August 2017
Beginner to intermediate
320 pages
8h 6m
English
In 1997 a thirty-something man whose résumé included software geek, education reformer, and movie buff rented Apollo 13 from the biggest video-rental chain on the block—Blockbuster—and got hit with $40 in late fees. That dent in his wallet got him thinking: why didn’t video stores work like health clubs, where you paid a flat monthly fee to use the gym as much as you wanted? Because of this experience—and armed with the $750 million he received for selling his software company—Reed Hastings jumped into the frothy sea of the “new economy” and started Netflix, Inc.
Pure folly, right? After all, Blockbuster was already drawing in revenues of more ...