Netflix decided to build its own internet-connected device that plugged into TVs. They called it Project Griffin.3 The company spent years developing the product, testing and validating the device. Everyone was amped. Then, a few days before launch in 2007, Reed Hastings sent out an email to the entire company saying to stop production on it. “Just kill it”, he said. All that time, all that money, wiped out, a few days before launch. Why? Hastings realized that if he launched a hardware device, he could not partner with anyone else. He would be in the business of hardware, not software or
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