David Porter (8Tracks, GB) ()

David Porter’s idea for a “music-oriented social network” has been in development since 1999 during his time in business school at Berkeley. However, this music-oriented social network was founded in 2006 and launched on August 8, 2008. One of Porter’s major influences for the project was Napster, more specifically its “Hotlist” feature, which allowed users to add other users to their “hot list,” consequently giving them access to that user’s entire library. Also, after having spent 3 years prior to business school in London, Porter was fascinated by the social nature of the city’s electronic music scene in which DJ’s gained cult-like followings and augmented their following primarily through peer referral. Based on these concepts, Porter drafted a business plan entitled “Sampled & Sorted,” which is now the name of his blog and was able to garner some initial attention for the project from venture capital firms. However, given his relative inexperience in the business world, Porter joined Live365, gained an understanding of their business model, their strengths and weaknesses, and was able to refine his original proposition. With the rise of Web 2.0, Porter finally decided to found 8tracks in the Fall of 2006, and after compiling a preliminary team, was able to launch the site on August 8, 2008