Every startup should try to emulate the Netflix culture

This is great stuff. But it's also a lot. Some would say that what defines a culture needs to be simple. But this isn't necessarily true. It just needs to be lived. I think what the length of this document shows is that NetFlix focuses on culture and living it in everything they do. From this focus, they've articulated a model that really delivers to high performers.
Here's another interesting thought: This deck is the antithesis of my experience with school. A lot of solutions this deck offers are solutions to problems found in school. And if certain educational institutions implemented some of these concepts in the appropriate context, education would be delivered much more effectively.

Me too. I've never thought about Netflix being a particularly innovative company, but sounds like they're on to something here. And I love that this went public.

Netflix is very innovative. They were the one of the first ones to figure out how to use the whole social ranking of stuff.

I can't remember the name of it, but it's where movies that are suggested to you are chosen because other people that like movies you like, also liked them.

They were one of the first to use Ajax to populate the movie information when you search.

They also sponsor a code event every once in a while where they “crowd source” the development of their movie algorithm. They basically do a contest where you try to make a better Netflix movie suggester: http://www.netflixprize.com/

They do some cool stuff over there, no doubt :)

My personal opinion is that this is way too long to be truly functional. The best culture document that I like to reflect is from MindSpring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MindSpring. BLiNQ has also created our own mission statement, core values and business philosophy which are reflected publicly on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages. These were developed by our management and employees and have really helped in company and individual decision making. http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuesti…

Interesting point about schools. I completely agree.

I think the trick here is having strong leadership to help this type of culture work. You can't have anyone at the top with political motives or trust-issues. That's going to be the hardest part for any company trying to make this work.

Oh, and let's not forget the business side :)

They created an entire movie rental business when no one thought Blockbuster's domination could be broken.

They started as a pay per movie service, realized that wouldn't scale well, COMPLETELY changed their business model to “all you can watch” and soared.

Now Blockbuster reacts to them, and they proved yet another place where an internet company can compete with a “brick and mortar” business.