The Profile Dossier: Daniel Ek, the No-Nonsense Founder Who Built a Creative Empire

“The value of a company is the sum of the problems you solve.”

In 2006, Daniel Ek was asking himself this seemingly impossible question: "What is better than free?"

At the time, online music piracy was thriving in Sweden. Thanks to government-mandated broadband, the country had one of the fastest internet speeds in the world, which allowed people to download music in seconds.

Music lovers were suddenly armed with som…