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The James Altucher Show

Ep. 66 - Netflix Co-Founder Mitch Lowe: Stealth Success

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Business, Education

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2014

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Often many of the key people who help create great companies work behind the scenes, out of the publicity spotlight. Mitch Lowe is one of these people.  As fate often has it, Mitch was working to develop another idea. While displaying at a trade show, he met Marc Randolph who happened to stop by his booth. After a long talk about DVDs Marc started to walk away. Mitch grabbed him by the back of his backpack and said, "Wait a minute, we should talk some more."  That "grab" changed his life, and Netflix was born. James asks Mitch three things he's learned from building one of the most successful companies created in the last decade. Mitch gives huge credit for the growth of Netflix to another of the original founders, Reed Hastings.  #1) Focus. Find that one thing you know you can absolutely be the best at and force yourself to drop all the others. #2) Use analytics to make decisions. Use analytics directionally; don't worry about if they're 100% sure. Just use them to point you in a direction.  #3) Pour your money into those things that are working best. Cut medium to poor performers, whether that's people or ideas. James asks Mitch why he left Netflix. You'll hear a story about a passion that he just couldn't let go of and felt he had to pursue. From Netflix to McDonalds to Quarterly.co, Mitch has quietly helped many of today's best companies continue to grow.  You don't always have to be the "name" that most people associate with growing companies to be super-successful ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host.

0:06.4

This is the James Altichar Show on the Standsbury Radio Network.

0:19.0

So Mitch, Mitch Lowe, thanks for coming on to the James Altichar Show.

0:24.8

Thanks James, thanks to be here.

0:26.5

Now Mitch, every website, biography, interview with you says you're the co-founder of Netflix.

0:34.8

You're also the founder of Red Box and you're the current CEO of Quarterly, which is a site

0:41.0

I want to talk about.

0:43.3

But let me ask you first about Netflix.

0:45.6

Is that okay?

0:46.6

Absolutely.

0:47.6

Now, when I think of Netflix, I think of Reed Hastings.

0:52.2

I have never heard of you in the context of Netflix.

0:55.9

Well, you probably haven't heard of a lot of the key people that really started Netflix.

1:03.6

A guy named Mark Randolph, who I really credit as the true founder and creator, was a guy

1:12.7

who worked for Reed as his VP of corporate marketing at a company called Pure Atria.

1:19.4

Reed had sold in 1998 to rational software.

1:26.2

Okay.

1:27.2

So tell me how Netflix got started.

1:28.9

Because obviously it's one of the best companies on the planet now.

1:33.8

It is.

1:34.8

And we created an amazing culture there that continues to be a strong company.

1:43.8

So the way it started is in 1998, a company that Reed owned called Pure Atria was sold

...

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