Chris Barton

Founder and Creator of Shazam

Biography:

Spend time with inventor Chris Barton and you’ll be inspired to believe anything is possible. Chris’s best-known creation is Shazam. With over 2 billion downloads, Shazam is a global phenomenon and Apple's sixth-largest acquisition. The app lets people identify songs out of thin air from anywhere they are, making it nothing short of pure magic.

Chris holds 12 patents and played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox. He believes his dyslexia helps him uncover novel solutions to obstacles and to achieving audacious goals. When Shazam was founded in 2000, it was far ahead of its time. It was three years before iTunes, seven years before the iPhone, and eight years before the App Store. The nascent Shazam struggled in the early days, teetering near bankruptcy for six years waiting for key digital advancements to arrive, allowing Shazam to unleash its full potential on the world.

Chris has also played a key role in tech history as a founding member of Google’s Android Partnerships team where he created Android's mobile operator partnership framework. He also spent four years at Dropbox where he led carrier partnerships and was one of the first 100 people at the company.

Holding 12 patents, including one found within the Google search algorithm that billions of people use, Chris has made significant contributions to the tech industry. He also invests in a wide range of start-ups, including artificial intelligence for heart health and inflammatory disease therapeutics.

Today, Chris spends much of his time building his third startup company, Guard, a system that detects drowning in swimming pools using artificial intelligence.

The speaker talks about:

In his speeches, Chris shares his Start From Zero thinking method of questioning assumptions and challenging conventional wisdom. His amazing story and storytelling completely captivate audiences and inspires them to make big things happen in their organizations – to create magic in defiance of the obstacles.

Keynote Speaker Programs:

• Innovation from First Principles - Learnings from Inventing Shazam
• Breaking the Sound Barrier – Challenges We Faced and Lessons We Learned in Building Shazam
• Ten Things I Am Grateful for in My Shazam Experience
• Shazam’s Early Years: Surviving Difficult Times & The Keys to Startup Success
• Lessons for Entrepreneurs Collected from My Shazam Experience
• Picking the Right Obsession for Your Business Strategy