The Best Entertainment Era

At the beginning of 2002, Ronan temporarily stayed in San Jose, familiarized himself with Netflix's operations, and worked with Netflix's management to solve various problems currently facing him.

But he did not rush to intervene in Netflix's day-to-day business.

Ronan's strength lies in the company's future development direction and strategic decisions.

Netflix’s management capabilities are good. In addition to maintaining the stability of Netflix, Mark Randolph also invited back several technical managers who were rejected by Reed Hastings. They also built the Netflix website The framework, ability itself is not a problem, was dismissed at the beginning, more because Reed Hastings, as a latecomer, needs to fully control the company.

After a period of personal experience, Ronan saw more people like Mark Randolph and Jim Cook in Netflix. Fanaticism, never give up until the goal is reached.

This is Silicon Valley, a paradise for entrepreneurship. People here have an almost crazy enthusiasm that is difficult to see in traditional industries. Too many programmers and designers regard their working computers as their partners.

In Hollywood, it is difficult to feel the atmosphere of a Silicon Valley company.

Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why Silicon Valley continues to produce miracles.

Ronan once considered whether to move Netflix to Los Angeles so as to be closer to Hollywood, but after actual observation, he felt that at least in the past few years, the overall atmosphere of Silicon Valley was far more suitable for Netflix than Hollywood.

These years, Ronan definitely belongs to the hardest-working group in Hollywood, but after coming to San Francisco, he found that there are too many people working hard here.

Early in the morning, as soon as he walked into Netflix, Ronan saw Mark Randolph sitting in the lobby with coffee, and a dozen website technicians were already busy.

It's so early, Mark. Ronan walked to the coffee machine and took a cup of coffee for himself.

Mark Randolph said: The website optimization is almost finished, and we will try to finish it today.

The person in charge of the design department, Eric Meyer, who was called a genius programmer by Mark Randolph, sat in front of the computer next to him, without raising his head, and said, Bosses, I will definitely finish it today.

Ronan didn't understand computer programming, so he said, Don't forget to optimize the search function.

Mark Randolph said at this time: The user's reminder function,

It can also be designed today.

Ronan nodded. This is a design request he made, which comes from the memory of his previous life.

Of course, the Netflix website in the previous life had more and more powerful functions in terms of movie selection and other aspects, but after Ronan learned about the company's situation, most of them were only put in future plans, not realized now.

On the one hand, it is based on the acceptance of today's network users, and on the other hand, it is based on the development of hardware and the Internet.

Since the stock market crashed, the Internet industry has developed relatively slowly in the past two years. Hardware and bandwidth are issues that must be considered in website design. Too many website loading programs will not only increase the burden on the client, but also a huge test for Netflix’s server.

Netflix is ​​only a small part of many Internet industries, and currently has too little impact on the entire industry, and it is impossible to drive hardware changes in the computer industry.

But within the affordability, the website will do its best.

In the middle of the afternoon, Ronan and Mark Randolph came to the technical department again. Eric Meyer's technical team suspended the work at hand, and it seemed that the optimization design had come to an end.

Boss! Eric Meyer invited Ronan and Mark Randolph to the computer with the largest screen, and said, The optimization work is complete.

Mark Randolph did not look at the computer screen, but said to Ronan: We have long wanted to go at this step, without your support...

Ronan patted him and said, This is our business.

Mark Randolph nodded slightly, knowing more clearly the importance of funds for a start-up company.

There is no shortage of manpower for Netflix’s website optimization, but Oracle’s latest design software is needed. Netflix’s previous financial situation could only barely maintain the company’s operations, and it was impossible to complete this work.

As the actual founder and operating officer of Netflix, no one knows better than Mark Randolph that many of Netflix's problems are caused by the general environment and insufficient funds.

With the capital injection of Relativity Entertainment, he believes that many problems will be solved.

Eric Meyer said at this time: We used the powerful functions of the software to re-customize the website program according to the predetermined plan. From next week, Netflix's website can handle the search and fulfillment of up to 10 million users per day. The operation can process 300,000 orders at the same time.

Due to previous funding constraints, they have not been able to improve the site.

Ronan said with satisfaction: Well done.

Eric Meyer added: We have also further optimized various ideas of the company's user interface, inventory management, shipping and even credit card use into a user-friendly interface.

Mark Randolph patted Eric Meyer on the shoulder: Thank you.

It's not hard, this optimization process is so satisfying! Eric Meyer has a typical work enthusiasm of Silicon Valley people: For us, coding work is a fun game, which can make marketing more important than technology. Dance with the matching.

Under the operation of Eric Meyer, Ronan and Mark Randolph saw the design team optimize the website interface and functions more.

In the user interface, they have optimized a function called queue to make the processing program have a certain smartness, thus allowing customers to catalog and optimize processing in their personal accounts.

In the same position, there is a new reminder function, and the icon is quite eye-catching - a raised index finger with a bow on it.

This allows customers to tag videos they are interested in.

In addition, Eric Meyer hopes to build a digital shopping assistant. According to his ideal state, the digital shopping assistant will be a virtual character with an avatar that can help customers find what they like in Netflix's vast library of movies in the future. of videos.

This is just an idea, which cannot be realized in the short term.

After the introduction, Ronan sat in front of the computer and actually experienced the various functions of the website. Compared with before, it is indeed more convenient and quicker to select videos.

Especially in terms of website processing orders, the speed has become significantly faster.

But Ronan searched for a while, and suddenly found a problem. When he clicked on the link of a movie, he found that it was out of stock, and there were several other movies that were in a similar situation.

Mark. Ronan pointed to the computer screen and asked, This is...

Mark Randolph, who was seated at another computer, poked his head over and said, We don't have a license for these videos.

Eric Meyer continued: This is Mr. Hastings' decision. Since the number of videos in the library is too small, Mr. Hastings believes that increasing the number of videos on the website will be more conducive to attracting customers.

Ronan thought for a moment and said, All unauthorized videos will be removed from the website.

It just borrowed the name of the film and did not involve copyright issues, but he still said: We will never use the method of placing empty boxes of video tapes on the shelves like Blockbuster to stimulate the appetite of customers.

Mark Randolph said: Some of Blockbuster's practices are indeed worthy of our reflection.

Eric Meyer said: I'll just let someone do it.

Ronan had an idea and said, We may have an inventory shortage in the future. Eric, can you devise a program that directs customers to movies in stock instead of showing them all available sources.

Eric Meyer thought for a moment and said, This optimization program is not difficult, I'll let someone design it right away.

Later, Ronan entered the office with Mark Randolph.

With financial support, we are re-conducting market research. Mark Randolph said: In the past two years, too much work can only be stranded because of funding problems.

He also said: Netflix's current customers are mainly students, skilled immigrants and neighboring areas of California. Market research can provide us with more data support for promotion.

Luo Nan said: Skilled immigration customers account for a relatively large proportion, which is conducive to our introduction of foreign film authorization.

Mark Randolph said: Ronan, you have done what we have always wanted to do but couldn't do. The film licensing negotiations between South Korea and the island countries went very smoothly. We won several film companies at a very small price. authorization, and after the news spread, other companies from the two countries contacted us.”

The licensing fees for these overseas films are very low. Ronan said: Try to negotiate as much as possible. Funding will not be a problem in the short term.

He thought for a while, and then said: Indians account for a considerable proportion of skilled immigrants in the California area. I will contact Indians, and you send someone to contact Bollywood.

Mark Randolph asked with concern: You have connections in India.

A large-scale film investment fund in India. Ronan said simply: They are closely related to Bollywood, and it will be very convenient for them to act as an intermediary introducer.

Hearing Ronan's words, Mark Randolph deeply felt that the promotion of the development of a film-related business company like Netflix by Hollywood industry leaders is simply not comparable to that of Reed Hastings.

Just like negotiating film licensing with companies in South Korea and island countries, many things that Netflix does that are extremely difficult can be easily accomplished under the hands of the other party.

Mark Randolph suddenly had a feeling that when Netflix was founded, if it had not accepted Reed Hastings' angel investment but went to Hollywood to find funds, Netflix might not be what it is now.

San Francisco, California and its surrounding areas are the main source of Netflix’s customers today. Most of the skilled immigrants here are East Asian and Indian. It will be more attractive to win the authorization of many movies such as island countries, South Korea and India. this part of customers.

Ronan has another very important matter to discuss with Mark Randolph.

About the cryptic art piece on the Netflix website.