OCtObER 2018 BCBusiness 45
e n T r e P r e n e u r o F T H e Y e A r 2 0 1 8 / T E C H N O L O G Y
Shahrzad Rafati has long been
taking big risks to chase her
even bigger ambitions. The
chief executive of Vancouver-
based BroadbandTV
(BBTV)
was born and raised in Iran,
but she wanted better oppor-
tunities for herself after high
school. So she emigrated at
age 17 to study computer sci-
ence at
UBC, despite having no
family in the city and speaking
little English.
Rafati graduated with her
degree in 2005, the year
YouTube †rst appeared
online. She saw that digital
video was about to revolution-
ize the media landscape, so
she started her company to
seize the emerging opportu-
nities. "I wanted
BBTV to be
a pioneer in advancing and
rede†ning entertainment as
we know it," she says.
Rafati discovered a big new
problem to solve: fans were
making and uploading videos
that contained unlicensed,
copyrighted content. She
found an ingenious way to
bridge these content cre-
ators and IP holders, help-
ing everyone to bene†t. Her
company's search algorithm
pores through YouTube videos
to †nd potential copyright
violators. It links the uploader
with the rights holder, †nds
advertising for the content
and divides the revenue
between them.
The digital media industry
continues to remake itself
and everything it touches.
Global digital ad spending
surpassed TV advertising for
the †rst time in 2017. Likewise,
BBTV continues to evolve and
expand its reach, helping to
drive the industry's transfor-
mation. The company keeps
adding new tools and services
to help content creators source
music and video footage, grow
their audiences, manage social
media channels, increase
their revenue and optimize
distribution. It has partnered
with a growing roster of large
entertainment companies,
including the FremantleMedia
Group, the National Basketball
Association and Sony Pictures
Entertainment.
BBTV attracts more than
34 billion viewers per month
and is the third-largest video
property in the world in terms
of unique viewers, trailing
only Google and Facebook,
according to U.S. marketing
analytics company comScore.
Rafati is quick to point out that
BBTV operates on a quadruple
bottom line. "We don't just
measure success based on
†nancial performance," she
says. "We also measure suc-
cess based on employee and
culture
KPIs, environmental
KPIs and social KPIs." As of
April this year,
BBTV erased
its gender pay gap. Forty-six
percent of its managers and
43 percent of its employees are
female. —D.H.
W I N N E R
Shahrzad
Rafati
F O u N D E R a N D C E O ,
B R O a D B a N D T v
C O R p .
bCbusinEss.Ca
How would you
describe your
leadership style?
My personal style is to be
firm but fair, and I always
encourage my team to
go after large pools of
opportunities. Because
at the end of the day,
I don't believe in solving
small problems
