Tim Westergren, founder of the personal Web radio service Pandora and the Music Genome Project, looked more like a rock musician than an entrepreneur when he spoke to a group of about 80 students Monday afternoon in the Kellogg School of Management's Jacobs Center. In jeans, a striped T-shirt and scruffy hair, he led a relaxed Q-and-A with Kellogg students and a few undergraduates.
The hour-long discussion provided insight into the creation of Pandora, a free service that asks users for songs they like in order to discover similar music they might enjoy, and the workings of the Music Genome Project, which analyzes songs based on their musical attributes in order to match them with user's preferences. Westergren gave the students an extended background on his transition from a struggling musical career to success with Pandora.
A large portion of the speech dealt with the company's slow start in 2000. Westergren and his team spent five years in debt before securing $9 million from venture capitalists in 2005. Broadband Internet used to be scarce in households, he said, so streaming music wasn't readily accessible. Today, Pandora has 12.5 million registered users.
"We want to be the greatest radio all around the world, broadcast or online," he said. "We think eventually that Clear Channel's ownership is going to be ours. We believe we can be there."
Westergren spoke with The Daily after the event.
The Daily: You were a musician for years before starting Pandora, with no background in business. What was the process of becoming an entrepreneur?
TW: Well, starting a band is a bit like being an entrepreneur. There are certainly parallels, but I had never started a formal business before. I had to just put one foot in front of the other.
The Daily: As a big player in the online music culture, do you worry about the invisibility of music in general? There always seems to be less of something to hold in your hands.
Spring Break
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Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Jes Webb
posted 5/07/08 @ 5:59 PM CST
I wish Pandora well. Two days ago I tried it out and went to this article because of that. I would argue that it could be the best online radio experience to date. (Continued…)
Laura
posted 5/07/08 @ 9:52 PM CST
I am a Pandora user and I recently stumbled upon Muxtape.com. While you can't shape your playlists according to music that already suits your tastes, Muxtape is comprised of entirely user-uploaded music, therefore introducing a lot more in the way of musical variety than what I've found at Pandora. (Continued…)
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