NetFlix

I love NetFlix. I love the product and I love the business. I just wish I thought of it first... Oh wait, I did... I mentioned in my blog on the BitTorrent case that I was involved in a VoD product development in 2001/2002... The problem was that the market wasn't ready for the product. The studios hadn't worked out how they were going to pay residuals to actors when content was distributed over the internet, when they would release content for VoD, how they would keep it save... blah blah blah...

Now I cry myself to sleep every night because NetFlix did what all good businesses have to do, adjust their business model to the current market conditions. NetFlix never wanted to deliver movies to you and me using snail mail (actually, I am sure that there was a large contingency of very smart people who thought that their model would never work), but they did and they developed a subscription model that had (as far as I know) never been used for major motion picture content. Now NetFlix survived the storm, has the customer base and the brand recognition to become who they always wanted to be... "NetFlix" not "MailFlix"...

What is the lesson of this case? For me it's a lesson in managing a business plan. NetFix had to adjust their business plan to support the current market, while always remaining focused on who they wanted to become.