PJ Parson, Northzone and Spotify

Amol Sarva (0:04)

Hello, and welcome to In the Know. This is Amol Sarva, your host. Today's episode, I've got PJ Parson from Northzone. His most famous deal, Spotify, came to New York in 2012, and he followed after opening the Northzone office here, and has been here for the last decade. I guess he's sort of an immigrant to the New York OG scene. We're going to hear all about the early days in Sweden and the path. So the fishviking who came to New York, that's going to be our headline, right?

PJ Parson (0:36)

That works.

Amol Sarva (0:37)

Is that the right origin story? I mean, grew up in a small town, whatever, with your grandfather?

PJ Parson (0:43)

Yeah. And yeah, the origin story is basically, I came from a small town, and then I had a great town during high school, and I actually was an exchange student in Dayton, Ohio, of all places, which really opened my eyes to the world and to, strangely enough, Dayton, Ohio, would that open your eyes to the world? But it actually did.

Amol Sarva (1:12)

Well, it was radically different from where you come from, right?

PJ Parson (1:13)

It was, indeed. And then, coming back to Sweden after high school, I took a slightly unconventional three-year gap years working as a tour guide in Italy and a ski guide in France for three years. Yeah.

Amol Sarva (1:31)

Okay, dude.

PJ Parson (1:33)

And then I started university.

Amol Sarva (1:34)

Well, is that the Bocconi thing?

PJ Parson (1:37)

Yeah, Bocconi was after university.

Amol Sarva (1:39)

Oh, so that's later.

PJ Parson (1:40)

That was like during the university.

Amol Sarva (1:42)

I see. But you had some kind of passion for Italy and France and stuff like that.

PJ Parson (1:45)

Yeah, so that's how that happened, basically. You know, I had never been to Italy when I was stationed in Italy, first as a musician, but then I was sort of...

Amol Sarva (1:55)

No, hang on. How did you get stationed there? This doesn't help me understand. And when you said you had a fun time in high school, you mean you partied like an animal?

PJ Parson (2:01)

Yeah, yeah. And I played a lot of music, and that's how I got the job as a tour guide, because they first put me there to sort of be an entertainer.

Amol Sarva (2:14)

You were in the band.

PJ Parson (2:15)

Yeah, like playing for Swedish or Scandinavian tourists in Italy.

Amol Sarva (2:21)

And did you play metal for them?

PJ Parson (2:23)

No, no, no. It was like really, really basic stuff.

Amol Sarva (2:26)

But that's what you were into.

PJ Parson (2:27)

Yeah. But then there was this really, you know, weird experience that happened in Sweden during this time. There was an intrusion in the archipelago of Stockholm of Russian submarines. And the guy who was responsible for all the sort of the excursions to Rome, Florence and Pisa, he was summoned back to Sweden because it was in the Marines, like the reserves. And then everyone asked like, who the hell should run the excursions to Rome, Florence and Pisa? And I, you know, raised my hand. Well, you know, and I'd rather do that than play guitars for drunk Swedes.

Amol Sarva (3:06)

Oh, dude, this is cool. So you're like, okay, wait, in high school, you're a wild man.

PJ Parson (3:10)

Yeah.

Amol Sarva (3:11)

Somebody sees you play somewhere, you make friends with some dude who's like a tour operator, who himself has like got a love of adventure and is like hanging out. And you're like, yeah, we get along well. And he's like, hey, man, why don't you just come with me for a few months?

PJ Parson (3:23)

Indeed.

Amol Sarva (3:24)

In the summer or something, it'll be great. You can play and whatever. And then this guy who's like military service, like everybody is, is called back.

PJ Parson (3:33)

Yeah.

Amol Sarva (3:33)

And you're 18 and a half years old or something?

PJ Parson (3:35)

Yeah, 19 and a half because I was in the US.

Amol Sarva (3:39)

Oh, right. For that year, indeed.

PJ Parson (3:40)

I was a little late. And then this happens and I get sort of thrown head first into Roman history, Renaissance.

Amol Sarva (3:51)

Oh, because you need to learn it to tell these Swedes.

PJ Parson (3:54)

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a pile this big.

Amol Sarva (3:57)

And you're like, I was trying to avoid university and now I'm becoming a scholar on the Middle Ages.

PJ Parson (4:02)

Yeah. Which was really was amazing.