Invest Like The Best
Episode 424 How Spotify Thinks
Invest Like The Best

Episode 424: How Spotify Thinks

Invest Like The Best

Episode 424

How Spotify Thinks

Gustav Söderström is the Co-President, Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Spotify. We cover how AI might revolutionize the music-listening experience, the systematic process behind all of Spotify's successful innovations, and why it's become the effective R&D department for the entire music industry.

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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

How Spotify Thinks

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Gustav Söderström. Gustav is the Co-President, Chief Product Officer and 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 technology landscape. He shares fascinating insights on their synchronized team structure, and how they position 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 great conversation with Gustav Söderström.

Riding the AI Revolution

Patrick
Maybe a fun place to begin is the obvious place. Everyone is facing this giant shift in technology. My friend Ravi Gupta calls this imperative "AI or Die". That companies, even the big sexy established technology companies, need to find ways to embrace and use this new technology as it unfolds, or face elimination. I would love to hear how you and Spotify are thinking about this challenge. I know you've embraced it very quickly, and you were very early to using machine learning and data science all over the product.

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