Five Minutes With Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolph

A few questions with the author, executive and philanthropist

A few years ago, I briefly spoke with Netflix Co-Founder and former CEO

Marc Randolph

, who was in Syracuse at an entrepreneurship conference. Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote then for Syracuse’s student newspaper:

Nearly two decades ago, the leadership team of a small DVD company filed into a large conference room at Blockbuster’s headquarters in Dallas. They came to pitch their 100-employee company an idea they thought would disrupt how people watch movies. The company, now known as Netflix, asked for $50 million from Blockbuster, then an industry giant with about 9,000 stores.

Blockbuster said no.

Marc Randolph, one of the Netflix co-founders at the meeting, was wearing flip-flops, a T-shirt and shorts, because he and his colleagues had been on a retreat in Santa Barbara, California. The day before the meeting, Blockbuster called and asked to meet with Netflix executives in Dallas. Randolph and a few colleagues hopped on a charter flight and pitched their fledgling idea.

Blockbuster executives stared blankly at them, Randolph recalled. On the flight back to California, Randolph slouched in his chair and sighed.

“Now we’re going to have to kick their ass,” he recalled thinking on the plane.

Here are a few more excerpts from our conversation, edited lightly for clarity, on giving, nature, balancing work with life, routine, and acting on our ideas. May Randolph’s words inspire you to pursue your wildest dreams.

You're involved in some philanthropy, including environmental causes. What does philanthropy and giving back mean to you?

I am involved in philanthropy, but perhaps not in the way you think. I'm not a big donor. I just have several causes I believe strongly in and I do what I can to try to move that along, largely by encouraging their leaders to be more innovative. I'm a big believer in education, the environment, so most of my time is focused there. 

What are your work-life balance rules? What were they when you were building Netflix?

It's really important to me. In the beginning, I set objective No. 1 as not building a successful company. Objective No. 1 has always been staying married and having my children know me. If I'm lucky, they're going to like me.

I really made sure I carved out the time for them. For example, my wife and I had a date night at 5 p.m. every Tuesday. No matter what crisis was going on, I'd leave for that. I'm a big climber, big outdoors person. If you don't feed that part of you, you're going to be miserable. I make sure to take the time to do the things. A startup is very encompassing, but it's not worth it if that's all it is. 

There's this overload of information, where we're on our phones a lot. What do you make of it?

I'm certainly susceptible to app addiction, technical change. I have to catch myself sometimes. For me, I've found that the outdoors is the antidote. If I'm mountain biking, that's time I'm not glued to an app. Climbing, skiing, surfing, it gets you out of the screen. You don't want to bury your life in the screen.

Do you have a favorite part of Upstate New York?

My real happy spot is the Adirondacks. Or rock climbing in Little Falls.

What's your routine?

I'm most productive in the morning. I'm an early riser. I will run then I'll come back and try to work for as long as I can before the house starts waking up. Then it's coffee with my wife and the day starts. 

Advice for people starting out their career, or for people looking to reboot their life, pursue a business or start a creative project?

It’s not about having great ideas. It’s about building a culture to try lots of bad ideas. Was I smart? Almost all of my ideas were bad ones.

I’m not a glass half-full optimist. I’m a glass-overflowing optimist.

Just do it. Everybody has an idea. I've never met a college student who doesn't have a dream. But they all have these crazy things they think they need: an MBA, money, blah, blah, blah. You can always start. Try something. Take the idea out of your head and start it.

Celebrate your gifts,

Matthew