That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea

　　Netflix共同創辦人暨第一任執行長馬克‧藍道夫，
　　娓娓道來Netflix如何從一個「概念」變成貨真價實的「企業」。
 
　　很久很久以前，實體的錄影帶租片店稱霸地球。太晚還片？那就罰錢。影片串流是什麼，可以吃嗎？DVD會統一天下？那就跟車子會飛是一樣的。沒錯，馬克‧藍道夫一九九七年醞釀創業點子時，人們就是那樣看待世界。藍道夫起初想得很簡單，他要靠網路提供租片服務。每天早上，藍道夫在通勤途中，向事業夥伴瑞德‧哈斯汀（Reed Hastings）拋出一萬個異想天開的提案，如客製化的棒球棍，或是將洗髮精送到你家。
 
　　想不到的是，哈斯汀認為網路租片值得一試。兩人組隊，哈斯汀當主要投資人，藍道夫擔任執行長，一起成立公司。如今的Netflix擁有超過一‧五億訂戶，感覺注定要崛起。然而，這間二十一世紀最具破壞性的新創公司，一開始沒有太多人看好，跌跌撞撞。藍道夫紅著臉請母親擔任早期投資人，借用簡陋的飯店會議室充當最早的辦公室，開業第一天伺服器就當掉。還有一件事人們也津津樂道：Netflix當年曾厚著臉皮請百視達（Blockbuster）收購他們。這段醜小鴨變天鵝的旅程顯示，只要肯拚，有恆心有毅力，堅持心底的聲音，即便全世界都唱衰你，還是有可能改變世界。
 
　　然而，這本書不只是內部人士跳出來談全球最傳奇的公司。輕鬆流暢的文字，串起各種違反直覺的概念，替我們解答最基本的問題，談如何在事業或人生中放手一搏：要怎麼開始？垂頭喪氣之際該怎麼辦？成功了又該怎麼辦？甚至到底什麼叫「成功」？
 
　　從發想點子，一直到建立團隊，最後明白離開的時刻到了──本書不只是追尋夢想的終極寓言，也是我們這個年代最峰迴路轉、一針見血的創業故事。

　　(中文簡介來自大塊出版《一千零一個點子之後：NETFLIX創始的祕密》)

　　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.