy and AI: 36:17
- Solving AI’s issue with privacy (or privacy’s issues with AI).
- Thinking in frameworks like a privacy specialist.
- Ad tech’s unique perspective on bias and harm issues.
- Being willing to admit what you don’t understand and search for people who do.
Book recommendations: 41:34