Reed Hastings

Contents
Reed Hastings's Social Links
Profile
Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix as a DVD rental-by-mail company in 1997 and since led its transformation to become the world’s leading streaming subscription service for watching movies and television programs.
Previously, Reed founded Pure Software, which made tools for Unix software developers. He guided Pure into becoming one of the world’s 50 largest software companies before selling it to Rational Software in 1997.
In addition to being CEO of Netflix, Reed is a member of the board of directors of Facebook, as well as several educational non-profits.
Reed is an active educational philanthropist and served as President of the California State Board of Education from 2000 to 2004.
Reed received a BA from Bowdoin College in 1983 and an MSCS in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University in 1988. Between Bowdoin and Stanford, Reed served in the Peace Corps as a high school math teacher in Swaziland. Reed is married with two children.
Companies and Investments
Netflix (co-founder), Pure Software (Founder), Facebook (Board of Directors), Microsoft (Board of Directors)
Lessons Learned
Instead of focusing on capturing a small piece of a large market, focus on dominating a small market.
Be Flexible. In order to survive as a startup, you need to attract creative talent. This is why is important to be flexible because rigid processes will drive creative employees away. When market conditions change, creativity is needed to survive.
Only keep your superstar employees. It is not enough to let go of the poor performers. You need to get rid of the B+ employees too.
Be flexible with how you pay your employees. Some risk averse employees will want higher salaries, while risk takers might want more stock and a lower salary.
Empower your employees to take charge of their career. Let them think about their development and express their desires for long term growth.
Inspiring Quotes
Reed Hastings's Quotes
Reed Hastings - Do not be afraid to change the model.
Reed Hastings - The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.
Influential Books
Howard Schultz - Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
Mentors
Howard Schultz Jeff Bezos
References
Technical
- We have learned the lesson that the music industry did not learn: give people what they want when...
- At Netflix, we think you have to build a sense of responsibility where people care about the ente...
- Guessing right is a skill developed over time. Not all smart risks work out, but many of them do.
- With failures, you learn one of 99 things to avoid. So they are not that useful. I think it is mo...
- Truly brilliant marketing happens when you take something most people think of as a weakness and ...
- Do not be afraid to change the model.
- …as an entrepreneur you have to feel like you can jump out of an aeroplane because you’re con...
- The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.
- Howard Schultz - Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
- Entrepreneur
- ShowInCaroucel
- ShowInFeatured