Former Netflix CEO: “They're Lying To You About Hard Work!” Building a $278 Billion Company Wasn’t Built On Hard Work!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Education, Business

4.5 • 18K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2024

⏱️ 122 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Because you watched Diary Of A CEO: the path to Netflix's $300 billion empire Marc Randolph is the co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, he is also the author of the international bestseller, ‘That Will Never Work' and the host of the podcast of the same name. In this conversation, Marc and Steven discuss topics such as, the importance of pride in work, the pitch that almost ruined Netflix, how Marc overcame $50 million of debt, and the one decision that saved Netflix. (00:00) Intro (00:37) What’s your mission? (02:12) Why did you write this book? (03:25) Your journey to Netflix, what got you there? (06:51) Meeting your Netflix co-founder (08:28) Searching for a business idea (12:03) How to know if you’ve got a winning business idea (16:45) The importance of stress testing your idea (21:11) Being too romantic about your idea (24:19) Netflix’s early years (31:12) Exploring the potential of selling to Amazon (35:44) What was Jeff like in 1999? (36:29) Stepping down as CEO (45:21) What was it that he had that he thought was better? (46:41) Having tough conversations (50:37) What makes Reed so successful? (51:55) Hard work: does it matter? (58:14) How to find the perfect product-market fit (01:02:11) The moment Netflix turned on subscriptions it changed everything (01:09:36) How many tests should we be conducting? (01:11:16) Getting employees to conduct more tests (01:13:24) Your dad passing away (01:18:58) The dot-com crash (01:23:01) Getting the call from Blockbuster to buy Netflix (01:29:37) Blockbuster nearly took Netflix down, until their CEO left (01:33:41) Leaving Netflix (01:38:47) Netflix culture (01:49:57) Your relationship and commitment to date nights (01:56:13) The last guest’s question Follow Marc: Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/NcZZFoH1FLb Instagram - https://g2ul0.app.link/z7yXEFJ1FLb You can purchase Marc’s book, ‘That Will Never Work’, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/jeSxs0R1FLb Watch the episodes on Youtube - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACEpisodes My new book! 'The 33 Laws Of Business & Life' is out now - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACBook You can purchase the The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards: Second Edition, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We were in deep trouble at Netflix. We had losses of about $50 million. We have got to sell this sucker fast.
0:07.0	Mark Randolph is an American tech entrepreneur, the co-founder and first CEO of Netflix with a career-panning numerous startups and
0:14.4	ventures, Marx expertise in innovation, leadership, and business strategy is unparalleled.
0:19.1	August 1997 Netflix was founded.
0:21.9	Yes. And the reality is the idea was ridiculous.
0:25.2	It didn't work.
0:26.1	Nobody would rent DVDs by mail.
0:28.4	But with over 40 years of being an entrepreneur,
0:31.0	I've learned every idea is bad. We just don't know why they're
0:34.6	bad yet. The important thing is how clever can you be to come up with a quick and
0:39.3	cheap way to test it. For example, we thought, let's just have a subscription and no late fees.
0:44.0	It was a ridiculous idea, but when we tested it, people loved it.
0:48.0	The Netflix DVD service changed the world.
0:51.0	You explored selling Netflix to Amazon two years after you'd launched.
0:54.4	For probably 10 to 15 million dollars. That's not a bad return for 12 to 18 months
1:00.9	work, but I thought it was much more interesting to take the shot and
1:04.7	see what Netflix could become. But all of a sudden in a matter of a week or two in
1:09.4	spring of 2000, we were going to go broke being successful. We tried going to Blockbuster for months, but they weren't going to save us. They were going to compete with us.
1:18.0	Netflix wouldn't have survived. But there's a story which has not really been told which took one of Netflix's biggest impediments and turned it into one of its biggest assets. Mark, in this season of your life, if you could consolidate your mission and the work that you're doing across the content you produce, the people you speak to, your professional endeavors, if you could consolidate that into a singular focused mission, What exactly would that mission be in this
1:55.3	season of your life? For me at this point in my life it's all about mentorship. You
2:01.0	know I've done seven startups. I kind of recognized quite a while ago I do not have
2:07.2	The appetite to do another one
	...

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