The website began as a paid service but quickly changed to an advertising service to make it also available free for users. In 2004, the company returned to its initial vision of producing customized radio stations and changed its name to Pandora Media. Initially, the company pursued a transitional strategy of technology licensing to third parties including AOL, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Tower Records. Founder Tim Westergren then convinced Pandora's 50 employees of the company to work for two years without pay. The company quickly ran through its initial $2 million in funding, running out of money by 2001. The idea was to create a separate, individualized radio station for each user, with music that the user prefers and without music that they do not prefer. began as Savage Beast Technologies, and was founded by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft and Tim Westergren.
