Netflix co-founder: Ideas don't come out of nowhere

The idea for Netflix didn't come about by chance, but rather was the result of a deliberate search and dozens of unsuccessful concepts, the company co-founder Marc Randolph said at the Fifth INMerge Innovation Summit, organized by PASHA Holding, Report informs.

According to him, the key to entrepreneurship is being open to new ideas and willingness to spend time searching for the right solution.

"An idea doesn't appear out of nowhere, like a mythical 'eureka' moment. You have to look for it. You have to be open to it. Netflix, for example, wasn't born out of a random, malicious thought about a fine for an overdue movie. We deliberately searched for this idea. We searched for it for a long time, among hundreds of bad ideas," Randolph noted.

According to him, the idea that gave birth to Netflix arose more than 25 years ago.

"I had a small software development company-two founders and 12 employees. We were thriving in blissful obscurity until we got acquired. It was great: the investors made money, the stock options appreciated, and we got jobs at a major company. But for me, a special bonus was being on a team with founder and CEO Reed Hastings, who later played a key role in the history of Netflix. Moreover, we lived in the same city and commuted to work together every day. Within six months, we became friends," he said.

Later, the company where Randolph and Hastings worked was acquired by an even larger corporation.

"And again, a great result for investors. But the best thing for me was that I was fired. They already had their own VP of marketing. It wasn't a dismissal with a box of belongings and disapproving looks from colleagues. It was a 'California-style' dismissal-golden handcuffs. I kept my salary, office, and working conditions for six months. I just had to go to work with no responsibilities. I immediately thought: perfect! I'll spend these six months launching a new business," the entrepreneur emphasized.

Then he and Reed Hastings agreed: Hastings would become an angel investor, and Randolph would handle the launch and management of the project.

"All that remained was to find an idea. And we had our own method. Every morning, Reed would pick me up, and before I even left the driveway, I was ready: 'Okay, Reed, here's the idea.' "Personalized shampoo." Don't judge too harshly-that was a long time ago. We discussed, calculated, and analyzed dozens of such ideas. And ultimately, Netflix was born from them," he shared.

According to him, Netflix currently has over 300 million users.

"The launch of Netflix on April 14, 1998, was marked by tense moments.

We worked on the site for six months and finally launched it. The first orders came in, and we were all overjoyed. But within 15 minutes, all our servers crashed. That day, we spent our time not sipping champagne, but shopping at a computer store," Randolph continued.

The co-founder added that by the end of that day, they had received 300 orders, which was initially planned as a monthly target.

"Three years later, we introduced a new model-a subscription system with no late fees and no time limits. This was a turning point, and the number of subscribers reached 300,000. And now we have over 300 million subscribers," Randolph emphasized.