Most entrepreneurial ideas will sound crazy, stupid and uneconomic, and then they’ll turn out to be right.
Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly.
The best managers figure out how to get great outcomes by setting the appropriate context, rather than by trying to control their people.
Do not tolerate brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is too high.
Be brutally honest about the short term and optimistic and confident about the long term.
Don't be afraid to change the model.
If the Starbucks secret is a smile when you get your latte... ours is that the Web site adapts to the individual's taste.
I learned the value of focus. I learned it is better to do one product well than two products in a mediocre way.
Tomorrow when you come to work, if it doesn't make the customer happy, move the business forward, and save us money - don't do it.
Taking smart risks can be very gratifying.
Truly brilliant marketing happens when you take something most people think of as a weakness and reposition it so people think of it as a strength.
The Netflix brand for TV shows is really all about binge viewing. The ability to get hooked and watch episode after episode.
Be big, fast and flexible.
I got the idea for Netflix after my company was acquired. I had a big late fee for Apollo 13. It was six weeks late and I owed the video store $40. I had misplaced the cassette. It was all my fault.
Human entertainment will have moved on to something new. Then the ultimate challenge for us is, can we figure out what that new form of entertainment is?
When there's an ache, you want to be like aspirin, not vitamins. Aspirin solves a very particular problem someone has, whereas vitamins are a general "nice to have" market.
When you grow up, as I have, in the shadow of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others, success is defined as the total global transformation of a market. To achieve that, you need low prices and an attractive offering. It's about trying to make a positive impact on a big scale.
Stone Age. Bronze Age. Iron Age. We define entire epics of humanity by the technology they use.
I've worked very hard, but my life's always been fun.
Great leaders, like Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos, also focused on the long term.
But as an entrepreneur you have to feel like you can jump out of an aeroplane because you're confident that you'll catch a bird flying by. It's an act of stupidity, and most entrepreneurs go splat because the bird doesn't come by, but a few times it does.
Interactivity and a better experience aren't always the same thing.
Broadcast TV is like the landline of 20 years ago.
In the long term, you have to believe that movies and TV shows will be like the opera and the novel, pretty nichey businesses.
I think there will be 20 years of evolution from linear broadcast to internet television.
