EP 369 Netflix Co-Founder Discusses How It Began and Its Improbable (Unimaginable)Success

To imagine that what started out as a spitballing exercise on California’s Highway 17 by two newly acquainted business associates could be turned into a media giant eclipsing the size of The Walt Disney Company in the span of a few decades is almost as fantastical as Disney’s creative works. And yet, it happened. Place yourselves in the shoes of Reed Hastings and our guest, Marc Randolph, trying to determine where their creative energies would take them next, and rather than customized dog food or hand made surfboards(they were considered), they settled on a video distribution service, which later became a streaming video service. And now their brainchild, Netflix, is the leading streaming service in an industry growing rapidly. Mr. Randolph’s book, ‘That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea’ walks us through the origin story of one of the most successful technology companies in history which was born out of a dying industry–the packaged DVD business. It’s a great romp and has lessons replete throughout about what contributed to that success from its early days and how you should never listen to those who tell you your idea won’t work. This is the first of two episodes of our podcast on the video streaming business.

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