5 Vital Lessons from an Entrepreneur Who Almost Invented Spotify How Just Fix's Adam Graham turned early setbacks into lasting success.

When Adam Graham sat across from Spotify's founding team in their early days, he delivered a prediction that would later haunt him: "Trust me, it's not going to work."

Graham had every reason to be skeptical. In 1998, his first venture, I Choose Radio, pioneered what would later become Spotify's core feature: on-demand music streaming with drag-and-drop playlists. The company gained hundreds of thousands of users and made history by being the first to stream live from Glastonbury in 2002. But a cash flow crunch had forced a distress sale to New Groove Records.

Today, as his latest venture JustFix prepares to float on the Aquis Stock Exchange, Graham can laugh at that moment—and share the vital lessons that transformed him from a university dropout into a serial entrepreneur.

Related: 7 Failures Every Entrepreneur Must Eventually Face

Lesson 1: Don't trust promises without proof

When Graham was building I Choose Radio, "The VCs were saying, 'You've got to keep growing the top line—the money will come,'" Graham recalls. "But they're just making bets. They can afford to make those bets because they don't have the skin in the game."

Graham hadn't yet developed a deep understanding of cash flow and profit-and-loss statements, which are required for success, so he followed their guidance, stretching the company's resources to chase growth. He was forced to make that distress sale when the promised funding never materialized.

Lesson 2: Master the numbers

The early struggle taught Graham his most valuable lesson: understanding finance isn't optional. "I didn't really understand the difference between cash flow and profit and loss and various other kind of basic financial things I obviously understand very deeply now," he admits. "The biggest lesson was the importance of having a really strong financial person or focus within the business." This insight has shaped every venture since.

The irony wasn't lost on Graham that his departure from law school—where he'd been memorizing financial cases—led to learning those same financial principles the hard way. But it was his early passion for technology that set him on this path. "In my dorm room at university, there was an internet connection, which was amazing," he remembers. "Previously at home, we had a 56k dial-up modem. I just fell in love with the Internet. I knew this was definitely going to be the future."

Related: Successful Entrepreneurs Need To Know Their Numbers

Lesson 3: Find the right balance of risk and security

After his streaming startup's exit, Graham made a strategic move that would shape his future success. He joined WPP, the world's largest marketing business, but with an entrepreneurial twist. "It gave me the opportunity to be entrepreneurial within a holding company environment," he explains. "I had the security of someone else paying the bills, but enough freedom to scratch the entrepreneurial itch."

This balance led to co-founding Saint, a digital agency that twice won Agency of the Year, and later he went on to lead Weapon7, the agency that developed the first version of the now-famous Headspace meditation app. Graham had found his sweet spot at the intersection of technology and marketing, building apps and launching brands for numerous clients.

Lesson 4: Look for problems hidden in plain sight

After years of building digital solutions for others, Graham discovered his next big opportunity in a moment of personal frustration. "I was locked out of home, and I just couldn't believe how old-fashioned the process of finding a locksmith was," he says. "I was amazed there wasn't an Uber for this."

That realization led to JustFix, which allows users to hire locksmiths and other tradespeople (such as electricians and plumbers). In just four years, it has attracted 5,900 app downloads and over 3,700 registered customers and now covers all of England and parts of Scotland.

Lesson 5: Build a strong foundation before scaling

Unlike his first venture, Graham approached JustFix with methodical caution. "I developed a prototype myself, got some customers, and tested to see whether how I thought it should be done would work," he explains. Only after proving the business model did he raise capital and expand.

This measured approach has paid off. Co-founded with his wife Kathleen, JustFix is now preparing for its IPO on London's Aquis Stock Exchange, marking a full-circle moment for Graham. The same financial savvy he once lacked has become his north star, guiding him from a bootstrapped startup to a public offering.

For entrepreneurs facing their own setbacks, Graham's journey offers a powerful reminder: success isn't always about being first—sometimes it's about being ready.

Just like the service he created that started with needing a locksmith, Graham has found the key to unlocking entrepreneurial potential: combining innovation with execution, passion with practicality, and, most importantly, learning from every setback along the way.