Book to reveal Netflix's inside story on September 20
From running the first office in a motel conference room, to becoming a video streaming giant with over 150 million subscribers, the inside story of Netflix will hit the bookstores on September 20, publishing house Hachette announced on Saturday (August 31).
The book, That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea, part memoir and part how-to guide written by its co-founder Marc Randolph will reveal how one “crazy idea” built Netflix and disrupted an entire industry.
“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 Randolphs 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,” the publisher said in a statement.
According to the book, it all started with a simple thought – leveraging the internet to rent movies – which was just one of the 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.
However, this one got Hastings intrigued, and the pair – with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO – founded Netflix.
Not just the story of one of the worlds most iconic companies, the book written in “binge-worthy prose” is “full of counter-intuitive concepts” and claims to answer some of the 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?
“From idea generation to team building to knowing when its 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,” it added.
