That Will Never Work
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Narrated by:
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Marc Randolph
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By:
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Marc Randolph
About this listen
In the tradition of Phil Knight's Shoe Dog comes the incredible untold story of how Netflix went from concept to company - all revealed by co-founder and first CEO Marc Randolph.
Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. These were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997 when Marc Randolph had an idea.
It was a simple thought - leveraging the internet to rent movies - and was just one of many more proposals, like personalised baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning.
But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair - with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO - founded a company.
Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix's triumph feels inevitable but the twenty-first century's most disruptive start-up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when they pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts and determination can change the world - even with an idea that many think will never work.
What emerges, however, isn't just the inside story of one of the world's most iconic companies. Full of counter-intuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or in life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success?
From idea generation to team building to knowing when it's time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.
What listeners say about That Will Never Work
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ROY
- 06-07-2020
Fantastic!!
Such a great story. Well read and published. Great content and good read through all the words.
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- Ali Araghi
- 13-12-2020
Practical story on startup fiasco
This book is truthfully educational and inspirational. Anybody who wants to know the painful story of success in entrepreneurship should read this book.
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- flexter
- 01-11-2021
great book. authentic and entertaining
loved it. Great story and great lessons particularly when to walk away. Marc tells a compelling book from start to finish
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- Theres
- 04-05-2020
My absolute favourite digital company story!
Marc Randolph delivers Netflix's story in all it's entirety. I could not turn it off and looked forward to each new binge listening session of it.
Like all comprehensive stories he covered everything from the day of conception through to his retirement and slightly beyond his days at the company.
There are some absolute CEO & Entrepreneur gems of advice and examples in there that can benefit anyone in life.
Engaging narration keeps you really listening to the story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 23-09-2019
Wow! A must read!
What a story! An inspiring, well crafted account of the Netflix Journey.
Thank you Marc for writing this book, it’s an excellent book for anyone who is undertaking the journey of starting their own business.
It confirms that despite all your best efforts, the path to your goals may not be the one you first envision. It demonstrates the power of listening, learning and welcoming alternative possibilities.
There are many great takeaways from this. A must read!
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- Anonymous User
- 15-10-2019
great story
Great book, loved it. A must read for any entrepreneur. Great mix of business, narative and wisdom.
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- Anonymous
- 24-06-2020
Interesting and insightful
makes me want to go out and chase my dreams, never giving up! I listened to this whilst working on spreadsheets and it gave me the motivation to not give up on my side hustle.
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- SheilaM
- 23-10-2019
Brilliant!
Wow.... I was totally hooked from beginning to end! Such a fantastic recount of the history behind Netflix and it’s awesome to hear it read by Marc himself, not only does he have the perfect voice for it, it really makes you feel as though he’s sharing his story with you personally.
As a small business owner, there were so many ‘yuuup couldn’t agree more!!’ moments in relation to some of the entrepreneurial reflections and it was inspiring to hear of the challenges they faced as a team, the tests they did and how ideas evolved. Highly recommend!
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- ken Kroeger
- 18-02-2020
worth listening to
you won't regret the investment whether an entrepreneur or mud curious about the inner workings and building of Netflix.
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- Melissa Karg
- 09-05-2023
loved it
such a great story showing exactly what new business is like and a great reminder to persevere.
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