This week’s conversation is with Marc Randolph, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor and investor.

Marc is the co-founder of Netflix, served as their founding CEO, as the executive producer of their web site, and as a member of their board of directors.

Although best known for starting Netflix, Marc’s career as an entrepreneur spans more than four decades.

He’s founded or co-founded more than half a dozen other successful start-ups, mentored rising entrepreneurs including the co-founders of Looker Data which recently sold to Google for $2.6B, and invested in numerous successful tech ventures.

He is a frequent speaker at industry events, works extensively with young entrepreneur programs, sits on the board of the environmental advocacy group 1% for the Planet, and chairs the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Board of Trustees.

In this conversation we discuss how he and co-founder Reed Hastings developed the idea for Netflix, how to create a strong organizational culture, and why focus is the key for any entrepreneur.

“Company culture is not this thing that you write up on a piece of paper or that you design. It springs organically from how the founders treat each other and how you tend to act.”

In This Episode:

• The moment he decided to start Netflix, what was going through his head?
• How his friendship with Reed Hastings evolved into co-founding Netflix
• Why he loves storytelling and how its an essential component for being a great leader
• Imagination vs. logic… how that yin and yang made his partnership with Reid so successful and set the foundation for Netflix’s culture
• The key to being a successful entrepreneur: focus, more importantly understanding which problems actually need to be solved
• What’s his life mission?
• His framework: optimism, controlling the controllable, resiliency, and not involving his ego
• Why having a strong sense of empathy for his employees and customers was both helpful and a detriment
• How constantly being outdoors during childhood shaped him… getting comfortable with the unpredictable, embracing risk, and overcoming obstacles
• His approach to risk-taking
• The core principles that influence his actions
• What he would ask another master of craft