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That Will Never Work
That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea

2019

Biography

by

Marc Randolph

Biography of the first five years of Netflix through its IPO, written by Marc Randolph, cofounder and first CEO. It details how the company turned the idea of mailing DVDs into reality, navigated the dotcom bubble bursting, found its winning subscription strategy, and launched kiosks.

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Jermaine's Notes
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March 2025

Lessons on splitting founding equity and radical cofounder honesty. Blockbuster passed on buying Netflix for $50m. Read 2019 hardcover.

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