Sonos: John MacFarlane

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2024

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2002, John MacFarlane and his co-founders began tinkering on what was then an ambitious idea: create a new way to enjoy music throughout the home, without wires. At the time, streaming and the iPod were brand new, and smart speakers were over a decade away. But the team at Sonos engineered a top-quality wireless sound system, and–with many fits and starts–integrated it with mobile technology and, eventually, Siri and Alexa. Along the way, John and his team contended with the early unreliability of WiFi, and faced stiff competition from much bigger companies. But today, Sonos is an established player in music, with projected sales of over $1.5 billion this year.

This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei.

It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Sam Paulson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wundery Plus subscribers can listen to how I built this early and ad free right now.
0:05.0	Join Wundery Plus in the Wundery App or on Apple Podcasts.
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0:41.4	Terms and conditions apply.
0:43.0	How do I tell them? How do I tell them? How do I be the bills? How do I pay the bills?
0:50.0	I know what goes through your head when you're living with cancer, the questions, the fears, the need to know.
0:57.0	How do I know?
0:59.0	Because I'm living with cancer too.
1:02.0	That's why I joined the Macmillan online community and we can help people
1:06.6	like you whatever you need to ask. To join us search Macillan online community.
1:14.8	This is my voice.
1:16.3	It can tell you a lot about me, and I'm not changing it for anyone.
1:21.6	In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths, you'll find a collection of
1:25.8	NPR episodes centered on the Black Experience. Search NPR Black Truths, Wherever You Get Podcast.
1:34.4	When you're leading people, you bring them through your ups and downs.
1:43.7	So you really have to be mindful of that so that you're when you're having a down or you're having
1:49.2	an up, you don't bring them all the way with you.
1:51.4	Yeah. And I found myself after 25 years of startup companies,
	...

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