Sep 18, 2015 · 29m · 20vc
FF 013: 'Make Bets And Believe In What You Are Doing' with James Borow @ Shift & Brand Networks
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this Founders Friday episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews James Borow, Chief Product Officer at Brand Networks and former co-founder/CEO of Shift. Borow shares key lessons on managing startup risk, scaling enterprise ad-tech platforms, raising venture capital, and navigating a $50 million acquisition.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 24.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Harry as informed peer 1.9 Guest teaching 3.1 Guest disagreement 0.8 Harry pushing back 1.0
speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:44 Rejection of big tech slowness premise
James directly disagrees with Harry's suggestion that major social platforms were slow and bureaucratic, stating that they move remarkably fast.
Hardest push from Harry ▶ 11:44 Probing platform corporate cultureHarry pushes on whether working with tech giants like Facebook and Twitter meant dealing with slow, corporate decision-making.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:32 History of pre-native social ad technologyJames explains how social advertising functioned in the early days by placing ads inside third-party Facebook applications before Facebook built native ad infrastructure.
Harry holds his own ▶ 5:57 Catching the technical co-founder caveatHarry sharpens James's claim that starting a company is easy by calling out the unspoken requirement of needing technical skills or technical friends.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Harry as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Harry pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome James Borow and His Entrepreneurial Origins | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Harry introduces James and asks about his background. James details his transition from pre-law to tech after receiving a multi-year deferment from law school. | |
| The Value of Safety Nets for Startup Founders | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Harry asks whether safety nets help entrepreneurs and jokes about technical co-founders being a fine print disclaimer. James explains his early Facebook integration project, Girls Guide To. | |
| Securing the First Clients for Shift | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | Harry inquires about landing the first enterprise clients. James educates on how social ad tech operated inside Facebook apps before native Facebook ads existed. | |
| Partnering with Social Media Tech Platforms | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Harry asks if major tech platforms were slow and bureaucratic to work with. James directly rejects this framing, explaining that social platform teams actually move very fast. | |
| Mentorship, Advisory Roles, and Generous Equity | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Harry presses on what James means by not being short-sighted with equity. James explains giving advisors skin in the game and shares fundraising insights. | |
| The Acquisition of Shift by Brand Networks | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Harry asks if James experienced internal conflict selling Shift for $50 million. James explains the complementary nature of paid and organic social marketing platforms. | |
| Transitioning from CEO to CPO and Executive Hiring | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | Harry asks how CEOs can stay focused amid routine management tasks. James highlights the importance of hiring strong leaders like a CFO early on. | |
| Quick Fire Round with James Borow | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Harry conducts a quick fire round covering favorite blogs, books, apps, and handling tough company moments with complete transparency. |
Statements from this episode (13)
Borow: Five years of law school deferments enabled my startup risks
“She ended up giving me five years of deferments which basically meant that I could do you know, take the entrepreneurial track but really kind of have a lot more appetite for risk than most people, because The reality was that I had law school waiting for me.”
Founders should test business ideas before quitting their day jobs
“I think in general, I think, you know, like anything, you just really don't know what sort of these businesses really are until you start doing them. So I think just sort of cutting the cord immediately is really, really tough.”
Girls Guide To was the first website to integrate Facebook Connect
“It was it was actually the first Facebook connect website Pretty much ever.”
Shift built ad tech for Facebook apps before direct ads existed
“So what we were doing is we built ad technology to go inside Facebook applications So when you're playing games on Facebook, we were actually serving ads there because you couldn't programmatically serve ads directly on Facebook yet.”
Trying to learn without advisors wastes years of founder time
“There's absolutely no reason to reinvent the wheel on a lot of this stuff, and, you know, everyone's smart, you know, in terms of their own ability to learn these things, but you're gonna waste a couple years trying to learn it, and so, you know, I would not b…”
Owning 100% of a startup without key talent yields nothing
“I've seen other people who end up having a hundred percent of a company, but you know, don't really surround themselves with bright people and a hundred percent of nothing isn't really worth the bus at all.”
Fundraising teaches founders more about their business than anything else
“You never learn more about your business than going out and try to raise money.”
Silicon Valley bias against LA startups is now a non-issue
“Fast forward to today, I think that's a non-issue with people like, you know, Mark Suster and Upfront Ventures and Snapchat in LA.”
TechCrunch funding announcements have almost zero impact on startup success
“It's fun to get the tech crunch article, but in a lot of ways it doesn't really matter. It's like cool to show your friends at home, but it almost has no impact on your business.”
Startup CEOs spend 95% of their time on administrative tasks
“When you're running a company, you basically spend about five percent of your time actually focusing on the things that you would deem important, and about 95% of the time working on things like, Fundraising and HR and hiring and all the things that, you know,…”
Startups should invest early in hiring a dedicated CFO
“You know, I think that's a hire that people often put off, because they may know someone who kind of understands finance. You know, I would invest early on that side.”
Product-focused startup CEOs must still hire a head of product
“If you're a product-focused CEO, still hire a head of product.”
Founders must maintain full team transparency during hard times
“You definitely tell them you know, transparency is the key. I just, you know, and the reality is, is that, especially for these types of companies, you want people to know, it's like Headed into a storm. You want everyone to know what they're facing so they ca…”