Netflix
In 1997, Blockbuster was untouchable. With 9,000 stores and a business model fueled by late fees, the company owned home entertainment. Netflix emerged as a contrarian bet: a DVD-by-mail experiment that most people thought was doomed. Reed Hastings had already learned valuable lessons from his first company, where he struggled as a manager—"too busy chopping wood to sharpen the axe," as he would later put it. He'd also spent time in the Peace Corps in Swaziland and absorbed a humility lesson from a CEO who washed his own coffee cups. These experiences shaped how he would build Netflix differently.
Netflix's early "obvious" advantages weren't enough to guarantee survival. The company made an early bet on DVDs when others were skeptical, and Reed saw the late-fee pain that Blockbuster relied on as an opportunity. But the real test came during the dot-com crash. Netflix was so close to death that it nearly sold itself off just to stay alive. A possible Blockbuster buyout loomed—Reed admitted, "We probably would've taken any offer." The company was rescued by a $50M funding round from LVMH, which barely kept the lights on.
Reed introduced the Netflix culture deck, which challenged corporate America with the philosophy "We're not a family"—a statement that shocked people at the time but became foundational to the company's success. He pioneered the "keeper test," a principle that became a turning point in corporate culture: if you can't perform at peak, leave. The company learned hard lessons too. The Qwikster fiasco—an attempt to split DVD and streaming services—backfired spectacularly and humbled Reed, but it taught Netflix to be more careful with major strategic pivots.
Netflix made the leap from DVD-by-mail to original content, building a House of Cards moment that transformed the company into a media powerhouse. Yet Reed is candid about the competitive landscape: Netflix represents just under 10% of TV viewing, and the real threat isn't traditional competitors—it's YouTube and the rise of AI. The company that nearly didn't survive Blockbuster now competes in a fragmented streaming world where the remote-control moment of truth continues to shape strategy.
Similar Companies
Active Campaign
$4.2M/moActive Campaign started in 2003 as an on-premise email marketing solution built by Jason Vanderboom to fund his fine arts degree. After 10 years and 8 employees generating a couple million in revenue, he transitioned to a SaaS model starting at $9/month. The company now has over 60,000 customers generating over $50 million annually and employs 330 people, growing primarily through organic adoption, partnerships, and focus on the SMB market despite pressure to move upmarket.
Ahrefs
$3.3M/moAhrefs is a bootstrapped SaaS company providing SEO and backlink analysis tools, currently generating over $40M ARR with 45 employees. After joining in 2015, Tim Solo transformed the blog from 15,000 to 250,000+ monthly Google visitors by shifting from publishing what they wanted to write about to targeting keywords people actually search for, creating high-quality content with direct product integration, and continuously updating articles to accumulate backlinks. The company breaks conventional marketing wisdom by not using customer personas, growth hacks, or detailed analytics—instead focusing entirely on product quality and audience education through blog content.
Calendly
$2.5M/moTope Awotona founded Calendly after three failed startups taught him the importance of solving real problems rather than chasing money. He spent six months validating the scheduling tool idea by studying competitors' products and user forums, then went all-in by emptying his bank account and hiring engineers in Ukraine. Calendly achieved product-market fit through a freemium model that optimized for invitee experience, growing to 4 million users and $30M ARR largely through organic viral growth and word-of-mouth.
LMS365
$2.5M/moLMS365 is a SaaS platform built for the Microsoft ecosystem that raised $20M in 2023 at a $100M valuation, based on $20M ARR. As of April 2024, the company has grown to $30M ARR with a 200-person team. The company is targeting $40M ARR in 2024, demonstrating strong momentum in the enterprise learning management space.
QuestionPro
$2.5M/moQuestionPro is a bootstrapped SaaS survey and feedback platform that grew to $30M ARR primarily through strategic acquisitions of smaller companies, buying them at 2x multiples. The company's growth strategy focused on consolidation within the survey/feedback tools market rather than traditional marketing channels.