That Will Never Work
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There was a big group of people involved in letting the outside world know about this book. I’m particularly grateful to Heidi Krupp, Mariah Terry, Jenn Garbowski, Alana Jacobs, Lindsey Winkler, Colleen McCarthy, and Callie Rome at K2 communications; to Barrett Cordero, Ken Sterling, Blair Nichols, Daria Wagganer, and Aggie Arvizu at BigSpeak; to Rob Noble, Jinal Shah, Simon Waterfall, Kyle Duncan, and Paul Bean at Group of Humans; to Kristen Taylor at KThread; to Colby Devitt at Catch the Sun Media; and to TJ Widner, who—as far as I can tell—doesn’t have a name for his business.
Does that last paragraph strike you as a big group of people? Do you wonder how one could possibly keep that crew coordinated and marching in the same direction? Me too. And that’s why my friend Auny Abegglen gets a special thank-you for taking on the thankless task of herding all those cats. Thanks, Auny. I hope this was more fun than doing dog food commercials.
We’re getting to the end here, but not before mentioning the students at High Point University and Middlebury College, who over the years have shared all their great ideas for new ventures with me—and helped me realize that the lessons I learned as an entrepreneur can be used by anyone with a dream they want to make real. Thanks, in particular, to Jessica Holmes, past director of the Middlebury College MiddCORE program. It was with her support and patience that I figured out how to more clearly articulate these hard-won truths in ways that other people could understand.
None of this would have been possible without all of my friends and colleagues—past and present—at Netflix. Stay tuned for the companion volume to these acknowledgements in which I thank all 7,137 Netflix employees. But while you’re waiting for that, let me at least thank the much smaller group who—in addition to those named earlier—were the other full-time pre-launch employees: Corey Bridges, Bill Kunz, Heidi Nyburg, Carrie Kelley, Merry Law, Boris Droutman, Vita Droutman, Greg Julien, and Dan Jepson. OK, folks, who am I forgetting?
There really aren’t enough words for me to properly thank Reed Hastings. Without him in the picture, I wouldn’t be writing this book. Or at the very least, it’s doubtful you would be reading it. Revisiting the events that took place so many years ago gave me an even better appreciation for how amazing his contributions were, and how much I learned from him. Honoring our friendship and what we created together was one of my highest goals. Hope I pulled it off. Reed, when you’re done with Netflix and ready for the next one, I’m in!
And lastly, to my family. Thanks so much for your love and support. And your tolerance. Even now, we are on vacation, my wife and daughter are at the pool, and I’m holed up in our hotel room writing. Sorry again.
Thanks to my kids, Logan, Morgan, and Hunter. In addition to your continual support, all three of you read multiple versions of the book as it took shape and provided valuable feedback. The first glimpse I had that I might be on to something came as the three of you took turns reading chapters out loud while we were on vacation last Christmas. And doing so willingly.
Lorraine, I can’t ever thank you enough. For your support, for your advice, and for your love. Thanks for seeing that writing this book was important to me and for being with me through every minute of it. I love you.
And Kho? Thanks, wherever you are.
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About the Author
Marc Randolph is the co-founder of Netflix, serving as their first CEO, the executive producer of their website, and a member of their board of directors. Additionally, he’s founded or co-founded more than half a dozen other successful startups, mentored rising entrepreneurs, and invested in numerous successful tech ventures.