That Will Never Work

Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard of, and DVD adoption seemed as imminent as flying cars. 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 proposals, like personalised baseball bats, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings. 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. Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit and determination can change the world - even with an idea that many think will never work.

What emerges, however, 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 life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? What is success?

From idea generation to team building to knowing when to let go, THAT WILL NEVER WORK is one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.

About the Author

Marc Randolph is a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor and investor. Marc was co-founder of Netflix, serving as their founding CEO, as the executive producer of their website, and as a member of their board of directors.

Although best known for starting Netflix, Marc's career as an entrepreneur spans more than four decades. He's founded or co-founded more than half a dozen other successful start-ups, mentored rising entrepreneurs including the co-founders of Looker Data which was sold to Google for $2.6 billion and invested in numerous successful tech ventures.

He is a frequent speaker at industry events, works extensively with young entrepreneur programmes, sits on the board of the environmental advocacy group 1% for the Planet, and chairs the National Outdoor Leadership School's Board of Trustees.

Marc is the host of podcast 'That Will Never Work', which was launched in January 2021 and is designed to help budding entrepreneurs.