Chris Barton

Founder and Creator of Shazam, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Tech Investor, and Artificial Intelligence Speaker

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.

  • Chris Barton Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    Please Inquire

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    California, USA

  • Chris Barton Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    Please Inquire

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    California, USA

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

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 ...

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.  [Audiences are inspired to embrace a mindset to create the next great companies]

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Bring Impossible Ideas to Life

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 ...

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 show how innovation comes from not just an idea, but from a series of insights to overcome obstacles along the way.
[Audiences learn a new framework of thinking to create change through technology]

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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 faced obstacles many thought were insurmountable. Most would have given up, but he refused. Instead, Chris challenged every ...

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. [Audiences learn new mindsets to break past barriers]

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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 ...

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. [Audiences learn to identify and eliminate friction to drive growth].

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About Keynote Speaker Chris Barton

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.

Chris grew up with a French mother and British father – both of whom were university professors. However, academics were a struggle for Chris. Chris would come to learn he had undiagnosed dyslexia. Over the years, Chris learned to embrace what he now calls his superpower. Chris believes that dyslexia has allowed him to overcome barriers to achieve his many accomplishments.

Shazam is a great example. Though Chris does not position himself as an expert on the broader future of A.I., his journey as a true A.I. pioneer started when Chris had the idea to identify music using a mobile phone, as no technology existed to achieve his goal. In addition, he was told by Professors at MIT and Stanford that this application of pattern recognition was impossible. Besides 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 maybe the experts were right? “No,” he says.

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. In 2018, Shazam, and its 200 employees, was acquired by Apple in Apple’s 6th largest acquisition of all-time. Today, Shazam has been downloaded over two billion times and is considered 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 information about the music such as lyrics. Shazam has even become a verb, as in “Can you Shazam this song for me?” In addition to its widespread usage, Shazam has also been the inspiration for a popular game show hosted by Jamie Foxx called “Beat Shazam,” which has aired for four seasons on the Fox Network challenging contestants to recognize songs faster than the Shazam app.

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.

When he has the time, Chris enjoys speaking at events and sharing lessons learned from his experiences achieving the impossible. He inspires people with stories of the unexpected mindsets that are necessary to overcome challenges and achieve success. Chris gives audiences a new framework for thinking about the obstacles they face and motivates them to take action.

Prior to his audacious 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.

Testimonials

“Chris’s keynote completely captivated our audience of 1700+ SAP customers, partners, and employees. His talk was truly entertaining and inspiring. Our audience’s perception of entrepreneurial innovation was completely transformed.”

Michael Locher-Tjoa

Managing Director - SAP Switzerland

“Chris is a charismatic speaker who shared his inspiring story of how a seemingly impossible dream with unsurmountable obstacles eventually came to life. In a very personal and honest tone, Chris shared the many lessons learned from the challenges of creating Shazam – from the power of persuasion and convincing people to believe in their project to building credibility and sharing their passion. The overall message was very inspiring and uplifting and our audience at our UNLEASH show loved having him as a speaker!”

Marc Coleman

Founder & CEO, UNLEASH Group

“Chris was an inspiring and sincere keynote speaker. His talk was very engaging … the audience was fascinated by his personal insights on entrepreneurship and business strategy. Very on point, with a convincing message!”

Thomas Mosch

Head of CEBIT d!talk

“Chris was an incredibly engaging speaker who brought the audience to the time and place of his entrepreneurial journey with Shazam. I was not only inspired by his accomplishments, but also impressed with his humility. We invited him back the following year knowing that he would motivate the next round of MBAs to innovate like he does.”

Rachel Adams

Co-Chair of UC Berkeley MBA Orientation

We recently had Chris Barton speak at our 40th anniversary celebration. He delivered what was by far the best one hour keynote that our clients and staff had ever seen. Chris was insightful, energetic, and entertaining speaker with thought-provoking ideas.

Rodrigo

Porter Novelli

Chris customized a powerful keynote that delivered significant value for Coca-Cola. His messages sparked action among our executives and inspired our bottler partners toward our goals. Chris's energy and enthusiasm really stands out. He is an inspiration with truly eye-opening insights and stories.

Marcelo

Coca-Cola

Brilliant brilliant brilliant speaker! Chris delivered an inspiring and on point presentation tailored to over 7,000 Optus employees to launch our new Innovation strategy. To date, Chris’ talk attracted the highest in real time attendance and engagement as compared to any other speaker we have had on this topic. Chris shed light on how innovation can be a big breakthrough, but it can also be an everyday improvement sharing practical examples from his time at Shazam and Google. The presentation balanced both the mindset that is required to drive a cultural shift for innovation as well as the process to bring innovative ideas to life. Chris delivered a compelling talk that generated talkability across the organisation with leaders revisiting the recording later with their teams to help reinforce key messages. Powerful content delivered with an engaging story!

Anshika

Optus

We invited Chris as our keynote speaker for two events that we held in Brazil and Mexico for Mercado Libre in the summer of 2022. We invited more than 60 CEOs and top executives to these exclusive “C-Club” events. Chris worked with us to understand the key objectives of these events and delivered a truly inspiring keynote speech that was customized for our goals. Read More

Pablo

Mercado Libre

Chris embodies inspiration from head to toe. We loved his stories and insights on the core mindsets that lead to game-changing innovation. His delivery was fun, genuine and honest, both during his speech and as our “guest star” at my leadership team’s offsite dinner.

Kenneth

Loreal

Every single person loved your presentation. All day people were coming up to me. Loved that there was so much take away. People are still buzzing about your presentation days later.

Wesley

YMCA

Chris’ keynote completely captivated our audience of 1700+ SAP customers, partners, and employees. His talk was truly entertaining and inspiring. Our audience’s perception of entrepreneurial innovation was completely transformed.

Michael

SAP

Chris delivered! He captivated the audience at our annual summer event. His first- hand stories as well as insights drawn from other companies were fascinating to our EO members that come from so many businesses. Chris left us with compelling lessons and a fresh perspective that will stick for years to come.

Karina

Entrepreneurs Organization

A good speaker communicates but a great speaker connects. As an MC, applause usually signals the end of one speech and is my cue to get back on stage. Chris is a different breed of speaker – his story is so authentic and inspiring that he received multiple applause breaks throughout his speech. A particularly impressive feat especially given that he was addressing 5000+ predominantly German business professionals after they had already been wowed by President Obama earlier at that same event. I’ve been a professional Event MC and host to over 500 events around the world and I must say Chris is a truly gifted speaker and genuinely beautiful soul.

DanRam

 

Media

Podcast

Jul 17, 2019

Chris Barton - How Entrepreneurs Are Different

Chris Barton is an entrepreneur speaker, co-founder and former Board Director of Shazam, and expert in mobile applications. At Shazam,...

Listen

Article

Oct 5, 2018

A Lesson in Perseverance from Shazam Co-Founder Chris Barton

Love the song playing overhead in the coffee shop but no one has any idea who it’s by or what...

Read More

Article

Sep 7, 2018

Apple Cleared to Buy Shazam, Giving Apple Music a Competitive Edge

After a four month investigation, the European Union has cleared the sale of Chris Barton’s music-identifying app, Shazam, to Apple,...

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Article

Aug 9, 2018

From Hit Songs to Headphones: Two People Who Changed the Way We Listen to Music

Hit songs and cell phones Enter any cafe, any day, and what do you see? Someone holding their phone closer...

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Article

May 25, 2018

One on One With Chris Barton

Ever wish your uber driver would leave you alone to answer emails or swipe through social media? You’ve got better...

Read More

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