THE NETFLIX STORY: HOW THEY GOT 150 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS
THE NETFLIX STORY: HOW THEY GOT 150 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS
Early careers
Back in 1997, Marc Randolph, 39, worked as marketing director at 37-year-old Hastings’ company.
He became fascinated by using computer software to track customers’ buying behaviour while devising new ways of selling sheet music.
Birth of Netflix
They came up with the idea for Netflix when they shared a car to commute to work from their homes in Santa Cruz to Pure Atria’s HQ in Sunnyvale.
Randolph said his three-year-old daughter hadn’t been able to sleep the night before, so he had rented a used copy of Aladdin for her. Hastings recalled how he had received a $40 late fee from Blockbuster after renting out Apollo 13. They began to form an idea of making it easier for people to rent movies.
Company launch
On 14th April 1998, Netflix was launched, thanks to various investors, including $25,000 from Randolph’s mother.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tried to acquire Netflix to get into the DVD market, but Randolph and Hastings resisted his bid, hoping they could salvage their company.
They expanded the brand’s subscriber base by offering free trials, which made the rental service popular, but they were also losing money.
Revolutionary idea
After introducing monthly subscriptions in late 1999, there were around 300,000 subscribers by 2000 and the business began steadily growing.
Future plans
Do you have a vision?
Reviews
I don’t think this article get the core, well Netflix raise not only because of the subscription business model, but also the personalization and AB testing for basically everything. Sometime you just have an idea, it’s not working untile you test it.