Marc Randolph's 'That Will Never Work' endearingly tells the unlikely story of Netflix

That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph (a co-Founder of Netflix), is not the ordinary memoir of a Silicon Valley tycoon. It’s not a lengthy text that errs on the side of filling in irrelevant details, a crime that such works often find themselves guilty of. Instead, it’s a concise, to-the-point telling of the classic Silicon Valley story.

The book’s primary (and perhaps sole) focus is to detail the founding of what is today a multi-billion dollar company and narrates Randolph’s time in the company. This is made apparent from the get-go, with him immediately jumping into the meat of the story - the founding of Netflix. He continues telling the tale, from the company’s founding in 1997 and the initial struggles associated with setting up a startup to the company’s transformation into something similar to what we know it to be today and finally going public.

Throughout the book, the author also sprinkles his thoughts on leading a business and working in one. These do not obstruct the book’s flow but complement it and might be the pinnacle of attraction for many readers.

That Will Never Work is many things. It’s an autobiography, and guide and contains many a life lesson for all. Most importantly, it’s an enjoyable story of a passionate entrepreneur, an unlikely origin story, and the birth of a multi-million empire.