What I Learned From Playlist

I don’t know how much the story is close to the origin, but I enjoyed watching this Netflix Tv series. It is a documentary that tells story of Spotify which Swedish music streaming company along with its early stages.

As a software engineer, we mostly —not all- focus on technical sides of the initiatives or projects. In other words, we manage the kitchen. And we usually do not have a chance to touch the outside, or be a part of the business. We may sometimes communicate with the business to collaborate, but they are mostly limited with an active project especially if we work in a big corporate company. That is actually fine, because we already have heavy jobs.

When we want to start our own startup or we start working in a small company, we likely meet new challenges such as marketing, customer relationships, presentations, human resources, more communication and investigations…etc. “Playlist” is a good example for what I am trying to explain. Here are what I learned from it:

• We think that the product development is the most important part of a company. We are sure it is important. But without a good marketing and important relationships, it just can be a trash. Always start with the business part.
• No need to fear sharing your idea with the people may help you. You will need a good team including engineers, salesmen, lawyer, …etc.
• Do not wait for customers to use your product. Find the first customers yourself. In the series, Daniel and his team were going to schools because the potential customers were music lover young people.
• To give the best experiences to your customers, push your team to do better. 500 ms to start a song may sound good, but why not 200 ms?
• To be rejected from some famous companies does not mean you are not talented enough. Google had rejected Daniel to work as an engineer there.
• Always think for long term. Define a roadmap and revenue model. You may not earn much in short and that is normal.