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 was of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. Indeed, 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 and far worse proposals, like personalized 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 Netflix brass 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, though, 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.

Reader Reviews

Lisa

(2/5)

Nov 21, 2024

Pretty sure all the good reviews are from people the author knows. There’s no reason this book should be 13 hours long. The Epilogue was 30 minutes!! He drones on and on with personal stories, how he already has a few successful start ups, and tips for success. By the end I found him unlikeable and unrelatable.

John

(3/5)

I tend to find Netflix a very interesting company and so the story itself is interesting. That said the writing style is such that I found myself skimming through large chunks of it without feeling like I was missing much. Lots of memoir-ish stuff that just added nothing.If I didn’t find the topic particularly interesting I probably would have bailed on this one.

Joe

This book was like listening to an annoying uncle brag about how good he is at business. It seems like he just wrote it so he could reminisce about the good old days. It took him a long time tell stories we already know the end to. And some of his stories were so contrived. [My wife] said, "You look like a chameleon." In a way...I was!I really thought this was going to be a book about Netflix (more like Creativity, Inc.). It was more like an autobiography. We never get to the streaming...it ends...

Vlad

Some neat details about difficult moments in Netflix’s early history. Really great stories. But the author has a chip on his shoulder that interfered with my ability to trust the narrative. Careful lies of omission made me yearn for a less conflicted historian.

Annie

(1/5)

Got this from a work acquaintance as a Christmas gift. Not a fan. The author comes across as a giant money-obsessed douchebag, with chapter titles like "show me the money" and "how it feels to deposit a check for almost $2 million". Not relatable at all to the average non-millionaire, and comes off as flaunting wealth in a nation with millions of people unemployed, homeless and in poverty. Wish I could return this trashy book.

Jim

(4/5)

One of the main things I wanted to note from this book is that being an entrepreneur is a lot easier when you've a wad of cash behind you. Jeff Bezos was given some "seed capital" by his folks to start Amazon, the not unforgettable sum of three hundred grand. To be fair, Marc Randolph is very open about the fact that Netflix was funded initially by family and friends - or rather, make that "friend", his main partner Reed Hastings. Of the two million dollars "raised" to kick off the idea of renti...

Sam Ng

I really don't get all the glowing reviews. It's one thing to write a book sharing your experiences and some vague, common sense "success tips". On the other hand, I really doubt someone is going to give away the very business strategies that, say, a father would pass down to his son. This would only generate more competition to himself and would not be very bright! So don't expect anything like that in this book.Another consideration that wasn't really touched on in this book is that networking...

Allegra Shaw

(5/5)

So good. Great insight into Marc Randolphs brain, how he thinks and works. Lots of great ideas to implement into your own business!

J. Wootton

Engaging, well-told. Great prose. And lots of fun to read.Was NetFlix - AKA "movie rental by mail" a good idea? Maybe. Maybe not. But it wasn't a bad idea. And if there was a way to make it work, Randolph and his team were determined to find it...Thanks to streaming, NetFlix is now nearly as ubiquitous as in-home TV. But it was born from a litter of bad ideas, and its early days were marked by experimenting with more of the same. Its business model was incredibly vulnerable, especially after the...

Shawn Rapier

Ok book. I enjoyed hearing about the start of Netflix but it got bogged down. It was like the author wasn't sure if he was writing a business book, a biography or a company story. There were parts I loved but others I sped through just to be done.

Rikki

Interesting story, painfully folksy book.

Florin Pitea

This is so good, it's a small wonder it is still legal. Informative. Enjoyable. Highly recommended for binge-reading.

BookOfCinz

I am a Netflix user, even though it is through my friend's account lol. I wanted to read about the birth of Netflix, how it started and what led this revolution on how we now consume content. I loved that Marc Randolph gave us an in-depth look into Netflix was the idea stage, before capital was involved, people were hired and the first DVD purchased. A lot happened to get this giant company started and it was great getting insights into what makes and break a start-up. Culture of course is a hug...

Steve

I generally don't care for business books, but Marc Randolph's story of Netflix hit home, as I was part of the Blockbuster group working directly for Wayne Huizenga in the very early days (way before the company was sold, moved to Dallas post 1994 and ruined). Didn't have to be that way. Classic story of a big company's failure to adapt. But more importantly, classic story of a small company's will to adapt, survive and prosper. Kudos Marc. I wish we worked together back then.

Fefyy Antela

I REALLY enjoyed this book.It was fascinating to learn more about the beginning of [probably] the biggest entertainment institution in our modern days 😄

Sebastian Gebski

This book is very different from other well-known titles about Netflix (Powerful, No Rules Rules). It's not a book about growth or culture. It's a personal story about founding the company - a start-up, to be precise.It's about playing bold, facing uncertainty, searching for a market, and revealing the product's identity. About picking the correct people, making hard decisions, events, and encounters that have gelled the 'early team' together.It covers the very early days only (because Randolph

Kriti Saxena

Tightly written, this succinct account of how Netflix came to be the phenomenon it is today is written in a light tone that manages to still convey the oft-heard messages like "Keep trying till you succeed" and "Nothing is an overnight success" without sounding tiring. Key takeaway? Nobody knows Anything.

Suhani

2.5 stars. Uninspiring and lacklustre- nothing like Phil Knight’s memoir

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

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

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

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