Marc Randolph: Netflix Co-Founder Reveals The Secret to Netflix Success | Disruptors podcast

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Episode description

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Episode description

If you don’t disrupt yourself, someone else will. Netflix opened up the world of the subscription business model and in this episode, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph speaks to Rob all about them! He discusses the beginnings of Netflix, why they chose a subscription-based business, how they found success and how you can too!

A valuable episode full of ideas, tips and wisdom on how to master entrepreneurship and build your own successful subscription-based business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

When Netflix began 23 years ago, the idea that Netflix would put Blockbuster out of businesses was ludicrous. At the time their goal was simply to have a business that was the size of just one single blockbuster.

They had a few things going for them in the beginning, to start with Blockbuster as a company wasn’t liked due to poor customer service and things such as late fees. They decided to disrupt the industry and do things differently; they began with video-rental subscriptions, allowing people to rent as many DVDs as they wanted, for as long as they wanted, for one single recurring monthly fee. The rest is history.

Marc is really encouraged by the creator economy and the strength of subscription-based businesses right now.

The subscription-based business model has many upsides but the three that Marc attributes to its success the most are:
-The ability to attain a customer once yet continually receive income from them.
-The ability to take risks as a creator and entrepreneur because you only need to ensure you are providing overall value accumulatively rather than worrying about every single thing you create or do.
-It’s predictable. Investors like this and you can also begin changing the amount of money and time you spend to acquire a customer.

Netflix was uniquely designed to solve the tech issues they faced with streaming at the beginning. They were a team of engineers in a fast-changing tech world.

When creating a subscription-based business you want to offer the customer the most flexibility. Not just because it is good for the customer but also because this way you will find out if what you’re doing is working (or not working!) the fastest. Allowing you to pivot and change early to create something successful.

You have to be comfortable changing with your customers’ needs. You can’t sit still, customers don’t care what you have done in the past or what your current issues are they just have the expectation that you are going to offer them something they want.

Retention is essential in this business model, to create a long-lasting and successful customer relationship. For creator platforms, such as Netflix and Rob’s own platform rob.team this is all about the content you provide. Your customer has to always feel like they are getting great content and therefore great value for what they are paying.

Subscription sites such as Pateron allow creators to focus on creating. They don’t have to spend time thinking of all the tech and mechanisms of managing your subscribers and instead can 100% focus on creating.

Good content is universal, demonstrated by the huge success Netflix had with the show Squid Game.

BEST MOMENTS

“Disruption is not easy but it’s always possible because the things you do most big companies are unwilling or unable or scared to do”

“Now if I know this customer is going to be paying me $3 a month for three years, that’s a hundred dollars of value so now maybe I can spend $20, $30 or $50 dollars to acquire that customer…we are now willing to spend more to acquire that customer”

“My feeling is always be trying things, always be testing things, always be challenging yourself and if you don’t start you’ll never get any place”

“You want someone to be able to say no quickly as that’s the best indicator of whether you’re delivering value to them or not”

“Always be willing to do what’s right for the future, even if it comes at the expense of the present”

[Business, mindset, entrepreneur, disruptors]

VALUABLE RESOURCES

ABOUT THE HOST

Rob Moore is an author of 9 business books, 5 UK bestsellers, holds 3 world records for public speaking, entrepreneur, property investor, and property educator. Author of the global bestseller “Life Leverage” Host of UK’s No.1 business podcast “Disruptors”

“If you don't risk anything, you risk everything”

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