Built to Fail Quotes

“But I believe the most valuable lessons they taught us are to define: our own path, our own purpose, how we will get there, and how we will measure our progress. No one can do that for us. Every organization has unique challenges that require original ideas, and those can only come from within by following our passion, guided by facts, to the right answers.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Reed Hastings could not have known it at the time, but when he tried to sell Netflix to Blockbuster in 2000, his company already had a doctorate degree in movie knowledge as compared to Blockbuster—which never got past the first grade. Netflix could not beat Blockbuster with money, but they easily did it with a deep understanding of their customers’ behavior. Redbox did the same.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Instead of relentlessly pursuing fact-based solutions, complacency dominated. The result was a wanton ignorance that left Blockbuster defenseless against anyone who better understood why people watched movies.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“The genesis of virtually all of Blockbuster’s difficulties came from its lack of intellectual curiosity, the ultimate example of which was the inept mismanagement of its massive movie viewing database. They never developed this goldmine of information that would have given them an incomparable base of knowledge with which to lead, instead of always following. When being biggest was not enough, Blockbuster lacked the business intelligence to know what to do next.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Our stores had provided the first job for thousands of people over the course of almost 30 years. And it was a training ground for ambitious employees to become managers and learn how to run a business. How to hire and train great employees. How to merchandise stores. How to manage costs and understand an income statement. And most important, how to build teams of people who understood and bought into common goals. Those teams of people built the longest lasting chain of Blockbuster stores in the country. It always seemed more like a mission than work.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Our company was in the middle of its best year ever because we had built on the strengths Netflix could not duplicate. Blockbuster was in the middle of its worst year ever because in its quest to be relevant again, it had consistently tried to be Netflix instead of Blockbuster. Our stores were three times more profitable than Blockbuster’s and growing. Blockbuster’s stores had entered a death spiral from which they would never recover.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“To address this challenge, Netflix built elaborate algorithms to suggest older titles to its customers. Over time, these algorithms got better and better. But never satisfied, Netflix conducted a very public contest that awarded a $1 million prize to anyone who could improve on their recommendation model (called Cinematch) by 10 percent. As an example of how far Netflix had come, it took three years for someone to improve what it had already built, and Netflix awarded the $1 million prize to a group from AT&T that finally did it.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“The answer is they became obsessed with understanding what subscribers watched and why. Netflix understood that there were thousands of movies as good or better than the new releases of the day. But that did not matter unless subscribers believed the same.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“The fate of the two companies was starkly different, as was its leadership. In its 25-year history, Blockbuster had five CEOs, none of whom had much interest in the inner workings of the video rental business. Netflix is still run by its Co-founder, Reed Hastings, who wrote a $1.9 million check 23 years ago to start the company. He is a self-described “math wonk,” and it shows in the company’s obsession with following the numbers to what its customers want. Blockbuster had thousands of times more data about movie watching than Netflix but rarely used it in productive ways. Even though Netflix was a fraction of the size, its obsession with data created a knowledge advantage that became its ultimate weapon against Blockbuster.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“There is one thing we can all agree on, though. Had Huizenga been at Blockbuster in 2000 when Reed Hastings offered to sell Netflix to Blockbuster for $50 million, he would have “damn sure” bought it—but for a lot less after he finished negotiating. And he would have convinced Hastings to take a pay cut to come to work for him!”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Nigel Travis tells the story in his book The Challenge Culture about an offsite strategy session in which Fields revealed his five strategy points and asked for feedback. No one volunteered any because it did not seem he particularly wanted it, so he moved on. Those five points became the strategy for Blockbuster going forward.25”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“But unlike Blockbuster, Prime was open to listening to another point of view, especially to someone from H-E-B, a company with which they were familiar. In early 1993, they called me to talk about managing their stores, and since H-E-B had made it known Video Central was for sale, I jumped at the opportunity to talk.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” —Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Craig brought a business model to H-E-B and Video Central that was like kryptonite to Blockbuster. Prices were lower, and inventories were larger and much better managed. We ran it just like H-E-B ran grocery stores. Define what matters most and relentlessly pursue perfection in those areas. And do your best to make it fun for employees and customers.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Blockbuster could have and should have understood the movie business better than anyone. But we know that was never the case because competitors saw what was coming before they did—every time. With its massive database to use as the ultimate guide to the future, Blockbuster should have led the way with its own ideas. But instead, they followed the path created by others with old, tired answers—and were always too late.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust

“Define what matters most and relentlessly pursue perfection in those areas. And do your best to make it fun for employees and customers.”
― Alan Payne, Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust