Chris Barton
Chris Barton – An Audacious Idea Ahead of Its Time
Chris Barton
Keynote Speaker
Founder and Creator of Shazam, Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Tech Investor
Believe in the impossible with inventor Chris Barton. Best known as the creator of Shazam, the app that changed the way the world discovers music, Chris also played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox. His positive energy, captivating story of his journey and innovative Start From Zero thinking, inspires audiences to create magic in defiance of the obstacles.
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Chris Barton's speaking fee: $25K - $40K
Spend time with inventor Chris Barton and you’ll be inspired to believe anything is possible. His positive energy to make seemingly impossible ideas come to life is absolutely contagious. Chris’s latest venture, Guard, uses AI to detect drowning in swimming pools – a never-before accomplished effort. Chris’s best-known creation is Shazam, the app that changed the way the world discovers music and laid the groundwork for the consumer AI industry we know today. 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. 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.
“On the other side of the wall of assumptions lies the fountain of possibilities.”
Chris Barton
Featured Videos
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Chris Barton on Creative Persistence
Chris Barton
Chris Barton – An Audacious Idea Ahead of Its Time
Chris Barton’s Speech Topics
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Bring Impossible Ideas to Life
Technology & A.I. are dramatically changing what’s possible in our world. Our challenge as we create new things is to dislodge from the comfort of what we already know. Chris Barton created Shazam after being told by every “expert” that his outlandish idea was impossible. It was an idea far ahead of its time — eight years before iPhone apps even existed. In this presentation, Barton helps audiences imagine and then create new visions for the future. He inspires with jaw-dropping stories about creating Shazam and shows how innovation comes from not just an idea, but from a series of insights to overcome obstacles along the way.
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Overcome Obstacles with Imagination
A great idea gets you nowhere without tenacity. True disruption requires both persistence and creative solutions. In creating Shazam, Chris Barton faced obstacles, many thought were insurmountable. Most would have given up, but he refused. Instead, Barton challenged every assumption about the obstacles he faced. He shares stories and actionable lessons that inspire audiences to pursue their dreams. He urges audiences to question the status quo and to sweat the details on the path to redefining the future.
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Build the Vision You See (But Others Don’t)
Entrepreneurs have passion, ideas, and desire but can get stuck on the difficult journey to achieving their dreams. They want to bring something truly new to the world, but need to learn how to overcome big obstacles, choose their priorities, and convince others of their vision. Chris Barton inspires and teaches entrepreneurs using the story of Shazam’s creation, including the scrappy and creative hacks that transformed an idea into a product with two billion customers.
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Eliminate Effort to Unlock Explosive Growth
We all know simple is great, so why don’t all organizations create amazing things just like Apple? The reality is that friction permeates almost everything we do. This “extra effort” frustrates our customers, partners, and colleagues. In creating Shazam, Chris moved mountains to make one thing very easy – identifying any song. Shazam changed the way the world discovers music. Chris Barton combines stories from creating Shazam with his twelve years at Android (Google) and Dropbox to provide concrete examples of how we can all push boundaries to eliminate friction.
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