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Why the idea of success through University is outdated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