Chief Freemium Business Officer at Spotify, Alex Norstrom: The Power of Setting Impossible Goals

When Alex Norstrom started working at Spotify in 2011, CEO Daniel Ek told him there were three goals: Growth, growth, and growth. But Alex — now the Chief Freemium Business Officer — argued that his team would be better motivated by an “impossible goal,” something like reaching 100 million users. To which Daniel replied: “Let’s do it. Your goal is to get us to 100 million users. Please begin.”

In this episode, Alex and Joubin convene at Spotify’s brand-new Stockholm studio to discuss his first job, the “shadow” mentorship program Alex runs, how Facebook changed everything for the gaming company King, thinking about the “bigger picture,” the tremendous effort happening behind the scenes before Spotify launched in each new country, “optimizing for surprises,” Joubin’s embarrassing Spotify playlists, why we’re still in the early innings of podcasting, Alex’s lowest point at Spotify, partnering with FC Barcelona, and culture as currency.

In this episode, we cover:

• The surprising lack of media coverage of Alex despite his prominence at Spotify (05:56)
• Working at his mother’s Chinese restaurant and his relationship with food (12:21)
• The early “fiascos” in Alex’s career, and how he came to work at Candy Crush Saga creator King (18:01)
• How Spotify CEO Daniel Ek convinced Alex to work for him (25:38)
• Why Alex has tried to set “impossible goals” since his first day at Spotify (28:40)
• Why the freemium business model works (34:21)
• Spotify’s hardest and biggest market: The USA (38:39)
• Pivoting to a mobile-first strategy and the pricing trick that turned conversion numbers around (42:59)
• The invention of Discover Weekly, and Spotify’s deep bench of other features (51:21)
• How Spotify got interested in podcasts, and the decision to put them in the same app with music (57:50)
• The odd but crucial lesson Alex learned early in his career: Stay near the laughter (01:06:46)
• Being ubiquitous on many platforms, and the art of pitching big & partnering smart (01:09:05)
• The end of free growth on the internet, and the power of Spotify Wrapped (01:15:07)

Links:

• Connect with Alex
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm