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That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph
Jun. 22nd, 2020 11:59 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
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. Indeed, 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. With Reed Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO, together they founded Netflix.
Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix’s triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty-first century’s most disruptive startup began with few believers and calamity at every turn. 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.
Full of counterintuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, Marc 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.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Marc Randolph is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor and investor best known for co-founding Netflix with Reed Hastings. More business history than memoir this is an engaging, self-deprecating read about Netflix’s origins and how it weathered common start-up issues and the dot-com bust of 2001 but Randolph left before Netflix moved into streaming and content business or battled Blockbuster, so the book stops before the real story gets started.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
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. Indeed, 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. With Reed Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO, together they founded Netflix.
Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix’s triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty-first century’s most disruptive startup began with few believers and calamity at every turn. 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.
Full of counterintuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, Marc 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.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Marc Randolph is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor and investor best known for co-founding Netflix with Reed Hastings. More business history than memoir this is an engaging, self-deprecating read about Netflix’s origins and how it weathered common start-up issues and the dot-com bust of 2001 but Randolph left before Netflix moved into streaming and content business or battled Blockbuster, so the book stops before the real story gets started.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
