SoundCloud: A Case Study of a German Startup When Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss founded SoundCloud in 2007, their idea may not have seemed very unique. However, their desire to create a simple music sharing platform took advantage of a huge opportunity presented by the growing number of social networking sites. By focusing on sharing music, these two young founders tapped into untapped potential, which has now become a very successful and ever-growing business. Similar to the stories of other startups that have focused on specific markets, SoundCloud followed in the footsteps of Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo. Each has specialized their website and therefore attracted specific groups of people seeking their services. SoundCloud is a great example of a startup that can address a need in a specific market and, as a result, expand to include the general population. SoundCloud: Speaking to Music Artists Founder Wahlforss describes how SoundCloud was founded to fill a very basic, self-felt need. , among others: “To make a long story relatively short, SoundCloud was born out of a need that Alex (Ljung, editor’s note) and I felt. … Alex was doing film scores, and I had produced electronic music and released an album. But we both felt there was a clear gap in the tools available – a gap in the market for getting a piece of audio from point A to point B to any number of recipients. It was the embryonic idea, let's say. We've moved from this type of niche market to a more generic audio infrastructure for the web. (Weverbergh). The foundation of the company is the idea that there is no easy way to share music and receive feedback. Pre-SoundCloud artists could upload music to... middle of paper ... so the subscription they sell is still based on the niche market they started with. Unlike Pandora or Spotify, free users can stream music without interrupted ads, and they can also download a limited amount of music. Since 2007, SoundCloud has grown from a small German startup to a huge website based on music sharing. By integrating music sharing with a social media-like platform, they have surpassed their competitors and continue to grow every day. The company is continually growing the SoundCloud brand through its own mobile app, as well as by integrating with many other websites and mobile apps. SoundCloud represents a company that has very successfully leveraged an unmet need and created a global brand. Only time will tell if they will be able to continually develop and meet the demands of music lovers around the world..