In the early days of Pandora, it was all about bringing together people that were inspired by an idea that mattered. The key moments in the first 5 years of Pandora were when Tim influenced important people to make decisions that helped them. You have to be creative to influence people. You have to create crumbed trails that will get you to key decision-makers. For example, Tim is a good basketball player. Once he had to influence someone from a legal profession who also played basketball. Tim figured out how to get invited and play on his team.

Influencing people

The most common question among startup founders is how to know when is it time to quit. They really want some validation for their decision. A better mindset is to say, "This is my life. I'm not doing it because I'm guaranteed a reward at the end. I'm doing it because that's what I do." It's better to do and fail than regret not trying at all.

How to get out of an entrepreneurial rut

These are the moments when your startup is dead, and all seems lost. As a radio company, Pandora operated under a statutory license that let them play all the music without directly licensing the content. But in 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board made a ruling that made the royalty rates so high that it almost put them out of business. Pandora then emailed their listeners and asked them to contact their members of Congress. Two million people called, wrote, or visited their members of Congress to protest. Congress finally intervened and got the rates to a more normal place.

“We’re f*cked, it’s over” (WFIO) moments

At the start of 2001, they began to stretch their money out and asked employees to defer their salaries. Tim maxed out his 11 credit cards, and they stopped paying their employees at the end of 2001. About 50 people worked for two years without getting paid to get them across the bridge. Tim pitched Pandora 348 times before getting their second round of financing. They raised 9 million dollars for the 2nd round. Two million went out the next day to pay the salaries. Today, the company has over 6 million monthly subscribers.

Not giving up

Tim Westergren was a rock musician before he became a startup founder. His music genome project was the core technology used for Pandora. Tim Westergren founded Pandora in January 2000. The goal was to "capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level" using a matching algorithm and compare them to other songs for a better recommendation experience. However, at the peak of the dot-com bubble in March 2001, the doors slam shut behind them.

The music genome project

Two things worked in their favour: <ul><li>The product was magical. Everyone was excited about the product they've built. Investors were offered password-protected access to the product.</li><li>The company was resilient. When the company went through tough times, the founders were the first to defer. This inspired the staff to continue without salaries. </li></ul>

The project that wouldn't die

Tim Westergren discusses his company’s humble beginnings and what it takes to sell your vision.

Tim Westergren maxed out 11 credit cards, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and was rejected 348 times for a second round of funding for his revolutionary idea for a music streaming platform. But like any true artist, Westergren remained committed to his vision of creating an aesthetically more beautiful future with Pandora, and now the company boasts more than 6 million monthly subscribers. Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Westergren to discuss the company’s humble beginnings, why it took an act of Congress to keep the company alive, and why both men believe the best founders are artists who can sell their vision.

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Host Mike Maples Jr from venture capital firm FLOODGATE offers lessons from the startup super performers—BEFORE they were successful—featuring interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s most legendary entrepreneurs and thought leaders, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger, and more.

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