Reed HastingsEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

Reed Hastings has announced he'll leave the board at Netflix, the company he co-founded. Before that news broke, Reid and Aria sat down with Hastings on "Possible" to talk about how technology has rewritten the rules of entertainment before, but AI takes him back to his beginnings. He studied AI at Stanford in the late '80s, decades before it became the only conversation in tech. Few people have watched this moment build from as many vantage points: he's served on the boards of Microsoft, Meta, Bloomberg, and, now, Anthropic. In this episode, they talk about what AI changes in entertainment in the stories themselves, and who gets to tell them. They ask what AI can deliver for education, an area Reed has poured hundreds of millions to reform. They dig into whether the disruption coming for workers is a wages problem, a jobs problem, or something else entirely. And they ask what a two-superpower AI race means for everyone else. For more info on Possible and transcripts of all its episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Netflix shouldn’t have survived. In 1997, Blockbuster owned home entertainment— 9,000 stores , a business fueled by late fees, and a brand that felt untouchable. Netflix was a scrappy DVD-by-mail experiment that almost sold itself off to stay alive. So how did Netflix win? In this conversation, Reed Hastings breaks down the behind-the-scenes decisions that helped the business thrive: the uncomfortable leadership choices, the culture blueprint that surprised corporate America, and a near-catastrophic misstep that could have blown the whole thing up. Reed also talks about what shaped him long before Netflix: being a late-bloomer, teaching in the Peace Corps, learning humility from a former boss, and the painful management mistakes he made while building his first company. This is a masterclass in: challenging the status quo, choosing a culture on purpose, and making big bets without pretending you’re always right. What you’ll learn: Why Netflix’s early “obvious” advantages weren’t enough—and how close it came to dying The leadership lesson Reed learned from a CEO who was admirable… but strategically wrong Why Reed says the best companies are like championship sports teams: if you can’t perform at peak, leave The “keeper test” and how it changed corporate culture The Qwikster fiasco: what went wrong, and how Netflix moved to prevent future missteps Building a House of Cards: How Netflix made the leap to original content Reed on the media landscape: The remote-control moment of truth, rival streamers, and the rise of AI Timestamps: 00:08:06 — “I was a late bloomer.” Reed on why no one saw greatness coming 00:09:30 — Peace Corps in Swaziland, and the moment he nearly quit 00:11:23 — An unforgettable lesson learned from the CEO who washed Reed’s coffee cups 00:14:39 — Building his first company in a cold cabin—no internet, just obsession and proof of concept 00:16:48 — Reed’s early struggles as a manager: “Too busy chopping wood to sharpen the axe.” 00:24:11 — Blockbuster’s late-fee pain and an early bet on DVDs 00:44:47 — The dot-com crash… and the $50M LVMH round that saved Netflix (barely) 00:47:12 — A possible Blockbuster buyout : “We probably would’ve taken any offer.” 00:56:18 — The Netflix culture deck: “We’re not a family,” and why that shook people up 01:05:07 — The Qwikster crisis, and the backlash that humbled Reed 01:19:33 — The competition: Netflix is just of TV viewing—and the real threat is YouTube Hey—want to be a guest on HIBT? If you’re building a business, why not get advice

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 Reed Hastings. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ .⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- ⁠ Ramp ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ ramp.com/invest ⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Vanta is trusted by thousands of businesses and continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Visit vanta.com/invest . ----- ⁠ Rogo⁠ is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest . ----- <a href="https://workos.com/