“Broadcast TV is like the landline of 20 years ago.”
Reed Hastings was born an entrepreneur. Perhaps it is fitting that he came of age in the1960s; the age’s tendency to question authority inspired his own fiercely independent spirit. Hastings’s early proclivity for innovation surfaced while he was in the Marine Corps – not the likeliest of venues. He regularly questioned the simplest of routines, such as how the recruits made their beds each day. After seeking out a more appropriate avenue in the Peace Corps, Hastings earned his way around the world. He then put his energy and drive into Pure Software, a company that detected bugs in computer programs. Hastings grew the organisation to rapid success. That same year, he was one of the first Silicon Valley innovators to look south and devise a way to introduce his tech prowess to Hollywood. Netflix was born in 1997 as purely a ‘film rental by mail’ service. Almost 20 years later Netflix has built a subscriber base of over 44 million customers. Additionally, it has morphed into a premium content provider, rivalling the likes of HBO and AMC. Along the way, Hastings committed the company to such public gaffes as splitting up the service’s streaming division and its DVD-by-mail counterpart. However, he has steered the Netflix ship mostly to blue skies since it’s founding. The mark of a true entrepreneur is fearlessness in the face of failure and the ability to keep moving right along. It’s what has made Reed Hastings the envy of the modern entertainment business.
“Reed Hastings is changing the world of entertainment, bringing digital, cinematic quality into our homes for a very small price tag. It takes a real visionary to look at the wheel and make it better.” – Bernardo Moya