The answer is Shazam! When we started Shazam in 2000, we had to invent a way for computers to do "something that normally requires human intelligence". We had to invent Al that recognizes all music. Two decades later, Al became a household word. Learn about product milestones in Al history from this Infographic:

www.chrisjbarton.com/infographic

An early Dropbox employee said this to me as he explained why Dropbox became so popular. All predecessors in document cloud storage had flopped. Dropbox changed everything when they created the "magic folder" that synchronizes with the cloud. Anything in your computer's Dropbox folder is also in the cloud. Predecessors such as Drive and iDrive had "one step" to upload or download documents. Dropbox has zero steps. The difference in the eyes of users ... is infinite.

If you are not prepared to go to superhuman levels that are beyond rationality to realize your dream, then your chance of finding success is virtually zero.

I know someone whose child really asked this question - it makes me smile! The perspective of a child reminds us how dramatically the world changes in just years. Most kids today can't even imagine how things worked without iPhones, iPads, and Androids. Similarly, future generations will forget the way we live today. How will you prepare for a future that displaces the way you do things?

My son wants to be an entrepreneur one day. I asked him to dream up an idea for his first startup but he quickly felt defeated. Every idea he came up with had already been done. Creating the future can feel overwhelming. Groundbreaking innovation requires thinking in a very different way. The secret is to imagine an ideal future and then work backwards from there. That will be the lesson I will teach my son so he can find his own great new idea.

We spent $140 million building many features - from music players to news feeds to artist social networks. Shazam's most important innovation was our first one - music recognition. That "killer app" continues to drive engagement and growth every day - and we had invented it for just $1,000. Just like happiness, you can't buy innovation. It comes from thinking differently. How will you include a "disruptive mindset" in your R&D plan this year?

They are not destinations. They are not goals to be achieved. They are not "states of being". Instead, they are both "processes of becoming". You don't reach a final state in either. You have a journey - one that includes disappointments, failures, and struggles. Embrace that journey. Enjoy every one of its winding curves.

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Apple colleagues told founder Steve Jobs that the mouse was clunky and people wouldn't like it. Venture Capital investors told Airbnb founder Brian Chesky that people wouldn't want to stay in a stranger's home. Senior executives at Sony Corporation said to Playstation visionary Ken Kutaragi "we don't build toys here". Steve, Brian, and Ken all persisted because they had real conviction. They could see something that others couldn't see.

Tenacity. Persistence. Resilience. We know that these are keys to achieving great outcomes. But they are hard - so how do we motivate? Going the extra mile requires that we first connect to our emotions. When we really care about what we are doing, that is when we can push beyond the limits. How can we emotionally connect to our work? We must "feel the impact of what we do". We must feel in our hearts how our work impacts the lives of others.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that inventing Shazam would one day lead to the creation of a prime-time TV game show called "Beat Shazam". Big shout out to its original host - Jamie Foxx! When we pave new paths, we are often surprised by the unexpected fruits that are born from our creations. What unexpected fruits will come from that great thing you are now creating?

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Before the invention of moving vehicles, we didn't need to look both ways when crossing the road. There were no roads. Now that Al is becoming the fabric of our world, we must adopt new behaviors just as we did with roads. In a world of Al, I believe that one key skill is judgement. Al will create things, recommend things, estimate things, and even suggest solutions. When the result really matters, the new "look both ways" is your judgement.

Apple almost never makes big acquisitions. Instead, they build stuff in-house. So why did Apple buy Shazam? First, Shazam's users gave it very high ratings - and Apple likes to delight users. Second, Shazam helps you discover music - and this complements listening to Apple Music. Finally, Shazam was so popular that it became a verb - and so it became one of the only separate brands retained by Apple. Shazam & Apple are a match made in heaven. Now you should turn on "music recognition" in your control center settings.

For Instagram it was sharing beautiful photos. For WhatsApp it was text messages. For Spotify it was free music streaming. None of these startups started with those ideas but once they saw their popularity, they doubled down on making them their focus. There is a temptation for entrepreneurs to do many things. Pick the most important one and do it very well.

Massive companies including Philips, Sony, and Google built copycat products in music recognition. I was very nervous! But Shazam beat them, and we did it by caring more. We built faster, more accurate, and more beautiful experiences with better features. We delighted our users. Every detail matters to a team that really cares.

Shazam reinvented its business model several times over. We pivoted many times... from a pay per use model to software licensing to affiliate music sales and finally to digital advertising. Business model innovation is tough because you get used to a way of making money. It requires a change in perspective and a ton of follow through. Make a point to keep it on your radar because the world around you is about to change.

Obsessing with feedback from users is a secret weapon. That is why I spent so many hours reading every word of Shazam's reviews. I started to identify unexpected things that needed to be fixed or features people really wanted. Many were not apparent, so I had to escalate them with the team. How can you harness more insights from your customers?

A popular approach among entrepreneurs and innovators is to build "minimum viable products" (MVPs) so that they can quickly learn what works. But remember that great products are loved by customers specifically because they did something exceedingly well. The minimal viable product may not hit that mark and you may make the wrong conclusion. As with Apple's first iPhone, often you should create something that is more than just minimally viable.

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When startups struggle, they reduce costs or find more funding. Neither was sufficient for Shazam. We decided to invent new revenue streams. We licensed our technology to Samsung for labeling MP3 files. We built a native app for Motorola which they paid to install on their phones. We even created radio monitoring solutions for music royalty organizations. These initiatives kept Shazam alive for six years. We had to be creative as well as persistent.

We often validate our ideas by gathering feedback to confirm that others like the idea. However, the real gold nuggets are ideas that are truly good but also "non-consensus". For these ideas, most people will not see around the corners to grasp your key insight. It will feel like your idea is a flop. You may well be onto something with incredible potential value. Find that gold nugget. Find the non-consensus insight.

When we generate ideas from what we know, we only make incremental progress forward. Instead, we must question the assumptions to the starting point of ideation. When we force ourselves to start from the basic truths, we unleash the incredible possibilities. This "thinking by first principles" is exactly how Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and even Leonardo Da Vinci came up with their game-changing creations.

Many startups fail despite having a great product idea. The battle to gain customers is so much harder than they anticipated. It feels like they just need money to fund sales, but investors remain unconvinced. They eventually realize that the great success stories are startups that also identified a key behavioral insight and a marketing hack. The insight leads to a gravitational force unique to their product. The marketing hack drives customer awareness without spending money. Three ideas. Not just one.

So many great innovations are never realized. We blame the barriers that we faced. However, our mistake was to treat those barriers as authorities and "respect" them. People that support us naturally suggest different routes instead. Sadly many of these routes are concessions that ruin the original idea. To realize our innovation visions, we must boldly challenge those tremendous barriers. Defy them. Don't respect them.

Along your path to your objective, you will notice a recurring trend. Whenever gatekeepers are asked to support your effort, they will simply say "no". From their point of view your unusual request only creates more risk and more work. Their easy answer is simply "no". That is why it is your job to get past that. The most effective people are creative, tenacious, and persistent. How will you get past all those "no's"?

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Eric Schmidt declared this when he was CEO at Google. It may seem shocking that Mr. Schmidt, such a pure technologist visionary, would make such a statement. Wouldn't one expect that his approach to solving problems would prioritize beautiful and novel inventions, rather than an obsession with generating more money? Mr. Schmidt's insight is eye-opening. His respect for the tremendous power of revenue reminds us that it is money that ultimately funds the realization of a company's dream.

"Sweat the details" is one of Dropbox's core values. As the company grew, the founders searched to identify the key differentiators that had enabled Dropbox to achieve its success. When teams sweat the details, they don't cut corners in order to declare victory on objectives. Instead, they meticulously focus on excellence in execution. The end result is an experience that delights customers. If you sweat the details, you can truly remove friction and frustration.

Unrelenting conviction.

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An openness towards feedback that might change their mind.

What could someone create that would make my idea irrelevant?

Go build that.