Gustav Söderström is the Co-President and Chief Product and Technology Officer at Spotify. He is responsible for Spotify’s global product and technology strategy, overseeing the product, design, data, and engineering teams. Prior to Spotify, he founded 13th Lab, a startup that was later acquired by Facebook’s Oculus. He also served as the Director of Product and Business Development for Yahoo Mobile and founded Kenet Works, a company focused on community software for mobile phones, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2006. In today’s episode, we discuss:
• How Spotify structures product teams to promote freedom of thought
• Lessons on thinking long-term and navigating negative feedback
• Why Gustav started a podcast and what he’s learned
• How AI has impacted the work PMs, engineers, and designers do within Spotify
• AI-generated music and its impact on artists
• What’s next for Spotify and Spotify Podcasting
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Find the full transcript at: [ Ссылка ]
Where to find Gustav Söderström:
• Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
• LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: [ Ссылка ]
• Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
• LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Gustav’s background
(04:08) The various roles Gustav has occupied at Spotify
(06:54) Why Gustav launched a podcast and what he learned
(12:37) How PMs and product teams should think about AI
(21:23) AI-generated music
(26:19) Will AI continue to be a magic trick for products?
(28:27) How Spotify organizes product teams
(34:33) How Spotify operationalized autonomy
(35:45) Why Spotify uses a centralized model for structuring their organization
(43:34) The big bet Spotify took with redesigning its interface, and what they learned
(57:26) How they tested their hypothesis before launch
(1:02:35) Gustav’s “10% planning time” methodology
(1:03:53) How to bring energy and clarity to your work
(1:08:07) How to systematize deep thinking
(1:10:29) The peeing-in-your-pants analogy
(1:11:38) Thoughts on how the Swedish culture is portrayed in Succession
(1:13:30) What’s next for Spotify and Spotify Podcasting
(1:15:52) Lightning round
Referenced:
• Spotify: [ Ссылка ]
• Daniel Ek: [ Ссылка ]
• Spotify: A Product Story podcast: [ Ссылка ]
• Spotify’s AI DJ: [ Ссылка ]
• Avicii: [ Ссылка ]
• DALL-E: [ Ссылка ]
• Stable Diffusion: [ Ссылка ]
• Midjourney: [ Ссылка ]
• Brian Chesky: [ Ссылка ]
• Succession on HBO: [ Ссылка ]
• Fjällräven: [ Ссылка ]
• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: [ Ссылка ]
• Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor: [ Ссылка ]
• The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity: [ Ссылка ]
• Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime: [ Ссылка ]
• Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution: [ Ссылка ]
• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World: [ Ссылка ]
• The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes—and Its Implications: [ Ссылка ]
• The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes: [ Ссылка ]
• Gödel’s Proof: [ Ссылка ]
• The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life: [ Ссылка ]
• Halt and Catch Fire on Apple TV: [ Ссылка ]
• Duolingo: [ Ссылка ]
Production and marketing by [ Ссылка ]. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
