Privacy, Ad Tech, and AI: Julia Shullman, GC and Chief Privacy Officer, Telly

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