Denver — Product creators want their ideas to “become so magical, they become a verb,” Chris Barton says.
Barton would know: He founded the music-recognition app Shazam, ultimately leaving billions of people to “Shazam” songs to find out who is singing.
Speaking Wednesday during the Closing Keynote at the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo, Barton shared his story of perseverance while challenging safety professionals in attendance to apply similar “creative persistence” to help make work safer.
“What breakthrough idea will you come up with by building from basic truths?” he asked.
Barton described his humble academic beginnings along his path to entrepreneurship. His dyslexia created obstacles, but he later realized it also offered opportunities.
Through defying his brain, assumptions and barriers, Barton learned the processes that guided him to organize and align his vision while collaborating with tech experts and, later, investors.
Reflecting on the number of times others asked him whether he wanted to abandon the project amid ongoing financial hardships, Barton was defiant in proudly replying, “Zero.”
“I never wanted to give up,” he said. “I always thought one day we’re going to get there. … We just need to stick around a little longer.”
Barton discussed the principles of his “Start from Zero” mindset for innovation and how they paved the way to Shazam’s creation.
He played clips from multiple pop hits of the late 1990s and early 2000s throughout the presentation while reflecting on the idea’s early days.
Barton left the crowd with a concept he hoped would keep each of its members moving.
“It’s thinking about the work you do, thinking about how it impacts other people and then feeling the impact of what you do,” he said.
