Daniel Ek is a great example of a successful millennial entrepreneur. Daniel is well known as the founder of Spotify. While growing up in Switzerland, Daniel always had a knack for technology and music. During his late teenage years, Daniel started to create websites for local businesses. Later, Daniel enrolled at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology to study engineering, only to drop out after the first few weeks to pursue other endeavors. After dropping out, Daniel founded an online marketing firm, Advertigo. After years of success, Daniel sold Advertigo to a fellow Swedish company called Tradedoubler. After his success with Advertigo, Daniel worked with a former employee, Martin Lorenzton, to develop Spotify. Spotify is a unique music application that offers patrons the legal opportunity to stream a variety of music free of charge in exchange for viewing video or audio advertisements or the option to pay a nominal $5.00 monthly fee to opt out of advertisements. Daniel’s innovation turned the music industry completely upside down. He was able to offer a low-cost alternative, which ultimately allowed Spotify’s profits to soar past its competitors. Today, Daniel’s net worth has surpassed $1.5 billion and Spotify’s value is estimated at $8 billion. Daniel’s innovation and entrepreneurial spirit is inspiring. By combining his passions for technology and music, Daniel was able to create one of the most successful streaming services in the music industry.
I like how even after he was able to create and sell one successful business he was still motivated to do more. This motivation eventually paid off in spotify, which is very cool.
Thank goodness for this guy because I love spotify. It is so cool how he took two things that he had a passion for and he pursued them together. He didn’t try to compromise his interests and passions, but rather pursued what he loved.
Impressive that Ek was able to look past what companies such as Pandora did in order to be successful and override Pandora in such a relatively short window.
I personally love Spotify and love how it took the idea of a free internet radio from Pandora and expanded on it and allowed people to create their own playlists. This service has eliminated a need for me to use the ITunes store.