
That Will Never Work
The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea
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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 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.
©2019 Marc Randolph (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Netflix was built on the vision and creative DNA of one man—Marc Randolph. As the founding CEO, his leadership defined the culture of Netflix and laid the groundwork for successive, global revolutions in how we make and consume entertainment. His willingness to step aside so that his co-founder Reed Hastings could scale up the company stands as an example of humility and self-knowledge that is rare in the startup world."—Gina Keating, author of Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs
"Marc is an unusually brave soul. Marc's genius in recognizing that not knowing frees you to experiment and observe and to ultimately win."—Lloyd Tabb, founder of Looker
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Story
A New York Times technology correspondent presents the dramatic rise and fall of Uber, set against the rapid upheaval in Silicon Valley during the mobile era. Based on hundreds of interviews with current and former Uber employees, along with previously unpublished documents, Super Pumped is a pause-resisting story of ambition and deception, obscene wealth, and bad behavior, that explores how blistering technological and financial innovation culminated in one of the most catastrophic 12-month periods in American corporate history.
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A forced narrative and a bad version of Bad Blood
- By Benji on 09-09-19
By: Mike Isaac
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Who Is Michael Ovitz?
- By: Michael Ovitz
- Narrated by: Michael Ovitz - prologue, Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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As the cofounder of Creative Artists Agency, Michael Ovitz earned a reputation for ruthless negotiation, brilliant strategy, and fierce loyalty to his clients. He reinvented the role of the agent and helped shape the careers of hundreds of A-list entertainers, directors, and writers. But this personal history is much more than a fascinating account of celebrity friendships and bare-knuckled deal making. It's also an underdog's story: How did a middle-class kid from Encino work his way into the William Morris mailroom and eventually become the most powerful person in Hollywood?
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Yep, that's the guy
- By T. gates on 10-07-18
By: Michael Ovitz
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The Founders
- The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley
- By: Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, PayPal’s founders and earliest employees are considered the technology industry’s most powerful network. Since leaving PayPal, they have formed, funded, and advised the leading companies of our era, including Tesla, Facebook, YouTube, SpaceX, Yelp, Palantir, and LinkedIn, among many others. As a group, they have driven 21st-century innovation and entrepreneurship. Their names stir passions; they’re as controversial as they are admired.
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Wonderful, Engaging & Insightful
- By Ismael Becerra on 02-26-22
By: Jimmy Soni
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Amazon Unbound
- Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire
- By: Brad Stone
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost 10 years ago, Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone captured the rise of Amazon in his best seller The Everything Store. Since then, Amazon has expanded exponentially, inventing novel products like Alexa and disrupting countless industries, while its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to nearly two trillion dollars.
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Great book and content. Awful narration
- By Asutosh Tripathy on 05-14-21
By: Brad Stone
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Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
- By: Patty McCord
- Narrated by: Patty McCord, Alex Hyde White
- Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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When it comes to recruiting, motivating, and creating great teams, Patty McCord says most companies have it all wrong. McCord helped create the unique and high-performing culture at Netflix, where she was chief talent officer. In her new book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, she shares what she learned there and elsewhere in Silicon Valley.
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Good HR criticism - wrong alternative solutions
- By Mauro Locarnini on 02-08-19
By: Patty McCord
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The Upstarts
- How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World
- By: Brad Stone
- Narrated by: Dean Temple
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Ten years ago the idea of getting into a stranger's car or walking into a stranger's home would have seemed bizarre and dangerous, but today it's as common as ordering a book online. Uber and Airbnb have ushered in a new era: redefining neighborhoods, challenging the way governments regulate business, and changing the way we travel. In the spirit of iconic Silicon Valley renegades like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, another generation of entrepreneurs is using technology to upend convention and disrupt entire industries.
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Are You a Wartime CEO or a Peacetime CEO
- By Dan Collins on 06-14-17
By: Brad Stone
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Let My People Go Surfing
- The Education of a Reluctant Businessman - Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual
- By: Yvon Chouinard, Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Yvon Chouinard
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In his long-awaited memoir, Yvon Chouinard - legendary climber, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia, Inc. - shares the persistence and courage that have gone into being head of one of the most respected and environmentally responsible companies on earth. From his youth as the son of a French Canadian blacksmith to the thrilling, ambitious climbing expeditions that inspired his innovative designs for the sport's equipment.
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Good presentation, though a little preachy
- By Jim Perkins on 05-25-17
By: Yvon Chouinard, and others
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Creativity, Inc. (The Expanded Edition)
- Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
- By: Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace - contributor
- Narrated by: Ed Catmull
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve.
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Ode to culture of creativity
- By J Kuo on 02-06-24
By: Ed Catmull, and others
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Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
- A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
- By: Uri Levine
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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As the cofounder of Waze—the world's leading commuting and navigation app with more than 700 million users to date, and which Google acquired in 2013 for $1.15 billion—Levine is committed to spreading entrepreneurial thinking so that other founders, managers, and employees in the tech space can build their own highly valued companies. Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike.
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Ok but not great
- By Didier Vallauri on 01-30-23
By: Uri Levine
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Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
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Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
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Grinding It Out
- The Making of McDonald's
- By: Ray Kroc, Robert Anderson
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Few entrepreneurs can claim to have radically changed the way we live, and Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food-service automation, franchising, shared national training, and advertising have earned him a place beside the men and women who have founded not only businesses, but entire empires. But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business man is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 years old when he opened his first franchise.
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great book annoying narration
- By Brandon on 12-20-18
By: Ray Kroc, and others
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Watch and Learn
- How I Turned Hollywood Upside Down with Netflix, Redbox, and MoviePass—Lessons in Disruption
- By: Mitch Lowe, Marc Randolph - foreword
- Narrated by: Mitch Lowe
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Get an inside perspective on the entertainment distribution revolution from an executive who lived it with Netflix, Redbox, and MoviePass, and who continues to consult, speak, and share his unique understanding of how to disrupt the status quo and adapt to what the customer wants. Mitch Lowe will tell the inside story of the dramatic evolution of the entertainment business, from the days of early cable television, Beta, and VHS to a world where consumers have infinite choice and control of the movies they see.
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A Must Read for Entrepreneurs
- By Krystal Winn on 01-05-24
By: Mitch Lowe, and others
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Built from Scratch
- How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion
- By: Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Bob Andelman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Built from Scratch is the story of how two incredibly determined and creative people - and their associates - built a business from nothing to 761 stores and $30 billion in sales in a mere 20 years. Built from Scratch tells many colorful stories associated with The Home Depot's founding and meteoric rise; shows that a company can be a tough, growth-oriented competitor, and still maintain a high sense of responsibility to the community; and provides great lessons useful to people in any business, from start-ups to the Fortune 500.
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Bezos must have read this book.
- By Jensen on 06-22-17
By: Bernie Marcus, and others
What listeners say about That Will Never Work
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- Amyo Rahman
- 12-27-19
Love this title!
Netflix is a highly respectable company for many different reasons. Learning the origin of this company and it’s start up challenges were very inspiring and interesting. The narration and storyline is superb. Loved this title.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-11-20
Definitely worth the time!
Amazing! A true glimpse of leadership throughout. a captivating tale that inspires and is sprinkled with so many nuggets of wisdom. Definitely worth the time.
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- Andrew
- 12-06-19
incredibly inspiring
A fantastic author-read book with inspirational insights for any person keen on building new things
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- Arica Rosenthal
- 09-05-20
Definitely binge worthy
Loved this book. Mark is a great storyteller and brings the the raw and wonderful early days of Netflix to life.
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- Todd
- 11-18-19
Authentic and fascinating
This is a truly excellent account of the founding of Netflix, and by far the best business memoir I have ever come across. Though a little naively arrogant at times (ex: in the early days of Netflix the author had to get by living in only a $1 million home, gasp), it was mostly genuine and so worth the listen.
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- Erik Koornneef
- 10-03-21
Great story, well narrated
A great book, well written, excellently narrated, very easy to listen to and enjoyable. Highly recommended,
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- Cliente de Amazon
- 05-29-23
Miguel Niño
Pretty easy to follow up with the story and nice to hear it from its author voice!
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- Wade
- 02-25-24
The Story of Netflix
A detailed, riveting journey of how Netflix became one of the most influential companies in recent history. The differentiation between people who excel at structuring startups and those who excel at growing established companies resonates. When reaching success, the emptiness can be attributed to the journey reaching its desired destination and pivoting to the thrill of the next endeavor can be the next motivating pursuit. Enjoy this book and apply the learnings to your daily life!
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- A. P. Barberis
- 02-22-20
This book has healed my entrepreneur soul
Mark's honesty is a breath of fresh air in a bubble of books that erase most of the struggle that a new startup requires.
It has been lifechanging for me. Thanks!
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- Texas G's
- 10-15-19
A Winner
Netflix was not the only win for Marc Randolph! This book is binge-worthy! Such fun and passion and authenticity and brilliance. Loved it all!
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