Overview:

This is Marc Randolph’s, co-founder and former president of Netflix memoir. He and his friend, Reed Hastings, now CEO of Netflix, started the company based on their discussions in the car during their daily commute to the office. It’s a fascinating story of how the firm got started, and an inspiring tale for aspiring entrepreneurs. The author ends the book with a call to action / challenge to the reader – what are you going to do after reading this book?

Here is what the book was about:

Overall this is a well written, engaging, and good history of the company Netflix, and how they finally beat Blockbuster in the video rental business. If you’ve ever wondered how Netflix got started, who the key people, and events were, then this is the best book for you. There are many characters in the book, and their stories are developed upon in addition to Marc, including Reed Hastings, and Mitch Lowe.

Rating: (1 to 5)

Earned a rating of 4.85 based on the story, which was beautifully written by the co-founder of the company. Marc is uniquely qualified to write such a memoir and you learn about the company, as well as the life of the author. He did an excellent job of drawing the reader in on the details, even describing the smell of coffee, sounds of engines, etc; very imaginative. You laugh when he wants you to laugh, cry when he feels sadness as you go through the ups and downs of Netflix’ story from start to IPO.

Other Thoughts

Marc thanked Gina Keating, the author of “Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America’s Eyeballs” in his acknowledgements section. You may want to check out this book if you’re interested in the Blockbuster rivalry story.

Did you read this book? What were your key take-aways? Share your comments in the section below.

Overview:

What is growth hacker marketing and why should you as a marketer care? Well, companies like Drop Box, Air BnB, Paypal, and Buzzfeed grew rapidly, and seem to have come out of nowhere, are ubiquitous in their respective industries – and they all practiced growth hacker marketing. In a relatively short period of time these companies and many others came to dominate, and are now multi-million dollar companies. If you’re a marketing student, an aspiring marketer, or seasoned traditional marketing person, you’ll appreciate the information and isights from this book. The book is written in the classic Robert Greene / Ryan Holiday fashion, where real-world examples, case studies, and lessons learned are shared, that you can apply in your own situation. I particularly like the simple to follow flow and informal language used in the book. Overall, quick read, and good primer on hacker marketing.

Here is what the book was about:

Ryan takes you through his journey from a traditional marketer at American Apparel where he read an article written by Andrew Chen, titled “Growth Hacker is the New VP of Marketing” and became inspired to make a career change. It explains growth hacker marketing concepts, outlines the process to growth hacking, shares success stories / case studies, and encourages you to continue your learning on the topic by providing a list of blogs, websites, and books to check out, and even offers a glossary of growth hacker marketing terms.

Rating: (1 to 5)

I rated this book 3.8 of 5 based on the level of engagement I felt while reading, and that I found the 4-step process to be something that could be used in real life. It would have earned a higher score if the character development had progressed more smoothly; Ryan started out with his own career at American Apparel but by the middle of the book seems to have left that thread and started onto other topics. It would have been better if he kept himself as the main character, and took us through his complete journey before explaining the 4-step process.

Other Thoughts on The Book

You may want to consider checking out Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, if you’re interested learning more about this topic.

If you’ve read one of my book reviews, you may have wondered how I determine what rank to give a title. Here is where the book ranking criteria is explained.

Thanks, and happy reading!

• Engaging & Compelling
  • Can’t put book down, want to continue reading late into the night to finish or simply see what happens next. Main story is compelling and meaningful to you, or applies to your life in some way
  • I give this criteria 30% of the overall score
• Valuable Content that makes you learn
  • By reading the book you learn a new topic or learn more about a topic you’re already familiar with
  • Worth 25% of overall score
• Character development and growth of main character from beginning to end
  • Growth and development of main character from beginning to end. For books that don’t have a single main character, use story development instead, or simply give it a neutral rank on this particular criteria.
  • This criteria is worth 20% of the overall score
• Well written
  • Good use of language, style, interesting and fun words
  • Worth 15% of overall score
• Author Pedigree
  • Author wrote other best selling books in the past
  • Worth 5% of overall score
• Book pedigree
  • Book won awards and other accolades, i.e NY Times Best Seller
  • This is worth 5% of the overall score

Let’s begin a dialog around this topic. What do you think of this ranking criteria? Are there other aspects that you consider? Would you give some items higher or a lower portion of the score?