Honestly, I’m not sure why I thought this book would be a good idea. It’s long, boring, and basically you need friends/family with lots of money-not very inspiring.

I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about one of my other obsessions besides books..NETFLIX
informative and did not read like a text book

As someone who has been a Netflix member since I bought a DVD player in 1998 or so, this was a fun read. I felt like I had an almost personal connection to the growth of this company just from being able to remember a lot of the changes described. It was a fun to see behind the curtain on why some of these decisions were made.

From an origin story/leadership education standpoint it was great as well. I'd put it up there with Creativity, Inc. in terms of tech founding stories written by grounded, personable and mostly relateable people.

A

Also of high interest to students will be THAT WILL NEVER WORK by Marc Randolph which deals with "The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea." Of course, so many students are regular Netflix users and while they will relate to today's product, they will likely find the company's transformation over time to be surprising. In particular, it will be valuable for them to see the frequent fails (such as never realizing the Blockbuster merger) or near failures (deficits and layoffs) that occurred prior to Netflix becoming the force it is today. Hopefully, it is also stimulating for them to think about the process of idea generation (and rejection or modification) as well as needed research on market needs, trends and competition. Randolph, who co-founded Netflix, also has extensive experience in the entrepreneurship sphere in Silicon Valley. He writes with an often amusing, very conversational tone, providing in THAT WILL NEVER WORK an inside look at many of the decisions and efforts to adapt as the company moved forward.

If you like back stories of the major companies and brands we interact with today that have broken the mold and set the tone for how we live, you will thoroughly enjoy this book! It is the story of how a little company called Netflix went from an idea that was laughed at (and by a pretty big behemoth in the business world,, Blockbuster) to the ubiquitous brand it is today. Told in the first person by Marc Randolph, one of the co-founders who eventually retired in 2004 (I think), it is not so much an autobiography of a man but of a company and it was a fascinating read especially if you are a small business owner and an aspiring entrepreneur. Granted, this was during the dot com boom so there was quite a bit of VC money out there in the bay area (specifically Santa Cruz is where he is located) to help them out, but the intricacies of how they started and failed many times, the people on the journey with him - some still there, others laid off a while back, make this a really good read. Randolph tells it as a story and invites you along on the journey, writing it so it is palatable for anyone even if they are not a business person. He makes a point defining the "lingo' so the reader can easily understand what is happening when it gets in the weeds about how businesses work. Full disclosure: 1) I would love to own my own business that breaks out and becomes something great, so these stories fascinate me and 2) I am a fairly generous reviewer and tend to only critique major issues, and do not delve into a book on the micro-level of analysis, so if you wanted a blow by blow analysis that picks apart every nuance and flaw, you will not get that here. There are parts that seem to drag on, however, I feel like shortening it would not really allow the reader to get the full story. As someone who, among other things, has worked in the direct marketing industry, I had heard vaguely about the Netflix story - how everything brick and mortar was going to go away (Blockbuster) and go digital but people did not believe it would go down that way - yet it did and is not going back. So I was actually really excited to find a book that actually tells the whole story and how it really went. Overall, although a business book it is also for people who just really like a good story.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

Such a fun book. Not only about a company that is know far and wide but also for the story of the people behind it. This company defined a generation now go learn how it all came to be.

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.