Chris Barton
Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Tech Investor
Why Book Chris Barton
- PIONEERING ENTREPRENEUR: Every expert said Shazam was an impossible idea to create. Chris Barton wasn’t convinced. He went on to invent the first mass-consumer AI product in history, completely changing how the world discovers music.
- INSPIRING RESILIENCE: Radical technological change is testing our durability. Chris was tested too, overcoming mind-boggling technical obstacles and six years of near-bankruptcy to achieve a Hollywood ending: Shazam became Apple’s sixth largest acquisition.
- INNOVATION LESSONS: The biggest limitation to creating the future is our own imagination. Chris blends music, video, images, and great storytelling to show audiences how to summon creative persistence and bring bold ideas to life.
- A BREAKTHROUGH ROADMAP: Start From Zero Thinking is the four-step framework Chris developed to overcome obstacles to innovation. The method can be applied to any challenge and is rooted in his unique thinking style. The dyslexia and ADHD he struggled with as a student turned out to be his superpowers.
- EXPERIENCE BEYOND SHAZAM: First head of Mobile Relations at Google, among first 100 employees at Dropbox, inventor with 12 patents (one used within Google algorithm). His next invention is Guard, which uses AI to detect drowning in swimming pools. Chris teaches innovation and entrepreneurship at four universities.
- CHRIS BARTON – THE PERFECT SPEAKER FOR: INNOVATION, RESILIENCE, OVERCOMING OBSTACLES, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MINDSET.
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Chris Barton is the renowned tech pioneer who invented the Shazam music app. His creation, the first mass-consumer AI product in history, changed the way the world discovers music and is pure and absolute magic. Chris has a history of delighting people by using technology to make seemingly impossible ideas come to life. Shazam is just one of them. In addition to creating Shazam, Chris holds twelve patents and played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox. Chris’s newest venture, Guard, aims to use AI to detect drowning in swimming pools – a never-before accomplished effort. In his speeches, Chris’s story and storytelling completely captivate audiences. He inspires people to make big things happen in their organizations – to create magic in defiance of the obstacles.
Chris grew up with a French mother and British father – both of whom were university professors. Academics were a struggle for him, and Chris would come to realize he had undiagnosed dyslexia. Chris flipped this challenge on its head and learned to embrace what he now calls his superpower. Chris believes that dyslexia has allowed him to overcome barriers to achieve his many accomplishments.
When Chris had the idea to identify music using a mobile phone, no technology existed to achieve his goal. He was told by Professors at MIT and Stanford that the necessary pattern recognition algorithm was impossible. Even after inventing a new technology that didn’t yet exist, he had to build a search engine supercomputer from scratch, create the world’s largest music database, and create a user experience on very basic mobile phones. Did Chris ever think the experts were right? “No way,” he says.
When Chris came up with the idea for Shazam in 2000, it was three years before iTunes and eight years before the App Store. Shazam launched as a phone number that you dialed, and the service struggled, teetering near bankruptcy for six years until the App Store launched in 2008, allowing Shazam to unleash its full potential on the world.
In 2018, Shazam was acquired by Apple for a reported $400 million, making it Apple’s 6th largest acquisition of all-time. Shazam has been downloaded over 2 billion times and is used each month by over 300 million people, making it one of the world’s most popular apps. It has become an integral part of our everyday lives, with its ability to instantly identify songs and provide a range of music features such as lyrics. Shazam has become a verb, and it has changed the way the world discovers music.
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, 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, an artificial intelligence system that detects drowning in swimming pools.
Chris has spoken at events all over the world, sharing lessons learned from his experience creating a new technology by overcoming what were thought to be impossible obstacles. He inspires audiences with firsthand stories that highlight key take-aways across technology innovation, persistence, removing friction, and entrepreneurship. Chris gives audiences a new framework for making big things happen and inspires them to take action.
Prior to his technology career, Chris was a strategy consultant and earned two master’s degrees from UC Berkeley and Cambridge University.
When he isn’t working or speaking, you can find Chris enjoying the outdoors and spending time with his son, Jude.
Speech Descriptions
Eliminate Effort to Unlock Explosive Growth
(Audiences learn to identify and eliminate friction to drive 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 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.
Build the Vision You See (But Others Don't)
(Audiences are inspired to embrace a mindset to create the next great companies)
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 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.
Bring Impossible Ideas to Life
(Audiences learn a new framework of thinking to drive innovation through technology and AI)
Technology & AI 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 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, Chris 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.
Overcome Obstacles with Imagination
(Audiences learn new mindsets to break past barriers)
A great idea gets you nowhere without tenacity. True disruption requires both persistence and creative solutions. In creating Shazam, Chris faced obstacles many thought were insurmountable. Most would have given up, but he refused. Instead, Chris challenged every assumption about the obstacles he faced. He shares stories and actionable lessons that inspire audiences to pursue their dreams. Chris urges audiences to question the status quo and to sweat the details on the path to redefining the future.
Videos & Media
Chris's Videos
Chris Barton Speaker Reel
The Start-Up Mindset
Removing Friction Drives Success
The Ragged Road of Bringing Big Ideas to Life
Overcoming Obstacles: Experts said Shazam was Impossible Idea
Shazam's Breakthrough AI Technology
Connecting to Emotions to Produce Great Results
Books and Media
Speaker Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
Chris Barton is the founder and creator of Shazam, an entrepreneur, inventor, tech investor, and keynote speaker on innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and AI. He helped turn an idea that seemed impossible—identifying any song playing around you—into Shazam, one of the world’s most recognized consumer technology platforms. Today, Chris shares the lessons behind that journey to help leaders and organizations think differently, overcome obstacles, eliminate friction, and turn bold ideas into breakthrough results.
Chris Barton speaks about innovation, creative persistence, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, breakthrough thinking, eliminating friction, and turning seemingly impossible ideas into reality. Drawing from his experience creating Shazam and working in technology, Chris shows audiences how to question conventional assumptions, start from basic truths, persist creatively through obstacles, and connect ideas to human emotion. His perspective is especially relevant for organizations navigating disruption, transformation, and the opportunities created by AI.
Chris Barton’s keynote programs focus on creative persistence, breakthrough innovation, thinking differently, eliminating friction, entrepreneurship, and AI-driven innovation. At the heart of his presentations are practical principles drawn from the creation of Shazam, including building from basic truths, challenging accepted assumptions, applying creative persistence, removing friction, and connecting to emotion. His keynote can be customized around an organization’s goals, industry, audience, and event theme.
Chris offers audiences the rare combination of an extraordinary innovation story and practical ideas they can use. He helped create Shazam before the technology needed to make it work fully existed, requiring his team to overcome enormous technical and business obstacles along the way. He turns that journey into a memorable framework for approaching ambitious goals, solving difficult problems, and creating breakthrough ideas. Event organizers consistently describe his keynote as inspiring, practical, highly engaging, and transformative.
Chris is a strong fit for corporate leaders, executive teams, entrepreneurs, technology organizations, sales teams, associations, and organizations focused on innovation, transformation, growth, entrepreneurship, or AI. He speaks at global conferences, corporate meetings, leadership events, sales kickoffs, association conferences, innovation summits, and executive programs. His message has resonated with audiences ranging from entrepreneurs and CEOs to technology professionals and thousands of employees at major global organizations.
Audiences can expect a high-energy, cinematic keynote combining the remarkable story of creating Shazam with practical lessons on innovation and achieving the impossible. Chris uses storytelling, music, visuals, humor, and audience interaction to bring the journey to life while giving people actionable ways to think differently about obstacles and opportunities. Audiences leave with memorable principles for building from basic truths, practicing creative persistence, eliminating friction, and connecting ideas to emotion.
Chris’s keynote themes can be aligned with an organization’s audience, objectives, and the challenges it is navigating. His signature programs provide distinct ways to explore innovation, creative persistence, eliminating friction, entrepreneurship, and achieving the impossible, allowing event organizers to choose the message and takeaways most relevant to their audience and event goals.
Yes. Chris can participate in formats beyond a traditional keynote, including moderated conversations, interviews, panels, and audience Q&A. These formats can create deeper conversations around innovation, entrepreneurship, creative persistence, AI, breakthrough thinking, and the lessons Chris learned turning the seemingly impossible idea behind Shazam into reality.
Contact the D’Amelio Network to check Chris Barton’s availability, discuss your audience and event objectives, and begin the booking process.
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