pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Strategy and planning

Blockbuster, 2000. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

They passed on Netflix for $50M. This is the deck they needed next. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Competitive response

  • $50M offer
  • $795.8M in late fees
  • 7,700 stores to 1
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
2000 Competitive response

Blockbuster

They passed on Netflix for $50M. This is the deck they needed next.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→11 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

Blockbuster's competitive response, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. Blockbuster deck, slide 1: The Netflix meeting, take two. 01The Netflix meeting, take two.
  2. Blockbuster deck, slide 2: Netflix is tiny, and it's aimed at our late fees. 02Netflix is tiny, and it's aimed at our late fees.
  3. Blockbuster deck, slide 3: Their whole pitch is our customer's worst moment. 03Their whole pitch is our customer's worst moment.
  4. Blockbuster deck, slide 4: 16% of our revenue comes from customers being late. 0416% of our revenue comes from customers being late.
  5. Blockbuster deck, slide 5: Kill late fees and we have to win back 3.3M subscribers. 05Kill late fees and we have to win back 3.3M subscribers.
  6. Blockbuster deck, slide 6: Four options on the shelf. Only one uses 7,700 stores. 06Four options on the shelf. Only one uses 7,700 stores.
  7. Blockbuster deck, slide 7: Buy the mailbox. Then give it 7,700 front doors. 07Buy the mailbox. Then give it 7,700 front doors.
  8. Blockbuster deck, slide 8: We made every move on this plan. Years too late. 08We made every move on this plan. Years too late.
  9. Blockbuster deck, slide 9: Three tripwires tell us it's working before the P&L does. 09Three tripwires tell us it's working before the P&L does.
  10. Blockbuster deck, slide 10: Pass again, and the store count rewinds to one. 10Pass again, and the store count rewinds to one.
  11. Blockbuster deck, slide 11: Say yes to $50 million. This week. 11Say yes to $50 million. This week.

Then · 2000

How it really went

Read the real storyMarc Randolph's account of the Dallas meeting, via Fortune
  1. September 2000, Dallas: Hastings, Randolph and McCarthy offer Netflix for $50M
  2. Antioco's team passes: a niche business, dot-com hysteria
  3. Blockbuster books $795.8M in late fees that year, 16% of revenue
  4. Blockbuster Online launches in 2004
  5. Late fees end on January 1, 2005
  6. Carl Icahn wins board seats in a May 2005 proxy fight
  7. Total Access (November 2006) lets mail subscribers return in any store
  8. Total Access passes 3 million; Netflix posts its first-ever subscriber decline
  9. Antioco leaves in July 2007; the new team cuts Total Access back
  10. Chapter 11 in September 2010; Dish buys the chain for $320M
  11. By March 2019, the last Blockbuster on Earth is in Bend, Oregon

Now · 2026 · 11 slides

What we changed

  • The late fee has a price tagDrag how much late-fee revenue to give up, pick a plan price, and watch a wall of VHS tapes fill to the 3.3 million subscribers it takes just to stand still.
  • The plan, years earlyA timeline flips between what happened and the plan: the same moves slide back to 2000 and 2001, and red bars measure exactly how late each one came.
  • Tripwires that actually trippedNetflix's first-ever subscriber decline, -55,000, gets a red TRIPPED stamp. Then the deck notes, deadpan, that Blockbuster pulled back anyway.
  • A VCR counter rewinds to 0001From close to 7,700 stores through the 9,094 peak to one store in Bend, Oregon, on a glowing tape counter.

Steal the structure

Build your competitive response like Blockbuster did.

  1. 01 The threat in one sentence Name the challenger and the exact line of your business it targets, with its size today drawn to scale.
  2. 02 How the challenger wins Their customer journey next to yours; show the moment of yours that their pitch is built on.
  3. 03 Where we're exposed The revenue line at risk as one poster number and its share of the total.
  4. 04 What responding costs A calculator for the revenue you give up, what has to replace it, and what else you cannibalize.
  5. 05 The options Every real option, including doing nothing and buying them, with one marked as the pick.
  6. 06 Our move The chosen response as an ordered list of moves, with the price of the first one.
  7. 07 Timeline When each move lands, set against the default path if you wait.
  8. 08 Tripwire metrics Three numbers with triggers, agreed in advance, that tell you it's working before the P&L does.
  9. 09 The cost of not deciding Where the core business goes if the room passes, in the most concrete unit you have.
  10. 10 The decision One yes or no, the items it approves, and who signs.

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