Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is betting that he can sell music fans and artists worldwide on his vision for the future of the business. Only Amazon, Apple, and Google stand in his way.
For 70 days at the beginning of this year, Daniel Ek and a group of friends competed to see who could cut their body-fat percentage the most. Ek, the 35-year-old co-founder and CEO of the streaming service Spotify, went on a special regimen, which included twice-a-day workouts and a single meal—specially configured for him— eaten at a set time each afternoon. “You look great,” teased music impresario Scooter Braun, a participant in the contest, who texted his friend after noting Ek’s slimmed-down physique during Spotify’s web-broadcast Investor Day presentation in late March. “Too bad you lost.” When I see Ek a few days later, on the eve of Spotify’s listing as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange, he acknowledges that he’d been bested in the body-fat battle by several competitors. “I made a strategic error,” he says. In an analytical fashion that is typical of Ek, he then deconstructs both the limitations of the contest (“some folks were heavier to begin with,” he says) and the missteps that he made (“I lost too much muscle mass too early”). Somehow, he doesn’t sound like he’s making excuses; he’s focused on learning, on improving—a trait that has defined him, and Spotify, from the very beginning.
As for the next day’s stock market debut, Ek willfully downplays its importance. “I keep forgetting it’s tomorrow,” he says at one point.
This story is from the September 2018 edition of Fast Company.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2018 edition of Fast Company.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Reimagining the ways we work and meet
As business leaders rethink their real estate footprint, they're embracing smaller, high-quality, amenity-rich spaces that are more focused on human connection.” In other words, Convene.
10 Trend
From the Most Innovative Companies | Plus 606 Honorees From Advertising to Video
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies
"The 1920s, water went into a generator, and DC Power came out. Now electrons go into a generator, and intelligence comes out."
Orange Crush
Y Combinator was designed to be a supercondensed version of Silicon Valley. Now that it's at full potency, can it maintain its outsider pose while being the ultimate insiders' network?
Hollywood
AI is going to transform Hollywood But it won't be the horror story everyone's afraid of.
Chick-Fil-A's New Testament
Boycotted for years by liberals - and now by conservatives, too - a christian-driven brand is trying to walk the narrow path toward growth. What happens next could be enlightening for businesses everywhere.
The Office You Want
Business leaders want workers back. Workers are loath to resume their commutes. We asked five leading design firms to create plans that might make leaving home seem worthwhile.
Fan With a Plan
Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin parlayed a ski shop in suburban Philly into a $31 billion sports apparel juggernaut. Now, he's adding trading cards, gambling, live events, and more.
The Helpful Hardware Man
Marques Brownlee has rewired the way people shop for gadgets-and how companies sell them. Inside the humble factory with the power to shape the $1 trillion consumer electronics industry.
PIZZA, ROBOTS, and MONEY
THE ZESTY TALE OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST FLOPS IN SILICON VALLEY HISTORY