#128: Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify)

Aug 3, 2023

Mitch Kroll, co-founder and former CEO of Findaway, transformed the audiobook industry, leading innovations from physical devices to a global digital platform. He shares insights on overcoming early skepticism about Playaway, his strategic moves to rival Audible, and how Findaway evolved into an integrated audiobook company. Mitch discusses the benefits of their acquisition by Spotify and the future of audiobooks under their new partnership. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining company culture and mentoring future entrepreneurs.

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ANECDOTE

Origins Of The Playaway Device

Mitch Kroll and co-founders invented Playaway to “carry a book in your pocket” inspired by the iPod revolution.
They launched a single-use audiobook device without prior publisher contacts and navigated many early highs and lows.

INSIGHT

Three-Phase Growth Strategy

Findaway evolved in three phases: Playaway hardware, a digital distribution platform, then publishing and production.
Building distribution first enabled later strategic moves into publishing and independent-author services.

ADVICE

Build Culture That Scales

Build culture so it strengthens as headcount grows; authentic culture scales up, it doesn't dilute.
Prioritize trust and empower the team to amplify culture beyond leadership alone.

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Mitch Kroll, co-founder & CEO of Findaway (acquired by Spotify).

Mitch started Findaway back in 2004, a time when audiobooks were available only on CD and cassette, in order to revolutionize this business of audiobooks, connecting storytellers with listeners at scale. With this vision of audiobook democratization in mind, Mitch led the company over the next 17 years to sell over 6 million units of its Playaway audiobook device and through a honed focus on innovation, became the global leader in digital audiobook distribution and trusted self-publishing platform for independent authors around the world. From a solidified position at the center of the audiobook industry, Findaway earned the attention of the world’s largest audio streaming subscription service and was ultimately acquired by Spotify for nearly $120mm, announced at the end of 2021.

Still operating out of their Solon headquarters here in Northeast Ohio, Mitch led Findaway through this acquisition where the team continues their work at Spotify to push the proliferation of audiobook adoption, leveraging the same innovation and platform that Spotify used to disrupt music and podcasts to power content distribution to hundreds of millions of users across the world!

Mitch is a shrewd builder, deep thinker, and really just a lot of fun to learn from — I learned a great deal from our conversation today, which spans everything from the history and future of audiobooks to how Mitch thinks about culture, to professional and life lessons, to the Cleveland startup ecosystem. Please enjoy my conversation with Mitch Kroll!

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Connect with Mitch Kroll on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-kroll-1370638/
Learn more about Findaway — https://findaway.com/
Learn more about Findaway's acquisition by Spotify

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