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I started a new show so I can have long-form conversations with the greatest living founders. You can watch on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, X, or the web. The new show is on a separate feed so don't forget to follow David Senra so you don't miss future episodes. Nothing is changing with Founders. I will never stop making that podcast. Thanks for the support!
I’m excited to share episode one of a new podcast that I’ve helped create and produce. This new podcast is called David Senra, and it’s hosted by David Senra. For those of you not familiar with David Senra, he is an expert in all things related to greatness. He studies greatness and understands it, mostly in the domain of business but also among creatives, athletes and other world-class performers. This first episode of the podcast is with Daniel Ek, the co-founder and CEO of Spotify. It's an absolutely spectacular conversation that I'm certain you'll enjoy. With episode one of David Senra now available, please be sure to subscribe wherever you’re listening so you don't miss future episodes. You can also subscribe to the podcast on the platforms below. Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3WaK1S6 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@davidsenra X: https://x.com/davidsenra Chapters (0:00) Introduction from Dr. Andrew Huberman (1:13) Reflecting on a Life-Changing Conversation (2:30) Optimizing for Impact Over Happiness (5:21) The Journey of Self-Motivation (10:11) The Importance of Trust and Relationships (15:37) The Role of Criticism and Self-Reflection (17:37) The Evolution of an Entrepreneur (23:27) Building a Company True to Yourself (34:56) The Power of Trust in Business (42:25) Intellectual Humility and Learning from Others (42:49) Shadowing Leaders for Growth (45:01) Learning from Mark Zuckerberg (48:15) Balancing Personal Taste and Metrics in Product Decisions (53:35) The Evolution of Leadership at Spotify (59:13) Building a Company That Outlasts the Founder (1:15:25) Managing Energy Over Time (1:25:31) The Never-Ending Game of Life (1:25:54) Lessons from Henry Ford (1:27:08) The Value of Solving Problems (1:31:42) The Importance of Quality (1:37:20) The Power of Focus and Patience (1:54:32) Balancing Work and Life (2:00:25) The Journey of Self-Discovery (2:08:43) Final Reflections and Gratitude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ryan welcomes Pia Nilsson, GM for Backstage and head of developer experience at Spotify, to discuss the evolution and adoption of Backstage, the impact of AI on dev experience, and how Spotify approaches platform engineering and standardization to help teams solve for specific needs. Episode notes: Backstage is an open-source IDP by Spotify that reduces everyday friction, cognitive overhead, and operational toil for developers. We previously talked to the Backstage team in 2022. Poor Ryan. If only he had Backstage at his last job. You know what makes Backstage even better? Our Stack Overflow for Teams integration. Connect with Pia on LinkedIn. Markus Pscheidt gets today’s shoutout for winning the Populist badge with their answer to Dynamic tag values for the Counter metric in Micrometer. TRANSCRIPT See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
My guest today is Gustav Söderström. Gustav is the Co-President, Chief Product Officer & Chief Technology Officer at Spotify. Gustav lets us behind the scenes on how Spotify thinks about the future of audio and video, and what leadership lessons he's learned from making mistakes and taking risks in a rapidly changing technological landscape. He shares fascinating insights on their synchronized team structure and how they have positioned themselves as "the R&D department" for the entire music industry. We discuss their integration of AI, their unique "bets board" process for allocating resources, and how they've evolved from a music service into a multimedia platform with over 650 million users. Please enjoy my conversation with Gustav Söderström. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:27) Spotify's Journey Through Technological Shifts (00:06:28) The Impact of Generative AI on Consumer Products (00:09:36) AI in Coding and Productivity (00:11:11) Consumer Engagement and AI Playlisting (00:14:43) Strategic Frameworks and Decision-Making at Spotify (00:19:39) The Bets Process: Structured Innovation (00:31:11) The Future of AI and Business Models (00:44:31) The Future of AI and Inference Costs (00:46:21) The Concept of Computronium and Infinite Computing (00:47:02) David Deutsch and the Beginning of Infinity (00:48:55) The Power of Explanations and Human Understanding (00:54:03) Spotify's Free Tier and Consumer Needs (00:56:45) Spotify's Relationship with the Music Industry (01:03:03) The Rise of Podcasting and Audiobooks (01:15:45) Personal Interests and Continuous Learning (01:20:32) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Gustav
On this Screaming in the Cloud Replay, Corey is joined by Emma Bostian, an Engineering Manager at Spotify in Stockholm. Emma is also an author, co-host of the Ladybug Podcast, and has a strong following on social media. She goes into the details on her podcast and the varied nature of her and her co-hosts, she also discusses her book Decoding the Technical Interview Process, in which she breaks down the seemingly esoteric nature of interviewing for these highly technical jobs—but her focus is on the frontend. She and Corey discuss the general banality of these interviews and the direction they can, and should, go in to improve. Emma also loves to teach, to add even more to her portfolio! She goes into the five w’s of her work with LinkedIn Learning and Frontend Masters. Emma also has some excellent insights into her sizable Twitter presence. Tune in for Emma’s variegated offerings! Show Highlights (0:00) Intro (0:58) The Duckbill Group sponsor read (1:31) Hosting the Ladybug Podcast and teaching online courses (3:13) Why Emma wrote Decoding the Technical Interview Process (7:01) Corey’s qualms with how people interview in tech (12:03) Why Corey appreciates Emma's guidance on how to interview (14:50) Bizarre hiring practices that some interviewers use (18:20) Passion, work/life balance, and seeking out new employees (19:41) Turning side projects into revenue streams (22:23) Seeking out sponsors instead of monetizing your audience (26:06) The Duckbill Group sponsor read (26:49) Balancing customer service with piracy (29:35) Letting your online following become your resume (36:01) Where you can find more from Emma About Emma Bostian Emma Bostian is an Engineering Manager at Spotify in Stockholm. She is also a co-host of the Ladybug Podcast, author of Decoding The Technical Interview Process, and an instructor at LinkedIn Learning and Frontend Masters. Links Ladybug Podcast: https://www.ladybug.dev LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/emma-bostian Frontend Masters: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/emma-bostian/ Decoding the Technical Interview Process: https://technicalinterviews.dev Emma's Twitter: https://twitter.com/emmabostian Original Episode https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/changing-the-way-we-interview-with-emma-bostian/ Sponsor The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com
Gustav Söderström is Spotify's co-president, chief technology officer, and chief product officer. He joins Big Technology Podcast — as we debut video episodes on Spotify — for discussion of Spotify's approach to AI generated content, algorithmic recommendations, and more. Tune in for a deep conversation covering whether Spotify wants AI-generated music and podcasts on its platform, how it can lean on AI recommendations to enhance discovery while sustaining human choice, and its long term AI vision. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss Spotify's plans for podcasts, audiobooks, and other new formats. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/ Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack? Here’s 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Here it is: the complete video of the most unbelievable night of Acquired’s nine-year life… our sold out live show at the Chase Center in San Francisco. We joked during the months (months!) of preparation leading up to this event that it was like planning a wedding for 6,000 Acquired fans, and the guest list included Jamie Dimon, Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg… no pressure! But thanks to our amazing partnership with J.P. Morgan Payments, together we were able to make something incredible. Tune in and enjoy the celebration! Sponsors: Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25 Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry WorkOS: https://acquired.fm/unpluggedPlaying Cards: https://bit.ly/workOSshop (Code: ACQDECK) Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26 Links: Mike Taylor, the truly incomparable performer of Who Got the Truth? Mike Amiri (who designed Mark’s shirt) More Acquired! Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscribe to ACQ2 Merch Store! © Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Jeff Sainlar / Meta © Copyright 2024 ACQ, LLC Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Guests are Avin Regmi and David Xia from Spotify. We spoke to Avin and David about their work building Spotify's Machine Learning Platform, Hendrix. They also specifically talk about how they use Ray to enable inference and batch workloads. Ray was featured on episode 235 of our show, so make sure you check out that episode too. Do you have something cool to share? Some questions? Let us know: - web: kubernetespodcast.com - mail: kubernetespodcast@google.com - twitter: @kubernetespod News of the week IBM acquired Kubecost KubeCon Japan in 2025 Call for Proposals for KubeCon EU 2025 is now open Artifact Hub is a CNCF incubating project OpenMetrics is dead, long live OpenMetrics Kubecolor 0.4.0 Links from the interview Avin Regmi David Xia Hendrix ML Platform Ray on Kubernetes KubeRay Workbench instances Backstage PyTorch Ray Summit 2024 Kueue
In this episode, Santi and Jason sit down with Omar and Nick from SecondLane and Evgeny from Wintermute to dive deep into the underbelly of crypto token markets. They explore the lifecycle of a token from seed rounds to secondary markets to public trading, discussing the critical role of market makers, the impact of token unlocks, and the evolving sophistication of crypto funds. The group also examines the current state of the market, retail and institutional dynamics, and the importance of treasury management and team communication for token projects. - - Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Omar: https://x.com/omar_shakeeb Follow Evgeny: https://x.com/EvgenyGaevoy Follow Nick: https://x.com/mBTCPiz Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. Get started at: portal.arbitrum.io - - This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more. For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription. Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial. - - SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption. Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork - - Timestamps: (00:00) How Tokens Trade (05:16) Role of Market Makers (09:23) What's Wrong with Tokens? (18:59) Importance of Token Unlocks (22:51) Token Auctions (31:58) Picking a Market Maker (36:05) Aura Ad (36:40) Skale Ad (38:11) Where are we this cycle? (58:50) Crypto Fund Sophistication - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
Mariposa is a toy programming language that has time travel as a primary feature. Bugs are a thing of the past (literally)! Miss having a physical keyboard when thumb-typing on your phone? Well, you’re in luck. Over at CES, LG Electronics wants your devices to have “affectionate intelligence.” Whatever it takes to make AI more human-centric and empathetic. Omar used to work on the Backstage project at Spotify, so we quoted him in our article on it. Now he works on personalization, including Discover Weekly, which drops a new mixtape on you every Monday like a hipster with a crush. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Gustav Söderström is the Co-President, CPO & CTO at Spotify. Gustav has been instrumental in taking Spotify from a 30-person operation in Sweden when he joined to being the global leader of the space. Scott Belsky is Adobe's Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President, Creative Cloud. Scott oversees all of product and engineering for Creative Cloud, as well as design for Adobe. Tomer Cohen is the Chief Product Officer @ Linkedin where he is responsible for setting and executing the global product strategy at LinkedIn. In Today's Episode on How AI Changes The Future of Product and Design We Discuss: 1. Why AI Is Now the Product that UI Serves: Why does Gustav believe that AI is now the product? How has the importance of UI changed with the rise of AI? How did TikTok change the product paradigm over the last few years? 2. What Matters More Models or Data: What is more important the size of the model or the amount of data a company has? Will companies use many models at the same time? Why will companies using many models at once create a huge opportunity for startups? Will every company have their own model? What will be the decision-making framework of whether to have your own model or leverage another? How does the rise of AI change how companies approach data acquisition, collection and cleaning? 3. The Workforce Needs to Change with AI: How do product leaders and teams need to change in an AI-first world? What do designers need to do to stay up to date in an AI-first world? What does it mean to be good at prompting? How can people get good at prompting? Why will AI kill companies that charge by the hour? Why will seat pricing die in a world of AI? What will be the business model for AI? 4. Incumbents vs Startups: Who Wins: Do incumbents win in a world of AI or do startups? Why is AI primed for incumbents to win and move fast in a way they could not in prior technology cycles? What are the biggest hurdles and challenges incumbents have to face that startups do not? What are the biggest barriers that startups have to win in a world of AI that incumbents do not have?
Today on the flagship podcast of machine learning-based recommendation systems: 03:31 - The Verge’s David Pierce chats with Spotify’s co-president and chief product officer Gustav Söderström about recommendations, audiobooks, app design, what Spotify wants to be, and whether it’s possible to do it all well. Spotify - The Verge 44:08 - Alex Cranz joins the show to discuss a bunch of recent streaming news, including the plan to combine Disney Plus and Hulu. Streaming - The Verge 1:10:28 - Chris Welch joins the show to help answer this week’s Vergecast Hotline question about mp3 players. The Mighty — an iPod shuffle for Spotify — finally arrives for $85 bemighty.com Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brought to you by Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Wix Studio—The web creation platform built for agencies | LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business — Maya Prohovnik is currently Spotify’s Head of Podcast Product. She was employee #1 at Anchor, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019 and now powers more than 80% of all new podcasts created in the world. In 2023, Maya was named one of the Most Important People in Podcasting by The Hollywood Reporter. In today’s episode, we discuss:• How Maya operationalizes “dogfooding”• How to balance data-driven decision-making and intuition• Strategies for preserving startup culture in a large organization• Tactical tips to improve at public speaking• How Radical Candor and the Eisenhower matrix transformed her approach to managing people• What’s next at Spotify for Podcasters — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-anchor-selling-to-spotify — Where to find Maya Prohovnik: • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mayafish • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayaprohovnik/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Maya’s background (04:34) Spotify’s podcasting platform (06:24) Maya’s personal podcasts (11:36) The importance of “dogfooding” (13:24) How Maya operationalizes dogfooding (16:31) How to balance data-driven decision-making and trusting your gut (21:38) Building Anchor 2.0 (26:24) The beginning of Anchor’s hockey stick growth (28:08) How Anchor utilized interns to make the Apple Podcasts integration “magical” (35:36) Anchor and Spotify’s successful integration (37:50) Maintaining a startup culture within a large organization (39:20) Transitioning from a startup to a large company (42:02) Challenges brought on by the acquisition (48:49) How Maya’s leadership approach is guided by Radical Candor (51:53) The Eisenhower matrix for prioritization and task management (52:46) Productivity tips (55:10) How to get better at public speaking (59:38) The future of Spotify for Podcasters (1:00:58) Lightning round — Referenced: • What is “Dogfooding”?: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/business/dogfooding.html • The Derry Connection: A Stephen King Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ixSiYlj3A9NqEXZDBgycf • Blood on Their Hands: A Big Brother Fancast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VP16lTL8sUniQXCFeBInv • Time Share: A Children of Time Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/38yhl2lNOUajccfsdluh5j • The End of the World as We Know It: A First-Time Parenting Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TUr0LxcueYo2nvnyR5rML • Forgotify (stream Spotify songs that have never been played): https://forgotify.com/ • Michael Mignano on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mignano/ • Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music | Gustav Söderström (Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-from-scaling-spotify-the-science-of-product-taking-risky-bets-and-how-ai-is-already-impacting-the-future-of-music-gustav-soderstrom-co-president-cpo-and-cto-at-spotify/ • Radical Candor: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375 • What is the Eisenhower matrix?: https://www.figma.com/resource-library/what-is-the-eisenhower-matrix/ • Todoist: https://todoist.com/ • Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/ • Spotify for Podcasters: https://podcasters.spotify.com/ • Children of Time: https://www.amazon.com/Children-Time-Adrian-Tchaikovsky/dp/0316452505 • It: https://www.amazon.com/Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1982127791/ • Poker Face on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/poker-face • Barbie on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Margot-Robbie/dp/B0CB1TMKR6 • Deadly Games: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096741/ • 1-800 Contacts: https://www.1800contacts.com/ • Lovevery: https://lovevery.com/ • CoopCrate: https://www.coopcratechickens.com/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
How to go from the Swedish housing projects to billionaire CEO of Spotify. In this new episode Steven sits down with the co-founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek. Daniel Ek is a Swedish entrepreneur who started his first company in 1997 at just 14 years old. He eventually dropped out of college and founded the online marketing firm, Advertigo, which he sold in 2006 to the Swedish company Tradedoubler at 23 years old. Coming out of early retirement, Daniel founded Spotify alongside Martin Lorentzon in 2006. In this conversation Daniel and Steven discuss topics, such as: His childhood in a single parent household The importance of his mother in his success Growing up in the Swedish projects Coming from a musical family Overcoming being an introvert His ability to adapt to changing situations Not fitting in when he was growing up How his difference helped in his later success Starting his first company while at school How people worry more about failing then succeeding Why effort can’t always beat talent People not understanding what it’s actually like to be a billionaire How spare time is now his most important currency Why the idea of success through University is outdated What football taught him about business Retiring at 23 years old Why he found being rich and successful depressing How the idea of ‘why-not’ helped to create Spotify Realising that he had approached his career in the wrong way How Spotify nearly collapsed 4 times The importance of culture in organisations Why you should take the risk of betting on yourself Follow Daniel: Twitter: https://bit.ly/465g8WM Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brought to you by Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security. — Camille Hearst is Head of Fan Monetization at Spotify, where she finds new ways for fans to connect and for artists to monetize. Previously she was Head of Product for Creators at Patreon, Product Marketing Manager at YouTube, the second Product Manager at iTunes, and VP of Product at Hailo. She also co-founded a company called Kit, which was acquired by Patreon in 2018. In today’s podcast, we discuss: • Advice on building a successful career as a creator • Her take on the future of the creator economy • The best and worst parts of building products for music artists • What Apple product teams do differently • The story of meeting Steve Jobs • Advice for founders going through acquisitions — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/monetizing-passions-scaling-marketplaces — Where to find Camille Hearst: • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/camillionz • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chearst/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Camille’s background (04:24) Camille’s role as Head of Fan Monetization at Spotify (07:40) The best and worst parts of working with artists (14:15) Trends in the content creation world (19:29) Advice on building a successful career as a creator (21:32) The importance of content curators (22:30) Camille’s startup, Kit (24:49) Advice on selling your startup (28:28) The supply side of marketplaces (34:37) How Camille became the second PM at iTunes (35:43) The story of meeting Steve Jobs (43:01) Apple’s style of product management (45:54) Opportunities on the platform side of content creation (48:34) Camille’s early years growing up in a creative tech family (53:45) Favorite frameworks (52:32) Lightning round — Referenced: • Adam Fishman on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-build-a-high-performing-growth-team-adam-fishman-patreon-lyft-imperfect-foods/ • The Federal Reserve says Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour boosted the economy. One market research firm estimates she could add $5 billion: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-eras-tour-boosted-economy-tourism-federal-reserve-how-much-money-made/ • Yelp coins the “Beyoncé bump” for the economic halo created by the pop star’s Renaissance Tour: https://fortune.com/2023/07/19/beyonce-renaissance-tour-economic-impact/ • Lenny Bot: https://www.lennybot.com/ • YouTube streamer faces riot charge after Union Square Park erupts in chaos: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/nyregion/union-square-kai-cenat-twitch-giveaway.html • Michelle Phan on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MICHELLEPHA • Rover: https://www.rover.com/ • Airbnb’s product management shift: the view from product leaders: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/airbnbs-product-management-shift-the-viewpoint-of-product-leaders/# • Hiroki Asai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiroki-asai-a44137110/ • The Really Good Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-really-good-podcast/id1697794816 • Nichiren Buddhism: https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/nichiren_1.shtml • What’s Love Got to Do with It on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/movie/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-f996a307-ee91-4550-8829-3694f55e0189 • Marty Cagan on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-nature-of-product-marty-cagan-silicon-valley-product-group/ • Why you should eat the frog first: https://asana.com/resources/eat-the-frog • Draw the owl: https://review.firstround.com/draw-the-owl-and-other-company-values-you-didnt-know-you-should-have • The Three-Body Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032 • Kindred: https://www.amazon.com/Kindred-Octavia-Butler/dp/0807083690 • A Wrinkle in Time: https://www.amazon.com/Wrinkle-Time-Quintet/dp/0312367546/ • Foundation on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/foundation/umc.cmc.5983fipzqbicvrve6jdfep4x3 • Battlestar Galactica on SyFy: https://www.syfy.com/battlestar-galactica • Hijack on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/hijack/umc.cmc.1dg08zn0g3zx52hs8npoj5qe3 • Shadow and Bone on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 • Afrobeats playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EQqFPe2ux3rbj • “Calm Down” by Rema on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/37iaWiKMa9YBbEDlw5c3Qh — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Daniel Ek is the CEO and Co-Founder of Spotify and an overall legendary entrepreneur. Daniel grew up in Sweden and after selling a few businesses went on to found Spotify and disrupt the music industry against all odds. On this episode Daniel shares his entrepreneurial journey, stories from the earliest days of founding Spotify, his beef with Apple's app store policies, his views on enabling free speech, and more. (0:00) Intro (0:50) Welcome Daniel Ek (4:05) The Entrepreneurial Journey to Spotify (10:05) Making millions but feeling aimless (19:12) The roots of Spotify (21:17) Constraints as a benefit (25:34) Defining your market narrowly (27:33) Sleeping outside record label offices (35:39) Being Vilified in the music industry (45:16) Taking elements from iconic CEOs to mode (50:59) Natural Biases (55:35) Reevaluating what you need for your mission (1:02:14) Being outspoken against Apple (1:07:10) Responsibility as a platform in free speech and censorship Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Rashad Assir Executive Producer: Josh Machiz Music: Griff Lawson 🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes. Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.
Saron talks to Senior Accessibility iOS Engineer at Spotify, Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats. Daniel talks all about accessibility and specifically delves in on how he got interested in the field, examples of how to make code more accessible, and how others listening can add accessibility to their tool kit of coding skills. Author of the “Developing Accessible iOS Apps” book, he keeps himself busy by writing a daily tweet about accessibility and iOS with the hashtag #365DaysIOSAccessibility. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) VoiceOver #365DaysIOSAccessibility Mobile A11y WWDC23 Developing Accessible iOS Apps Screen Readers Accessibility Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats Dani has his dream job as an iOS Engineer on Spotify’s Accessibility team. He has previously loved working at Skyscanner or the BBC, where he learned a ton about how to make iOS apps more accessible. Sometimes he lets Xcode have a break and spreads the love for accessibility at conferences. Author of the “Developing Accessible iOS Apps” book, he keeps himself busy by writing a daily tweet about accessibility and iOS with the hashtag #365DaysIOSAccessibility.
Brought to you by Microsoft Clarity—See how people actually use your product | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | Eco—Your most rewarding app — Gustav Söderström is the Co-President and Chief Product and Technology Officer at Spotify. He is responsible for Spotify’s global product and technology strategy, overseeing the product, design, data, and engineering teams. Prior to Spotify, he founded 13th Lab, a startup that was later acquired by Facebook’s Oculus. He also served as the Director of Product and Business Development for Yahoo Mobile and founded Kenet Works, a company focused on community software for mobile phones, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2006. In today’s episode, we discuss: • How Spotify structures product teams to promote freedom of thought • Lessons on thinking long-term and navigating negative feedback • Why Gustav started a podcast and what he’s learned • How AI has impacted the work PMs, engineers, and designers do within Spotify • AI-generated music and its impact on artists • What’s next for Spotify and Spotify Podcasting — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-spotify-the — Where to find Gustav Söderström: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/GustavS • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavsoderstrom/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Gustav’s background (04:08) The various roles Gustav has occupied at Spotify (06:54) Why Gustav launched a podcast and what he learned (12:37) How PMs and product teams should think about AI (21:23) AI-generated music (26:19) Will AI continue to be a magic trick for products? (28:27) How Spotify organizes product teams (34:33) How Spotify operationalized autonomy (35:45) Why Spotify uses a centralized model for structuring their organization (43:34) The big bet Spotify took with redesigning its interface, and what they learned (57:26) How they tested their hypothesis before launch (1:02:35) Gustav’s “10% planning time” methodology (1:03:53) How to bring energy and clarity to your work (1:08:07) How to systematize deep thinking (1:10:29) The peeing-in-your-pants analogy (1:11:38) Thoughts on how the Swedish culture is portrayed in Succession (1:13:30) What’s next for Spotify and Spotify Podcasting (1:15:52) Lightning round — Referenced: • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/ • Daniel Ek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-ek-1b52093a/ • Spotify: A Product Story podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3L9tzrt0CthF6hNkxYIeSB • Spotify’s AI DJ: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-02-22/spotify-debuts-a-new-ai-dj-right-in-your-pocket/ • Avicii: https://avicii.com/ • DALL-E: https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2 • Stable Diffusion: https://stability.ai/ • Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/ • Brian Chesky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/ • Succession on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/succession • Fjällräven: https://www.fjallraven.com/us/en-us • 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy • Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Munger-Tren-Griffin • The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity: https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Aleph-Mathematics-Kabbalah-Infinity • Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime: https://www.amazon.com/Something-Deeply-Hidden • Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution: https://www.amazon.com/Helgoland-Making-Sense-Quantum-Revolution • The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World: https://www.amazon.com/The-Beginning-of-Infinity • The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications: https://www.amazon.com/The-Fabric-of-Reality • The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes: https://www.amazon.com/The-Case-Against-Reality-audiobook/dp/B07VL5TCVF/ref=sr_1_1 • Gödel’s Proof: https://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6dels-Proof-Ernest-Nagel • The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life: https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Machine-Information-Solving-Mystery • Halt and Catch Fire on Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/halt-and-catch-fire/umc.cmc.5s15r46uj0wx044tipm2zoh88 • Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
We sit down with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek live in Stockholm at Spotify’s amazing HQ studio (check out the video version of this episode — which plays natively on Spotify!). This was an incredibly special and timely conversation: for those who haven’t been paying attention over the past few years, after revolutionizing music Spotify has now ALSO completely transformed our own industry in podcasting. Starting from way behind with ~zero market share in 2018, Spotify has now aggregated the listener market and amazingly surpassed Apple as the world’s largest podcast platform — including close to home with the Acquired audience, where it has 60%+ market share among you all! We discuss the origins of this “second act” strategy with Daniel, the vision to move from a music company to an audio company, and what’s coming next with Spotify’s entry into Audiobooks. And of course we relive some key moments from the Acquired canon that Daniel was involved in, including his pivotal conversations with Taylor Swift and her team convincing her to come back to streaming following the release of 1984. Tune in! Links Follow Daniel on Twitter Sponsors: Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25 Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry WorkOS: https://acquired.fm/unpluggedPlaying Cards: https://bit.ly/workOSshop (Code: ACQDECK) Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26 More Acquired! Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscribe to ACQ2 Merch Store! © Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
Normally, trust = consistency + time. But when you're scaling fast, you have to find shortcuts to trust, with your partners and your users. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek knows a thing or two about this. When he founded Spotify, he did what few disruptors ever do: He worked with the industry he was trying to reinvent. How did Ek build a relationship with a music industry wary of piracy? He found shortcuts to trust. And not just with the music industry, but users to. With cameo appearances from Gustav Söderström (Spotify's Chief Research & Development Officer) and Miles Daisher (Red Bull Air Force). "All-Star Episodes" are part of a special series designed to center some of the most timely — and timeless — business wisdom in the Masters of Scale feed. These episodes best encapsulate the kind of transformative, unconventional insights you hear in the series. Have an idea for an All-Star Episode from our library? Let us know at hello@mastersofscale.com. Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/ Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Gustav Söderström has worked at Spotify for a long time; his first big project was leading the launch of its mobile app back in 2009. That makes him the perfect company leader to talk to about Spotify’s recent redesign, which introduces a visual, TikTok-like feed for discovering new content on the app’s homepage. As his boss CEO Daniel Ek put it last week, it’s “the biggest change Spotify has undergone since we introduced mobile.” With the title of co-president and chief product and technology officer, Söderström is responsible for not only how Spotify looks and feels but also all the AI work happening behind the scenes to power its increasingly important recommendations. According to Söderström, it turns out that improving those recommendations is actually at the heart of the big redesign. “I think companies that don’t have an efficient user interface for a machine learning world are not going to be able to leverage machine learning,” he told Alex Heath on the newest episode of Decoder. Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Spotify is laying off 6 percent of its global workforce, CEO announces Spotify’s new design turns your music and podcasts into a TikTok feed Alex Heath's Tweet Functional versus Unit Organizations Two-Pizza Teams Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23402123 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode we sit down with Leemay Nassery who talks to us about all things A/B testing. Leemay is a Senior Engineer Manager at Spotify who is passionate about tying engineering to business and user impact while keeping her team's career growth at the forefront. If you have ever been interested in learning more about A/B testing or have been confused about what exactly A/B testing might be, this episode is for you. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Practical A/B Testing Leemay Nassery Leemay Nassery is an engineering leader at Spotify. Before Spotify, she led data engineering and personalization efforts at Etsy, Dropbox, and Comcast. Leemay is passionate about tying engineering to business and user impact while keeping her team's career growth at the forefront.
Welcome back to Season 23 of the CodeNewbie Podcast! We sit down and talk to Taylor Poindexter, co-founder of Black Code Collective, an organization that strives to create a safe space for software engineers to thrive. She is also an Engineering Manager at Spotify. In her downtime you can find her adventuring, tweeting about tech, and creating whiskey videos for Instagram. She talks to us about her coding experience, the importance of taking breaks and what psychological safety in the workplace looks like. She also talks to us about her organization Black Code Collective. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Psychological Safety at Work Sabbatical Black Code Collective Taylor Poindexter Taylor Poindexter is the co-founder of Black Code Collective, an organization that strives to provide a safe space for Black Engineers to collaborate and grow their skills. In addition to this, she is an Engineering Manager at Spotify, Some awards she’s received include: 2019 Power Woman of DC Tech, DC Fem Tech’s 2018 Power Woman in Code, DC’s 2017 Top Technologist, and 2017 Power Woman of DC Tech. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, working out, whiskey tasting, and spending time with her two amazing nephews.
Today we continue our NeurIPS 2022 series joined by Tony Jebara, VP of engineering and head of machine learning at Spotify. In our conversation with Tony, we discuss his role at Spotify and how the company’s use of machine learning has evolved over the last few years, and the business value of machine learning, specifically recommendations, hold at the company. We dig into his talk on the intersection of reinforcement learning and lifetime value (LTV) at Spotify, which explores the application of Offline RL for user experience personalization. We discuss the various papers presented in the talk, and how they all map toward determining and increasing a user’s LTV. The complete show notes for this episode can be found at twimlai.com/go/609.
Audio is no longer just audio anymore -- podcasts now pull from new video platforms like TikTok and older ones like radio, user experience is growing and changing, and it's easier than ever to create audio content. Where do all these mediums converge and where do they diverge -- when it comes to user experience, product design, recommendations, discovery, and more? In this episode from October 2020, a16z general partner Connie Chan and Spotify’s chief R&D officer Gustav Söderström join host Sonal Choksi to discuss the past, present and future of audio. They dig into everything from what the past in radio can tell us about the future, what audio can and will borrow from mediums like video and platforms like TikTok, the role for more interactivity and increased use of tools like machine learning and AI, and more. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Gustav Söderström is Spotify's Chief Research & Development Officer. He has the CPO & CTO responsibility, overseeing the product, design, data, and engineering teams at Spotify and is responsible for Spotify's product strategy. Gustav is also an entrepreneur and investor who has founded and sold startups that he co-founded to Meta's Oculus in 2014 and then also his first startup which he co-founded and led as CEO, up until their acquisition by Yahoo! Gustav is also the host of the podcast mini-series -- Spotify: A product story -- which offers a glimpse into the decisions that have guided Spotify's product evolution. In Today's Episode with Gustav Söderström 1.) From Selling Companies to Yahoo and Meta to Leading Spotify's Product: How did Gustav first make his way into the world of tech and startups? What was it that made Gustav so compelled to join Daniel Ek and build Spotify? What does Gustav know now that he wishes he had known when he started? 2.) "Never Fight a Macro Wind": What does Gustav mean when he says "never fight a macro wind"? What models can product leaders construct to measure the size, importance and timing of a macro wind? What can product leaders do to change the macro wind and have it blowing in their back and not their face? When did Gustav experience this? What did he change to have the wind blow in his back? How did this alter his mindset and mentality? 3.) "Do Something Completely Different to the Competition": Why does Gustav believe startups should do the complete opposite to the competition? Does this change if your competition is other startups vs incumbents? What is the story of how Spotify did the complete opposite to Youtube? Why did it work? On the flip side, when did Spotify do the complete opposite and it did not work out? 4.) Mastering the Learning Process: How does Gustav approach the learning process for all new skills and disciplines? Why does Gustav believe that all technology leaders have to be the master of their domain? How did this lead to Gustav going back to University to study machine learning? What are the single biggest mistakes people make in the learning process? 5.) Gustav: The Product Leader: Why does Gustav believe that product is 100% science and not art? What does Gustav mean when he says, "talk is cheap and so we should do more of it"? How does Gustav structure internal debates? Who sets the agenda? Who is invited? What makes a good vs a bad internal debate? How does Gustav make everyone feel safe? What can leaders do to ensure an environment where everyone feels they can debate with the boss? 6.) Spotify: The Crucible Moments: What is Gustav's favourite near-death experience in the Spotify journey? Why did Spotify decide to make the move into podcasting and video? How does that additional complexity change the product paradigm of an audio-only platform? How do the single most impactful platforms in the world approach market expansion and when to add new products? What are the best companies in the world not merely technology innovations but also business model innovations? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/20vc Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
In this episode, we talk about SQL and why you should learn it with Sia Seko, data engineer at Spotify. Sia talks about what SQL is, what makes SQL different from other technical languages, and what it is best at. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) SQL Python LinkedIn Learning Udemy Apache Airflow Power Query freeCodeCamp W3Schools Correlation One Sia Seko Sia Seko is a senior data analytics professional with experience as a data ops and pipeline management lead; including data cleaning, wrangling, analysis, visualization, and storytelling. With extensive teaching experience and a love of learning, sharing, and writing, she's interested in working on and finding solutions to challenging data engineering problems with industry leaders.
When Alex Norstrom started working at Spotify in 2011, CEO Daniel Ek told him there were three goals: Growth, growth, and growth. But Alex — now the Chief Freemium Business Officer — argued that his team would be better motivated by an “impossible goal,” something like reaching 100 million users. To which Daniel replied: “Let’s do it. Your goal is to get us to 100 million users. Please begin.” In this episode, Alex and Joubin convene at Spotify’s brand-new Stockholm studio to discuss his first job, the “shadow” mentorship program Alex runs, how Facebook changed everything for the gaming company King, thinking about the “bigger picture,” the tremendous effort happening behind the scenes before Spotify launched in each new country, “optimizing for surprises,” Joubin’s embarrassing Spotify playlists, why we’re still in the early innings of podcasting, Alex’s lowest point at Spotify, partnering with FC Barcelona, and culture as currency. In this episode, we cover: The surprising lack of media coverage of Alex despite his prominence at Spotify (05:56) Working at his mother’s Chinese restaurant and his relationship with food (12:21) The early “fiascos” in Alex’s career, and how he came to work at Candy Crush Saga creator King (18:01) How Spotify CEO Daniel Ek convinced Alex to work for him (25:38) Why Alex has tried to set “impossible goals” since his first day at Spotify (28:40) Why the freemium business model works (34:21) Spotify’s hardest and biggest market: The USA (38:39) Pivoting to a mobile-first strategy and the pricing trick that turned conversion numbers around (42:59) The invention of Discover Weekly, and Spotify’s deep bench of other features (51:21) How Spotify got interested in podcasts, and the decision to put them in the same app with music (57:50) The odd but crucial lesson Alex learned early in his career: Stay near the laughter (01:06:46) Being ubiquitous on many platforms, and the art of pitching big & partnering smart (01:09:05) The end of free growth on the internet, and the power of Spotify Wrapped (01:15:07) Links: Connect with AlexTwitter LinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Music is universal. It transcends language. Melodies have the power to trigger strong emotions. In fact, our brains release dopamine - the “feel good” hormone - when we listen to music. Today’s guest, Spotify’s Chief R&D Officer Gustav Söderström, has been helping to bring the magic of music, personalized playlists, and more recently, podcasts to people around the world. He’s also led the platform to personalize individual content experiences with the help of artificial intelligence. Pieter and Gustav discuss the platform’s early approach to AI & ML, how he wants to help content creators reach more listeners and the technological details of Spotify’s ability to automatically generate millions of new playlists every day. SUBSCRIBE TO THE ROBOT BRAINS PODCAST TODAY | Visit therobotbrains.ai and follow us on YouTube at TheRobotBrainsPodcast, Twitter @therobotbrains, and Instagram @therobotbrains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
After earning her undergraduate degree in philosophy, political science, and ethics, with aspirations to become a lawyer, Sidney Madison Prescott was drawn to technology jobs that specifically emphasized data quality and governance. In 2020, she joined music streaming service Spotify as the global head of intelligent process automation, where she uses robotic process automation to automate tasks and free up workers to focus on higher-value-added and more creative work. For Sidney and her team at Spotify, AI and machine learning are not tools to replace jobs; they enable humans and machines to work together for increased efficiency and productivity. Read the episode transcript here. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders. Guest bio: Sidney Madison Prescott is a keynote speaker, author, and robotics evangelist specializing in the creation of robotic process automation centers of excellence for Fortune 250 companies. She heads up the Global Intelligent Automation initiative at music streaming powerhouse Spotify. In August 2021, she received her Master of Business Administration as a part of the country’s first Executive Women’s MBA cohort at Brenau University. Madison Prescott is also coauthor of the book Robotic Process Automation Using UiPath StudioX: A Citizen Developer’s Guide to Hyperautomation, which explains how to build robots using real-world prototypes. We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials. We want to know how you feel about Me, Myself, and AI. Please take a short, two-question survey.
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