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Spotify is Founder Bet $10 Million of His Own Money at Age 23. From a Logical Point of View, It Was Terrible.

By Daniel Ek · Investing · 1 min read

Daniel Ek went from "set for life" to "might need a job" in one decision. He would do it again.

Key Points

Ek and his co-founder invested $10M of their own money in a seed-stage startup in 2007
He traded financial security at 22 for the chance to build something that mattered
His advice: before investing in other startups, bet on yourself first

From a purely logical point of view it was probably a terrible decision. But betting on yourself is the best advice I could give.

Set for Life at 22

By 22, Daniel Ek had enough money to never work again. He had built and sold a company.

Ek: I basically took that security that I built up — at 22, I'm set for life — and I gave that up.

$10 Million on a Seed Round

In 2007, Ek and his co-founder put $10 million of their own money into Spotify. Seed stage.

That was unheard of. Seed rounds back then were $500K. Maybe a million.

Ek: Doing that on a seed stage back in 2007 — that was just unheard of.

The Worst Best Decision

Ek: The personal implications — I went from not having to have a job to probably having to go back to having a job. From a purely logical point of view, it was probably a terrible decision.

But betting on yourself is probably the best advice I could give. Especially those that want to invest in various startups but don't have a lot of money — I always say why don't you just bet on yourself instead? Work for one of these startups, take a little more equity and a little less pay.

Betting on yourself is probably the best advice I could give.