Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph.
The company was incorporated on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California. Hastings had co-founded software company Pure Software, while Randolph brought substantial experience in mail-order and online marketing. The pair developed the idea during a carpool between Santa Cruz and Pure Atria’s headquarters in Sunnyvale.
They tested whether DVDs could survive shipping by mailing a disc to Hastings’s home. Unlike bulky and fragile VHS tapes, DVDs were compact enough for postal delivery. Netflix launched its website on April 14, 1998, initially selling and renting DVDs before concentrating on rentals.
A monthly subscription model arrived in 1999, helping distinguish Netflix from traditional video stores. Streaming began in 2007, but that later identity can obscure the company’s original mail-based business. The often-repeated story that Hastings founded Netflix after a $40 Blockbuster late fee is disputed: Randolph later said the anecdote was embellished, so it should not be treated as the firm’s established origin.