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What's a business that when you first heard it, thought it was the dumbest idea in the world, and it turned out to be hugely successful? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by Low-Helicopter-2696@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

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Airbnb sounded like a horrible idea to me. Who the heck would rent out a single room? Sounded like a recipe for murder.

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[–] jhairehmyah@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

My experience new releases were $4-$5, and often older releases were $1-$3, while Netflix was $20 for the month.

Well, the 3-at-a-time DVD plan for Netflix was $18/mo in 2005, and I distinctly remember a one or two at a time DVD plan (my plan for under $10). This article confirms the $18/mo plan and alludes to the cheaper options...

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/technology/circuits/in-the-competition-for-dvd-rentals-by-mail-two-empires.html

Also, what made video stores truly SUCK was the late fees. Sure, a new title rental would be $5, but real people with real lives struggle to get a video back on time. The story of the start of Netflix was the co-founder owing $40 in late fees for Apollo 13--in 1995 dollars.

Sure, the American consumer was/is "I want it, and I want it now" and Netflix unlimited plans was always about "I want to see one of these 200 movies, surprise me." Like I said, great for arthouse and fringe picks saving you $20-$25 per disc to buy--if you could find it.

I am sure even if that time... 2000's until the early 2010's... I would use a Blockbuster for new releases and patiently wait my next foreign or arthouse pick from Netflix.

Regardless, what is sad to me, is what promised to be the future of being able to see any movie, ever, on demand, is now clearly a reality of seeing what the services will pay money to make available to you, when they feel like it, and you're stuck accepting it. There was a time I thought we'd see an end to piracy because the lame barriers of access were gone, now they're worse than ever.