Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of Netflix, took his company from a mom-and-pop DVD operation to a $40-billion global media behemoth that is now squaring off with companies like Comcast and Time Warner.
In a new video, Hastings discussed what it was like to build the company -- learning to manage people by observing chess pieces, and his first big break.
One of the surprises: his roots as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.
"It was a fantastic introduction to selling," he said.
Hastings, who rarely shies away from voicing his opinion publicly but rarely sits down for interviews, spoke with venture capital firm Foundation partners for its series on startup stories.
In addition to recounting his experiences at failed startups, he also noted that Netflix was started with the knowledge that DVDs were dying and that the company nearly lost a brutal battle with video rental chain store Blockbuster.
"I wish we had realized how hard they were going to attack," Hastings said. "There was a multi-year battle for survival between Blockbuster and Netflix.
Hastings has good reason to be dishing leadership advice. Netflix has been on the upswing ever since a disastrous attempt to split its streaming and DVD-rental business.
In the past two years, Netflix shares are up a whopping 212%.