Jason Ve (BS '07)

Jason Ve headshot

What is your role as Head of Business Development at Deezer focused on?

In my role at Deezer (leading music streaming service in France and top 4 globally), I lead our partnerships and deals with some of our most strategic partners, including Google and Microsoft. I look for opportunities where music will bring a lot of value to our joint customers. It’s also quite an exciting time to be in the music industry: Deezer has been enjoying rapid growth, as consumers around the globe are paying for music again. And our startup just became a unicorn, surpassing a $1 billion valuation.

What’s the most interesting part of your job?

Keeping tabs on how consumers shift how they’re listening to music. We need to be at the forefront of delivering the best audio experience, and it was exciting to work on our voice strategy and launch Deezer on the Google Home.

Walk me through your career path until Google, highlighting what you were looking for as you shifted from one role to another?

My career started quite early. I ran my first business at age 13 selling consumer electronics online. I ran it for five years and made enough profits to self-fund my college degree at NYU Stern.

After college, I went to Wall Street to get a crash course in finance and dealmaking, joining UBS as an investment banking analyst. During my tenure, the Great Recession hit which caused me to reassess my interests. I followed my passion and moved to the entertainment industry, taking on a strategy role at Disney working on Broadway shows such as The Lion King, Mary Poppins and Newsies. Following the theatrical stint, I joined Nickelodeon, the flagship TV business at Viacom, to broaden my entertainment scope.

As these traditional media companies became uprooted by a shift to digital consumption, I knew I wanted to expand my knowledge of digital and tech. I then moved to Google to lead music partnerships, working on deals in ad tech with streaming companies such as Spotify, iHeartMedia and SoundCloud.

How do you stay connected to Stern and NYU?

I was the previous co-chair of the NYU LGBTQ Alumni Network. I had also served on the Entertainment, Media and Technology alumni committee. NYU is an amazing network, with the brightest minds, and I try my best to give my time back to this community whenever I can.

What's your favorite place to eat in Miami?

This is a tough one. I’d say Palmar in Wynwood, in the burgeoning arts scene of Miami. It’s a lovely Chinese restaurant with a tropical vibe, with the owner and chef of Venezuelan and Colombian descent.

Where was the last place you went for vacation?