That Will Never Work: Book Review

At an industry event in Florida, I had a chance to hear and meet Marc Randolph. In his presentation and his book, he walked through the Netflix startup journey, from idea to going public. There were many key players in making Netflix a success and he shares the credit. Aside from the story, he shares many business insights.

You’ve probably heard that there are no ‘overnight’ successes, and that’s true here, as well. Marc’s journey started with the desire to find an idea on which to build a business. The choice to sell DVD’s by mail was at the beginning of the DVD technology, the fall of Blockbuster, and the expansion of Amazon.

Marc shares the excitement and long hours of a startup; building his initial team; growth and success; realizing he was no longer the best person to lead the company as it met that success; and finally, the decision to exit, to leave his ‘baby’ behind, but in excellent hands. Knowing his strength and passion is in nurturing the fledgling idea, Marc has moved on to helping other startups. At the end are his Dad’s eight rules for success. These are worth checking out, too.  – CMW