Invest Like The Best

My guest today is Reed Hastings, the co-founder and former longtime CEO of Netflix. Netflix is an example of two ideas that everyone talks about, but are extremely hard to do in practice. The first is finding a simple idea and taking it extraordinarily seriously. Reed talks about how even the DVD business was nothing more than a stepping stone toward streaming, which they envisioned from the company’s inception in 1997. The second is talent density, and what it actually takes to set and sustain an exceptionally high bar over decades as a company grows.  We talk about how those ideas shaped Netflix’s culture and strategy, what Reed learned from mistakes like Qwikster, and why Netflix treated content like a venture portfolio. We also discuss Reed’s work today. He shares how he’s thinking about AI, what he’s learned from serving on the boards of Microsoft, Meta, Anthropic, and Bloomberg, and what excites him about Powder Mountain, the ski resort he acquired after Netflix. Please enjoy my conversation with Re