Welcome to this special edition of "Synergy Shorts," where we bring you compact insights from the giants of industry and innovation. In this episode, we are thrilled to feature the highlights from our most viewed podcast episode with Marc Randolph, the visionary Co-founder of Netflix, as he unravels the secrets to fearless entrepreneurship and the art of making bold moves.
Marc shares invaluable lessons that are not just about building a successful business but about nurturing a mindset that dares to disrupt and redefine.
In this short but impactful episode, you'll discover:
- Marc's unfiltered advice on embracing uncertainty and turning it into your greatest asset.
- The pivotal moments that define a fearless entrepreneur and how to recognize them.
- Strategies for maintaining balance while pushing the boundaries of innovation.
- The importance of taking calculated risks and the transformative power of bold decisions.
- How to cultivate a mindset that not only welcomes but also thrives on challenges.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned business leader, or simply curious about the man behind the world's leading streaming service, Tune in NOW and empower your journey with the wisdom of Marc Randolph—because even the grandest ventures begin with the courage to take that first bold step.
HIGHLIGHTS:
[00:00:49] - Decision-Making in Ambiguity
[00:02:05] - Evolution of Risk-Taking
[00:02:53] - Persistence and Entrepreneurial Grit
[00:04:19] - Importance of Culture in Success
Where to find Marc Randolph
Books mentioned in this episode:
Join the conversation on Synergy IQ on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram (@synergyiq).
Access SynergyIQ Website to get to know more about us.
Say hello to our host Daniel Franco on LinkedIn.
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:10:11
Daniel Franco
What's your thoughts around the world of entrepreneurship and learning and reading? Do you think that the books and the I mean, you've written your own book as well. Do you think books play a part? If you're immersed in the world of entrepreneurship?
00:00:10:16 - 00:00:30:14
Marc Randolph
Sure, they help. I don't want to say don't read anything because you certainly can learn a lot from books. Yeah, the misconception or the wrong belief is to think that you can learn how to do it. Yeah, from reading a book. And entrepreneurship is the same thing. You have to do it. I encourage everyone, don't jump right into some big company.
00:00:30:15 - 00:00:37:08
Marc Randolph
If you have an idea, just try it. And just the little things you learn are the exact same thing you just do writ large later on.
00:00:37:15 - 00:00:49:20
Daniel Franco
An entrepreneur myself, it's the living with the ambiguity. It's it's making decisions with no control, like it's all the above that actually builds the resilience piece, I guess, is what you're talking about from an entrepreneurship.
00:00:49:20 - 00:01:20:10
Marc Randolph
Point of view, not just the resilience. You have to learn to become comfortable with making decisions when you have no idea in advance what the outcome is going to be. Entrepreneurs are people who are comfortable making decision based on ambiguous or contradictory or incomplete information. And that's very, very hard for a lot of people. And what entrepreneurs have to do is realize you can take these risks, you can try things, and when they don't work, the world doesn't end.
00:01:20:12 - 00:01:27:00
Marc Randolph
And if anything, the thing that I've gotten good at after doing this for four decades is I am completely fearless now.
00:01:27:05 - 00:01:38:00
Daniel Franco
When does one become comfortable with the failure in the making? You said you had five businesses there. Did you fail those before or did you had it? It all worked for you.
00:01:38:03 - 00:02:05:23
Marc Randolph
It's not like one business is one swing and okay, I'm my fourth swing. That's true. It's more that each of those businesses involved 10,000 different decisions. And my first ventures, you want to call them that, were things that at the university where the consequences in the scheme of things were pretty modest. And each time you graduate a little bit, you still have that same feeling of, Oh yeah, but you're taking bigger and bigger swings.
00:02:05:25 - 00:02:15:05
Marc Randolph
And so eventually when you're taking a swing with a company like Netflix or even bigger swing that I took with Looker, it's the same feeling. It's just a much, much bigger risk.
00:02:15:11 - 00:02:35:29
Daniel Franco
I've heard it quote the number one hardest thing to do is to start. The number two hardest thing to do is to not quit. Do you encourage to continue to strive and continue to learn and continue to iterate and continue to make better make better ideas and turn them into good ideas? Or do you actually encourage people to walk away when things are just not working?
00:02:36:00 - 00:02:53:22
Marc Randolph
I get asked that all the time How do I know when to quit? And the answer is you never quit. You quit when they pry your hands. You know, as the expression goes, you can have my gun when you try it out in my cold, dead hands. Yeah. I don't know anyone, realistically, who's an entrepreneur who has said this is too tough.
00:02:53:22 - 00:03:14:12
Marc Randolph
I'm going to walk away. Things fail, but that's. You're still trying to salvage it up to the very last minute. It really is courage to start and grit to continue. But and I'm not saying it's easy to continue, but mustering the courage to continue is different than trying to decide when to.
00:03:14:12 - 00:03:18:26
Daniel Franco
Quit, when to quit. What did you learn about yourself through those early years.
00:03:18:27 - 00:03:52:10
Marc Randolph
The most important lesson is that I really like this. That's not just a casual observation. It's this feeling that I've found something that fulfills me. And I think most people are constantly searching for this thing. We're fighting against preconceptions of what should fulfill us. The second big realization that was profound was that in some ways it's an addiction that I have to be really careful about because like an addiction, it can take over your life.
00:03:52:11 - 00:04:05:18
Marc Randolph
You have to do is say, How do I manage this? Yeah. How do I become a successful entrepreneur without losing the things that make me whole? You know, my hobbies or my family or friends, those sort of things.
00:04:05:21 - 00:04:08:18
Daniel Franco
How do you know what's more, what's important and what's not?
00:04:08:19 - 00:04:23:03
Marc Randolph
You realize is that you're doing it because you have the sense that, quote, everything needs to be perfect. And that's the habit to break, is recognizing that everything has to be perfect. It's becoming comfortable with some things not being perfect.
00:04:23:09 - 00:04:29:22
Daniel Franco
Why do you think with a core reasons, Netflix and Looker and all the start ups that you've worked with have been successful?
00:04:29:27 - 00:04:35:29
Marc Randolph
Certainly, I think the culture was a big, big part of Netflix early success and continued success.
00:04:36:01 - 00:04:57:22
Daniel Franco
We worked with organizations on their culture and constantly believe that the return on investment of in putting time and effort into your culture and growing your culture and creating a high performing culture, the culture that you do, that the community and client deserves is is one that should be front of mind of every leader. So, yeah, thank you for sort of just pointing that out.
00:04:57:27 - 00:05:05:29
Daniel Franco
Thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate you. If anyone was to follow you, where can they where can they connect with you? Follow you all the above.
00:05:06:02 - 00:05:24:29
Marc Randolph
So the best place to start is Mark Randolph. Com my website, Coursera. You'll find ways to follow me on all my social channels, which I'm actually pretty active on. Yep. For an old guy. Yeah. But also you can find links to my podcast there. My book I write a blog post once a week. You can get it via email.
00:05:24:29 - 00:05:35:06
Marc Randolph
So that's all that's ground zero for beautiful tapping into the I verbal river of disjointed thoughts.
00:05:35:09 - 00:05:54:13
Daniel Franco
Thanks for listening to the podcast so you can check out the show notes if there was anything of interest to you and find out more about us at Synergy IQ dot com. So do you. I am going to ask though if you did like the podcast, you would absolutely mean the world to me. If you can subscribe, write and review, and if you didn't like it, that's alright too.
00:05:54:16 - 00:05:58:04
Daniel Franco
There's no need to do anything. Thank you guys. All the best.