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Reed Hastings Trivia Questions

How much do you really know about Reed Hastings? Below are 8 true or false statements. Click each one to reveal the answer and explanation.

1.

Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix with a former Microsoft executive.

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Easy
✗ FALSE

He co-founded Netflix with Marc Randolph, a software entrepreneur and marketing expert, not a Microsoft exec.

2.

Reed Hastings was a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland teaching math.

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Medium
✓ TRUE

After college, he taught math in Swaziland (now Eswatini) from 1983 to 1985, which influenced his global perspective.

3.

Hastings personally wrote Netflix's first 100 lines of code.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Hastings is not a programmer by trade; the initial code was written by early employees like John Cook.

4.

Reed Hastings dropped out of Stanford to start Netflix.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

He earned a master's in computer science from Stanford in 1988, years before Netflix. He actually worked as a software engineer first.

5.

Reed Hastings once set his Netflix DVD on fire to protest late fees.

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Medium
✓ TRUE

In 1997, Hastings was charged a $40 late fee for 'Apollo 13,' sparking his idea for Netflix. He didn't actually burn the DVD—that's a myth he's debunked.

6.

Hastings once banned all meetings longer than 30 minutes at Netflix.

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Hard
✗ FALSE

Netflix has a culture of freedom and responsibility, but no official ban on long meetings. Hastings encourages concise communication, not strict time limits.

7.

Hastings developed the original Netflix algorithm himself in his garage.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

While Hastings co-founded Netflix, the algorithm was built by engineers like Neil Hunt; Hastings' background is in math, not coding.

8.

Hastings served on the board of Facebook for over a decade.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

He joined Facebook's board in 2011 and stepped down in 2019, offering strategic advice during its growth phase.

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