Former Netflix CEO's Secret to Work-Life Balance: How Marc Randolph's Simple Tuesday Trick Avoided Having A '7th Startup And 7th Wife'

Netflix Inc. NFLX has become nearly ubiquitous throughout society. Whether you want to watch a movie, TV show or play a game, Netflix's fight to have your free time spent on its platform largely continues to succeed.

According to its most recent earnings report, Netflix announced it had 260 million paid subscribers worldwide.

To most investors, that mass adoption, alongside the company's impressive $240-plus billion market cap, is an unquestioned success story. However, former Netflix CEO Marc Randolph's definition of success doesn't consider either of these factors.

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In a LinkedIn post Randolph wrote, "I've worked hard, for my entire career, to keep my life balanced with my job … for over 30 years, I had a hard cut-off on Tuesdays. Rain or shine, I left at exactly 5 p.m. and spent the evening with my best friend … nothing got in the way of that."

Most entrepreneurs hoping to build the next multibillion-dollar company understand that success does not happen overnight, and to succeed they need to succeed over the long term. To win the long game, finding the right balance between life and work to avoid burnout is crucial.

The only way to be sure an entrepreneur won't succeed is if they give up. According to Y Combinator's "Pocket Guide of Essential YC Advice," stressing about competition shouldn't be the top worry for startups worried about survival. Instead, it's if they stop trying. Specifically, Y Combinator says, "Ignore your competitors, you will more likely die of suicide than murder." 

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Randolph knew what he didn't want, saying, "I resolved a long time ago to not be one of those entrepreneurs on their seventh startup and their seventh wife."

For Randolph, success is being "able to start [companies] while staying married to the same woman; having my kids grow up knowing me … liking me and being able to spend time pursuing the other passions in my life."

Investors who have ridden Netflix's stock from its 2002 initial public offering (IPO) have achieved significant financial success of their own, with the stock up over 46,000% since.

However, similar to an entrepreneurial journey, the stock's ascent did not come in a straight line. As recently as a couple of years ago, in the seven months from October 2021 to May 2022, Netflix stock dropped over 73% from peak to trough caught up in the broader tech correction.

Even worse was in 2011, when the stock price cratered 80% from top to bottom on poorly received price hikes that cost the company a then crucial 800,000 customers.

That's why while entrepreneurs might benefit from work-life balance in a similar way that Netflix's former CEO did, investors might benefit from diversification to minimize possible stomach-turning volatility that a single stock position might bring.

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