That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph
Not actually a business book, but the Netflix co-founder does a good job in narrating the complicated story of business model adjustments, changes in strategy, pivots & new ideas behind the much familiar & popular Netflix’s origin story;
“Reed came up with idea for Netflix when he found a rental copy of Apollo 13 in his house, went to return it to the Blockbuster, and saw a $40 late fee. Then he thought: What if I never had to this again?”
Not sure, if Marc & Reed Hastings would agree, but I feel Alex Balkanski’s “This is sheet” remark was the first major turning point to Netflix’s original idea.
I was expecting more than the story beyond rental, shipping, subscription model & kiosk from the book, hope Reed Hastings tells us the rest, someday.
My biggest takeaway from the book
“Everyone who has taken a shower has had an idea, but it’s the people who get out of the shower, towel off, and do something about it that makes the difference.”
— Nolan Bushnell, Atari