Roku: Anthony Wood

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2022

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Anthony Wood helped transform the media landscape…twice. First, in the early 2000’s, when he invented a device that let you record, pause, and re-watch live TV. The DVR was a game-changer, but the company Anthony built around it—ReplayTV—was eventually out-maneuvered by TiVo. Unfazed, Anthony developed another piece of hardware; one that would tap into the growing power of the internet by letting TV’s stream digital content. In 2008, he launched the Roku box, a $99 device that connected your TV to the internet, with a remote simple enough for your grandmother to use. It’s hard to imagine now, but Anthony initially had a hard time convincing investors and media execs that the Roku—and streaming devices like it—would completely change the way we watch TV. Today, Roku has grown into an expansive media company that creates and distributes content to more than 65 million accounts worldwide.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	It's amazing the number of media companies, executives that didn't think streaming would
0:15.6	be popular.
0:17.2	They just thought there's nothing wrong with cable and satellite, the world is not going
0:20.4	to change.
0:21.4	When it was so clear that of course it's going to change, the internet has disrupted every
0:25.1	industry and it's going to disrupt videos as well.
0:27.4	In fact, I think it is a pretty big competitive advantage that people underestimate us and
0:32.4	so they're always surprised when they lose.
0:42.4	Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists and the stories
0:48.1	behind the movements they built.
0:53.8	I'm Guy Raaz and on the show today, how Anthony Wood helped transform the way we watch
0:59.1	television, first with the DVR and then with Roku, a massive streaming platform with
1:05.4	a remote that's simple enough for your grandparents to figure out.
1:19.2	One of the things we look for on this show are products and ideas that have had a big
1:23.2	impact on how we live our lives.
1:25.5	So Starbucks is an obvious one because even if you don't drink their espresso drinks, it's
1:32.2	because of Starbucks's influence that you can get greatest espresso drinks almost anywhere
1:38.2	in the United States.
1:40.0	You might not use PayPal to send money but the PayPal model has changed how we pay for
1:44.6	stuff.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Guy Raz | Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Guy Raz | Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.