Long Island, New York, Passcard chain rental store.

Standing behind the counter, Arthur was skillfully busy with the work at hand, handling rental matters for customers, and there were a lot of people renting films tonight, and the long line was about to line up to the shelves.

""Spy Shadows", the rental time is one week. Arthur finished the formalities and said with a smile: "Thank you for your patronage." ”

The male customer picked up the disc and walked straight out of the store.

The customer in the back came to the counter and put the selected discs on the counter, Arthur quickly began to scan the code, and the computer system quickly recorded the relevant information.

Arthur silently recited the name of the disc while scanning the code to check it with the name that appeared on the computer screen: "The Mummy 2", "Jurassic Park 3", "Hannibal", "Spy", ......"

Tomorrow is probably the weekend, and this customer is renting all the popular movie discs of this year, as if he is going to hide at home to watch the film on the weekend.

"Thank you for your patronage. Arthur sent another customer away.

Two female customers followed suit, renting romance and comedy films, and a black customer in the back rented a large stack of horror movies.

Two more young men approached, and Arthur repeated his previous work.

Both of these people only rented one film, and the name displayed by scanning the code was - "Spy Shadow".

Repeating the same work continuously, Arthur quickly became numb, but he still adhered to a conscientious and responsible attitude, constantly reciting the name of the disc and checking it with the results of the computer scanning the code.

After the dozen customers left, the title of "Spy Shadow" was silently recited in his mouth seven times.

It was nearly nine o'clock in the evening, and the store finally quieted down, and Arthur stretched out his head to look between the shelves, and saw that there was no one in the empty space, so he quickly stretched.

"I'm exhausted. Arthur muttered.

The store manager, Old York, walked over and said, "It's time to get off work." ”

Arthur and another clerk cheered, "yes!"

Old York reminded: "Don't be happy yet, remember to pass today's data to the statistics department of the head office, check the latest list released by the head office, and we must update the list and recommendation positions in the store in advance." ”

Arthur quickly counted and said: "Today, like yesterday, the largest number of leases is "Spy", with a total of 63 leases. ”

Old York nodded: "Since the release of the disc, this film seems to be more popular in the rental market than in the cinema. ”

Another clerk reminded: "Store manager, there are only 40 copies of the disc stock left in "Spy", should we apply for a new batch of discs? Otherwise, after tomorrow, there will be no films to rent for "Spy." ”

Old York had already thought about it, and said directly: "Arthur, send an email and apply to the channel department for another 300 copies of the disc of "Spy". ”

"So much?" Arthur was a little surprised.

Old York said: "The disc just hit the market last week, and the peak leasing season has not yet arrived. These 300 copies, plus the previous 200 copies, for a total of 500 discs, should be enough to support the rental cycle. ”

Arthur was busy with the work at hand, and said: "The film "Spy Shadow" is obviously about to explode in the rental market. ”

Another clerk answered, "It doesn't seem bad in the theater." ”

The North American box office was $178.62 million. Old York said: "The top 15 box office of the year this year is absolutely no problem." ”

Arthur asked, "How much is the global box office?"

The clerk replied, "It's almost $350 million, right?"

The elder Yorke apparently paid attention to the film, saying: "Some regions overseas are still showing it, and the final global box office of $350 million is definitely no problem." ”

"This company sent it again. Arthur said.

The clerk said, "I watched the news on the Internet the other day, and it was said that the TV premiere of this film sold for $7 million!"

"It's not all. The elder York has been in the industry for decades and is quite well-informed: "I attended a regional channel meeting last weekend, and I heard from the people above that the embassy pictures, which distributed "Spy Shadows", still had 15 percent of the advertising in the first round of TV broadcasts. ”

Arthur was speechless for an instant, as a practitioner in the film industry, he only had envy and jealousy.

How good would it be if he was the boss of this movie, how many luxury cars could he buy with such a high-income film?

Throw a bunch of checks out and have those beautiful models lie on the ground in a row, and then go over and take turns.

This wonderful life can only be imagined.

"What do you want?" Old York saw Arthur's hand stop, knocked on the counter, and reminded, "Hurry up!

Arthur quickly came back to his senses, uploaded the data, opened the mailbox again, and downloaded the documents issued by the head office.

"Okay!" Arthur said quickly: "Store manager, the latest rental list of the head office, the first place is still "Spy Shadow"!"

Old York walked to the counter facing the front door and slightly adjusted the disc and poster of "Spy Heavy" to ensure that they were in the most prominent position for customers to see when they walked in.

"I can't go wrong with thirty years of experience!" said Old Yorke again, "and look, "Spy is going to be a miracle in the disc sales and rental market." ”

In the early hours of Sunday morning, a dusty maroon Volvo station wagon pulled into a commuter parking lot in California's Silicon Valley, in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

After the NASDAQ crash in 2000 and the 911 terrorist attacks last month, the Internet industry was in a depression.

There were more than two dozen men and women waiting in the parking lot, and it was still a downhill walk into Silicon Valley, where the young computer geeks had to carpool together.

The canvas bags carried by geeks have a variety of logos representing Silicon Valley companies such as Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle.

These people are typical Silicon Valley people, wearing beach pants or Levi's jeans, a crumpled long-sleeved sweater or wool jacket, sneakers or canvas shoes, and a few people who don't know how long have not showered, looking unkempt, and staying up late for a long time also make them look sleepy.

The Volvo station wagon drove to the empty side of the parking lot, where a shiny steel-blue Toyota Avalon was parked alone.

The driver of the Toyota was sitting in the driver's seat, and as soon as he saw the Volvo coming, he immediately jumped out of the car.

The man was in his forties, tall and thin, wearing blue Levi's jeans, a slightly worn button-down shirt, and bright white sneakers.

Before Volvo could stop, the driver shouted, "Reed!"

Reid Hastings paced impatiently with his hands in his trouser pockets, his dark blue eyes watching Volvo approach, the car coming to a diagonal halt and shifting a few more times.

Mark Randolph, who was driving a Volvo, finally got out of the car satisfied, walked around the Volvo station wagon and greeted Reid Hastings: "Morning, Reid. ”

Reed Hastings said with some anxiety: "You're late!"

"Not late. "Mark Randolph is in his forties, and unlike Hastings, he is a social genius, the kind of marketing manager that many companies are looking for. He smiled and said to Hastings, "The time is just right. ”

Reed Hastings shook his head, not bothering about the trifle.

Although they are not the same people, there is no lack of rapport, trust and camaraderie between the two: they both share the confidence that comes with a superior education and a passion for integrating their ideas into the company.

"How?" asked Mark Randolph.

He rounded the car and stood next to Hastings.

Reed Hastings replied, "It's already here." ”

As he spoke, he leaned into the Avalon sedan and rummaged through the passenger's briefcase to pull out an oversized rose-colored envelope.

Mark Randolph saw the envelope and said, "Open it." ”

Reed Hastings took a quaint knife from his jacket pocket, sliced open the envelope, pulled out a silver compressed disc from the envelope, and examined it carefully in his hand.

The disc is intact!

"In good condition!" Reed Hastings handed the disc to Mark Randolph, "it took 16 hours to mail it from New York." ”

Mark Randolph looked at the disc and said, "It's a quarter faster than before." ”

As the nation's largest online movie rental company, the speed and security of mailing discs are key to the company's business.

Reed Hastings leaned against the door of the Avalon and said, "The speed and security of mail are very secure these days. ”

Mark Randolph understands what this means: "Our business is growing slowly. He also leaned back in the car and said, "Reed, the general environment is not good now. ”

Netflix is indeed the largest online movie rental company in the United States, and that's because there are so few competitors.

Instead of answering, Reid Hastings asked, "Mark, what do you think we're missing?" ”

"There are so many things missing. Mark Randolph tells the truth: "Money, technology, talent, customers, sources, etc. ”

Reed Hastings went on to ask, "What is most lacking?"

Mark Randolph thought about it for a moment and said, "Customer. If we have hundreds of thousands of members, it's easy to raise money, and with the funds, we can promote the website and buy more content to attract new customers. ”

Reed Hastings sighed: "At the end of the day, it's really a matter of funding and content. He looked into the distance: "The money can't be solved for a while, we can try to get content that can attract new customers first." ”

"What's the content?" asked Mark Randolph.

"In your hands. Reed Hastings said: "This is a disc of 'Spy', the hottest film in the offline rental market at the moment, and it has been ranked first on the Pepsi rental list for ten consecutive days. ”

Mark Randolph picked up the disc and looked carefully at the side with the cover: "We don't have the right to sell and lease the disc for this film. ”

"If only user development were still like this. Reed Hastings said: "We might have to get out of it. ”