Invest Like the Best: Daniel Ek – The Future of Audio - [Invest Like the Best, EP.147]

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• Innovation comes from a culture of experimentation
  • Without failure, innovation isn’t possible
• Spotify has tons of room left to grow
  • If audio is their sole market, and they’re looking to win it, they still have to grow 10-15x in size
• “We know that discovery is one of the core benefits that we provide to people. If we can get you to discover one new item of content that you absolutely love every single month, we’re pretty sure you’ll remain a user or customer with us for a very long time.” – Daniel Ek
• If your journey as a company isn’t slightly uncomfortable, you’re likely not pushing yourself hard enough
• “I think the last job to be done by a machine is creativity”– Daniel Ek

My guest this week is Daniel Ek, the founder and CEO of Spotify.

In my conversations with Daniel, I’ve found him to be one of the most interesting and thoughtful business leaders in the world. You’ll see what I mean as you listen to our conversation.

We talk about Spotify plenty, but what I so enjoy about Daniel is his way of thinking in systems and frameworks. He is committed to evolution, innovation, and growth for both himself and for Spotify and is on my shortlist of CEOs to emulate.

This was one of my favorite conversations on the podcast, I hope you enjoy it.

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Show Notes

1:21 – (first question) – Management lessons from a Dubai chocolate maker

4:54 – Trends shaping the business landscape today: globalization, automation, and digitation

7:51 – How he thinks about the vertical integration of his business and scale

10:37 – Are companies doing a good job adjusting to the changes in the global business landscape

14:44 – How does Spotify view scale moving forward

17:59 – What trends has he seen among creators as a result of the Spotify platform

20:32 – The community benefit that has been created by the platform

23:47 – Intimacy of audio

25:31 – Creating an environment that continues to spur innovation

29:12 – Star vs constellation business strategy

32:21 – Measuring network health

35:12 – Spotify Originals and what his competition in the video market is doing

39:36 – How podcasts play into the growth strategy

43:04 – How did he solve the problem of competing with free

47:21 – Is their strategy repeatable, going after fractured suppliers

49:02 – Role of the CEO in a startup

51:22 – Others who have taught him great business lessons

53:18 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Daniel

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag