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. 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-and was just one of many more and far worse proposals, like personalized 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 Netflix brass 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.

The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea

That Will Never Work

to się nigdy nie uda

Netflix

Netflixin Dogusu ve Bir Fikrin Inanilmaz Serüveni

Netflix Bu Is Asla Tutmaz

How We Took a Crazy Idea, Built Netflix and Disrupted an Industry

el nacimiento de Netflix y el poder de las grandes ideas

Eso nunca funcionará

Non funzionerà mai. La nascita di Netflix e la straordinaria vita di un'idea

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 was 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-and was just one of many more and far worse proposals, like personalized 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 Netflix brass 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,though, 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.

Oggi, con i suoi oltre 150 milioni di utenti, l’egemonia di Netflix nel settore dell’intrattenimento video sembra un fatto inevitabile, ma ai suoi inizi la startup più innovativa del ventesimo secolo contava ben poche persone che credevano nelle sue possibilità di successo e ha affrontato disastri a ogni passo. In questo appassionante e divertente memoir, Marc Randolph ripercorre le prime fasi della storia di Netflix, dall’invio del primo CD di prova (nella busta di un biglietto di auguri e senza nemmeno una custodia) alla corsa alla quotazione in borsa proprio dopo lo scoppio della bolla delle dot-com, condividendo i dietro le quinte e i colpi di scena che caratterizzano la vita di tutte le startup. Pagina dopo pagina, emergono chiari i punti cardine della filosofia imprenditoriale di Randolph e che costituiscono il DNA che ancora oggi caratterizza Netflix: dal mantra “nessuno sa niente” al “Principio del Canada” al modo per costruire una cultura aziendale informale e rilassata che responsabilizza i collaboratori invece di controllarli. Il racconto vivace di Randolph restituisce alla perfezione il clima pionieristico degli anni d’oro della Silicon Valley e delinea personaggi ai quali è impossibile non affezionarsi, strappando un sorriso a ogni pagina.

La nascita di Netflix e la straordinaria vita di un'idea

Non funzionerà mai

Marc Randolph

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