Guest: Jason Kilar, former CEO & co-founder of Hulu and former CEO of WarnerMedia

When Jason Kilar was a child, he was obsessed with Walt Disney — not just as a filmmaker or the creator of Disneyland, but as an entrepreneur. He started his career at the Walt Disney Company (where else?) but then got his first opportunity to help build something new when a young startup entrepreneur from Seattle visited his business school classroom. Most of Jason’s classmates predicted the failure of this startup, Amazon.com, which elicited “this awesome laugh, the Jeff Bezos trademark laugh.” How a leader reacts to criticism or doubts, Jason learned, says a lot about their conviction and intelligence.

Chapters:

(01:08) - Bing Gordon and John Doerr
(04:11) - Warner Bros.
(06:12) - Walt Disney
(11:10) - Working at Disney
(14:32) - What makes it special
(18:31) - Meeting your heroes
(20:06) - “Walt’s folly,” Disneyland
(22:45) - Harvard and Amazon
(25:09) - Meeting Jeff Bezos
(29:10) - “Help people understand Amazon exists”
(33:25) - Amazon’s culture
(38:07) - What Warner Bros. makes
(40:55) - Obscurity and relevance
(45:53) - Feeling the lows
(50:09) - Launching Hulu
(53:36) - NewCo or ClownCo?
(59:13) - Over-communication
(01:03:14) - The future of TV memo
(01:06:46) - Innovator’s dilemma
(01:08:57) - No labels
(01:14:04) - Unfinished business
(01:16:22) - Staying present
(01:20:26) - The theatrical window
(01:26:19) - What’s next?

Mentioned in this episode: Amazon, The Matrix, Star Wars: A New Hope, Disney World, Diane Disney Miller, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Michael Eisner, Universal Studios and Harry Potter, Disney University, Jeffrey Rayport, Barnes & Noble, Joel Spiegel, David Risher, Joy Covey, Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury, Andy Jassy, Brian Birtwistle, Jim Kingsbury, Vessel and Verizon, HBO, Friends, Hogwarts Legacy, Sony, Netflix, NBCUniversal, Paramount, AT&T, Discovery, Richard Tom, Kara Swisher, Fox, YouTube and Google, Saturday Night Live, Peter Chernin, Jeff Zucker, Bob Iger, Andy Rachleff and Benchmark, CBS, Miracle on 34th Street, Marissa Mayer and Yahoo, Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap, House of the Dragon and Industry, Dune, Christopher Nolan, and the TSA.

Links:

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Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

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This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

#214 Former CEO Hulu & WarnerMedia Jason Kilar: No Labels

Grit