Pandora Radio is a online music service that provides recommendations automatically to the user of similar music based on their previous selections. The popular music service has grown significantly since its launch years ago and recently has seen huge growth from the mobile market space it has begun to penetrate. For this and more we take a look at entrepreneur Tim Westergren in the spotlight this week. We’ll look at just how he did it and highlight what lessons any upcoming entrepreneur can learn.
Summary:
Name: Tim Westergren
Age: NA
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Claim to fame: Pandora (Online music recommendation service and player.)
Initial cost: < $1000
How He Did It:
Tim Westergren was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tim went onto obtain his BA in Political Science. Shortly after graduating in 1999, Westergren met up with Will Glaser to form the Music Genome Project, which would produce a mathematical algorithm to sort, analyze, and organize music in a variety of different ways. They have since patented the algorithm and used it to create the now popular service of Pandora Radio. Pandora is a online music service that recommends additional songs to the user based upon their previous selections and ratings of songs using the algorithm mentioned previously. Since its launch, Pandora has grown significantly and expanded into the growing mobile market space significantly. Pandora currently offers a free and paid subscription service where the subscription service allows one to skip ads and more songs. Tim Westergren’s Pandora Radio continues to grow in popularity and profits.
Lessons Learned:
- Your previous education and career path does not determine what you are capable of doing in the future.
- Working together on projects can help turn a good idea into a great idea.
- Continuous growth and education as an entrepreneur is important for both you and the company.
- Finding your niche market (or unique) spin is crucial.
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: David Sacks.
Be on the lookout for our next entrepreneur spotlight article in this ongoing series. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about the success of this week’s entrepreneur and his entrepreneurship characteristics. Also, please let me know if you have an entrepreneur you would like to see featured here in the weeks to come.
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