That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea

by Marc Randolph

In the tradition of Phil Knight's Shoe Dog comes the incredible untold story of how Netflix went from concept to company - all revealed by co-founder and first CEO Marc Randolph.


Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. These were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997 when Marc Randolph had an idea.

It was a simple thought - leveraging the internet to rent movies - and was just one of many more proposals, like personalised baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning.

But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair - with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO - founded a company.

Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix's triumph feels inevitable but the twenty-first century's most disruptive start-up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when they pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts and determination can change the world - even with an idea that many think will never work.

What emerges, however, isn't just the inside story of one of the world's most iconic companies. Full of counter-intuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or in life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success?

From idea generation to team building to knowing when it's time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.

• ISBN10: 0316530204
• ISBN13: 9780316530200
• Publish Date: 17 September 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little Brown and Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Excellent Look at Netflix's Early Days. This book by one of the Founders - and first CEO - of Netflix, Marc Randolph, is a very well written glimpse into the early days of one of the world's leading media empires just 20 years later - that is now facing new challenges Randolph could have never foreseen. Part history, part business and investing advice, and part memoir, it shows how Randolph influenced Netflix and how Netflix influenced Randolph. Very easy to read, with Randolph frequently (briefly) explaining business terms to those who may be less knowledgeable of them. Poignant at times, profound at times, ultimately this is the very down to earth, by the bolts story of how an idea while driving down the road in a beat up Volvo became a multi-billion dollar company that beat out many competitors... and even spawned a few. Very much recommended.