Review by Booklist Review
Media entrepreneur Lowe delivers a spicy combination of business memoir and field guide. Structured around the Eightfold Path of Zen Buddhism, his journey covers an expanse of the entertainment industry from video store operations to streaming video in home entertainment. There is much to learn for anyone in the midst of developing an innovative business model as well as for readers wanting a peek behind the scenes into some of the most recognizable companies in the media industry. With a bit of dirty laundry and some tough lessons learned, along with a depiction of the rewards of insight and well-timed risk taking, Watch and Learn will find an audience beyond business, appealing also to readers wanting a glimpse of the players in the entertainment industry. Providing instruction on the value of firsthand customer interactions, attending to the demands of evolving markets, as well as the nitty-gritty of deal-making (and breaking), this title will be a solid addition to business collections. Public libraries will likely find a crossover audience in entertainment memoirs.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lowe, former CEO of MoviePass and a self-described "zen disruptor," recounts his career in the media industry, along with business advice and Buddhist teachings, in this mixed but rollicking account. After dropping out of high school in the mid-1960s, Lowe embarked on a variety of adventures, from living on an Israeli kibbutz to selling Romanian clothes, before settling in California and getting into the video business. In the late 1970s, Lowe had an idea for a videocassette rental kiosk called Video Droid, and though that idea fizzled, his traditional rental business grew and eventually caught the attention of Netflix founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, who brought him on board. His second attempt at an automated kiosk, Netflix Express, failed and led to his departure from the company--"It had just been too early"--but the third time proved to be the charm, as his Redbox business took off in the early 2000s. Lowe writes about his life and career with candor, though his business advice feels phoned in ("Learning how to evaluate the integrity and intentions of people you want to work with can save you much pain and misery") and the Buddhist musings he drops in feel detached from the narrative. Still, for fans of bootstrapping tales, this one's worth it for the hard-earned personal story. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Self-styled "Zen disruptor" Lowe chronicles his career in delivering movies to the masses, which he says was often in opposition to Hollywood itself. He lays out his trajectory: His unrealized dream of a self-contained VHS rental kiosk led to his running a video rental chain. Looking ahead to DVDs, Lowe found himself advising Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph, then joined the company pre-launch. Later, Lowe's nascent rental kiosk idea would come to life in Redbox. More recently, Lowe took on MoviePass, shepherding it from a struggling start-up to a behemoth collapsing under the weight of its debt. Lowe's disarmingly frank career memoir acknowledges both personal and professional failings; even as he peppers the narrative with lessons in entrepreneurship, he admits that he didn't always apply them himself. He also has a self-deprecating side (the regular on the speaking circuit refers to himself as the guy you hire when you can't afford Marc Randolph). And despite his three houses and willingness to invest five figure sums in iffy schemes, there's something relatable about a man who once faked a heart attack to get out of a meeting. VERDICT Business readers will admire Lowe's acumen and the bite-sized takeaways at the end of each chapter. Media consumers will appreciate Lowe's insider history of game-changing film companies.--Terry Bosky
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Lessons from an inventive career. Identifying himself as a disruptor, Lowe, co-founder of Netflix and now a busy public speaker, enthusiastically shares business advice gleaned from his many successes, failures, and challenges. An adherent of Buddhist teachings--Buddhist principles serve as epigraphs for each chapter--he explains that "like drops of water wearing away at stone, a zen disruptor's approach generates success slowly but inexorably, creating a long-term triumph over the rigid thinking of traditional companies in sclerotic industries." The sclerotic industry that Lowe battled most strongly was dominated by a handful of powerful movie studios. As a high school dropout, Lowe felt driven by "calculated reckless abandon." By the age of 18, he had "visited a dozen different countries and done jobs from disco club DJ to smuggling currency behind the Iron Curtain to stealing bananas and grapefruit from Arabs in a war zone." He had bought ethnic clothes in Romania and sold them on Rodeo Drive "for a hundred times what I paid." In Monaco, he hung out with Andy Warhol, who gifted him "a signed Marilyn Monroe lithograph." In the 1980s, back in California, with 500 DVDs from a store that went out of business, he decided to rent videos from kiosks. First, he realized that he needed to figure out how to design and manufacture the vending machines, and his facility for problem-solving earned him the nickname Tinkerbell. "Tinkering," he writes, "was the way to find the magical formula for success, I thought." By 1996, the successful kiosk business led to an offer to join Netflix. After departing from that company, he worked on another concept: Redbox. For all his accomplishments, Lowe's most recent venture, the subscription service MoviePass, proved disastrous, beset by unexpected costs and customer fraud. "Forgetting all the lessons and techniques and strategies you have learned," he reminds readers, "is a path that can lead to failure." A lively memoir from a tireless and fearless businessman. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
