Built to Stream, Designed to Lead – A Netflix Story at How to Web Conference

How Netflix Turns Product Design into Business Impact for 300M Users

“We’re very user-centric, so we don’t wait till the last minute to think about our users. We think about our users first.”

The room buzzed with energy as Fonz Morris, Design Lead at Netflix, delivered this hard truth that many companies still struggle to implement. Drawing from personal experiences—setbacks and major wins—Fonz offered insights relevant to anyone designing for a handful of users or a platform as large as Netflix. 

Ever wondered why Netflix didn’t rush into streaming live sports globally? Fonz shared how product design plays a central role in shaping such strategic decisions. From testing new markets with a purpose to aligning user insights with business outcomes, Fonz revealed how design thinking isn’t just about how things look—it’s about building the right experiences at the right time for hundreds of millions of users around the world.

From Startup Founder to Netflix Designer

Before joining Netflix, Fonz experienced both success and failure as an entrepreneur. “I’m a three-time failed entrepreneur. Well, one-time successful, two-time failed entrepreneur. But fail depends on how you define the word failure,” he explains.

These experiences shaped his approach to design. At Netflix, Fonz discovered the true impact of his work: “Just being able to know how much, just how many people you can affect. Netflix as of today has like almost 300 million users. So to know that I can go all over the world and somebody has most likely seen some of the work that I’ve done is very rewarding.”

Beyond personal satisfaction, Fonz finds meaning in creating experiences that bring joy: “When you think of how people use Netflix and how much joy it brings, it touches a different part of you when you know that you’re helping… In 190 different countries, 300 million people find joy in this tough, crazy world.”

Netflix’s Design Playbook: Creating User-Centric Experiences at a Global Scale

How does Netflix maintain cultural relevance across its global audience? Fonz credits Netflix’s diverse workforce: “All of our employees are diverse. So therefore you kind of get this extra support culturally, where somebody might do a design and I might see that and say <<I don’t know about that, that doesn’t resonate with me or I don’t understand that>>.”

This diversity enables honest feedback: “The first step is having that diverse culture where everybody can speak up. And we have a very feedback-focused culture as well.”

Most importantly, Netflix prioritizes users from the start: “We’re very user-centric, so we don’t wait till the last minute to think about our users. We think about our users first. So you have diverse employees worrying about your diverse customers, and therefore we’re always doing that. And I think that’s what gives us the advantage of not missing the mark culturally. Now sometimes content comes out that one community may like and one community may not, but when it comes to the platform – it’s the diversity of talent.”

No-Excuse UX Research

Many entrepreneurs believe comprehensive user research requires resources they don’t have. Fonz strongly disagrees: “I am the biggest UX research fan, the biggest on consumer insights. You wouldn’t think I’m on the consumer insight team, right? I don’t think the size of your business is an excuse to not do research.”

He shares from his startup days: “When I had my startups, my research was coming to events like this (How To Web Conference) and asking people like this. Maybe I didn’t get to reach as many people as we do at Netflix. Where we do hundreds of thousands or millions of surveys. But you know what? You can still do some research, no matter what size you are.”

Fonz emphasizes that research should never be optional: “You could be one solo female founder and still do research. You could be a series A, B, C, D, E and do research. I think you have to make it so important that you don’t let your current situation slow you down… Never skip it, because how are you gonna skip one of the most important steps of talking to your customers? It almost doesn’t make sense to skip research.”

Strategic UX Research Methods That Drive Decisions

When choosing research methods, Fonz advocates for a context-specific approach: “I think it’s, what are you trying to get an answer to? I think there is no best way.”

For broad insights, quantitative methods work well: “Sometimes quantitative is what you need because I’m trying to reach a lot of people. Like, I just want to get a read on this idea, and that’s going to be through a survey.”

To validate concepts, qualitative approaches become valuable: “Once you have a more concrete idea and you want to possibly validate the idea, you might want to move to something more qualitative, like a focus group, where you’re actually putting the idea or the concept in front of the user.”

While Fonz uses both approaches, he admits a preference: “I prefer qualitative because I love to hear from our users. I want to see you say <<I don’t know how to use this>>, or <<What is this?>> Or <<This is great.>>, or <<What am I supposed to do with this?>> Because we can take that data and go back to the lab and fix that.”

Predictive Design 101 – How To Spot Issues Before They Become UX Problems? 

Fonz relies primarily on data: “I think that would be through data… When you’re looking at the data and you get to a point where you see people starting to fall off or the number dropping, it’s probably something there. Is it a problem? I don’t know. Is it worth ignoring? No.”

When patterns emerge, Netflix investigates further: “So now you gotta tap in and probably do some research and see if this material or product (video in Netflix’s case) is still hitting right for people. Is it still landing correctly? I don’t think you can always foresee a problem, but I do think when you have data, you can kind of notice trends and now you can kind of cut those trends off before they become a problem.”

Testing New Markets Strategically 

 

When expanding into new areas, such as sports streaming, Netflix takes a measured approach:  “What we did is think <<How can we kind of get in there, just a little, to test the market and see?>> So, instead of saying <<We’re going to provide a whole season>>, we said that we’re just going to provide two games on Christmas in the United States. The brilliance of those two games is that Christmas is one of the biggest days of watching American football in the United States. So, do we need the whole season out of the gate? No, we just need to be able to test and see how much interest we’ll get from Christmas.”

 

The results inform future decisions: “So, then we’ll decide, <<Wow! Christmas was such a success. Maybe it is worth those billions to now try to get more games.>> But we’re going to only play in the markets that make sense.”

Ship Less, Succeed More: How Design Focus Accelerates Startup Growth

For early-stage companies trying to move quickly with limited resources, Fonz advises focus over feature bloat: “I think you have to stay focused because you’re not going to be able to do everything right.”

He reflects on his startup mistakes: “In my start-ups, I just kept adding features and features, but I was never really getting true market acceptance of the features that I already had. But I thought, <<Oh, it wasn’t because we didn’t do this, it’s because we didn’t have this>>.”

Research should guide velocity: “I think you do the research as a predecessor to velocity because the research should tell you where you should be focusing on.”

Fonz warns against spreading too thin: “I should have spent less time thinking speed was the answer and understanding that understanding my user was the answer. And my users only needed to be able to upload videos. But I was giving you a chat, I was giving you this and this and that.” The lesson? “Be very strategic with what you want your velocity to be… And I think you find that by talking to your users and seeing what they want, what’s interesting to them, where are they? Be wise. And you don’t have to ship everything all the time.”

Balancing Business Needs with User Experience

When discussing competitors’ ad strategies, Fonz emphasizes the importance of balance: “Business design is the balance of what the business needs and what the customer wants.” When companies prioritize revenue over user experience, “they’re doing just what works for the business. They’re not thinking about the customer as much. And I think that hurts them.”

Even as Netflix introduces ads, they take a measured approach: “At Netflix, we are introducing ads now, but we’re being very, very wise and strategic about it – how many, the frequency, etc., because we don’t want our customers to have the sentiment that we are pushing.”

The Value of Mentorship and Clear Vision in Product Design

Reflecting on his startup experiences, Fonz highlights a crucial missing element: “We didn’t have a mentor when I was doing that. I think mentorship is so important. If you don’t have a mentor, I think you should find one. I think if I had a mentor they would have told us: <<Hey, you’re trying to do too much. Focus on this. Get this right>>“.

Beyond mentorship, Fonz stresses the importance of vision: “You’d be surprised how many businesses don’t have a vision statement. They don’t have a mission statement.”

These foundational elements keep companies on track: “Where is this company going? And then the mission statement is like, why do we have this company?”

Without these guiding principles, businesses lose direction: “We didn’t have a vision statement, we didn’t have a mission statement when I did my business. And so we were just constantly running and gunning.”

After his experiences, Fonz now asks fundamental questions: “Who is this for? How do you know that they’re going to pay? Are you sure that they’re going to pay? Why would they pay? Would you even pay for your own business?”

One Right Design vs. Ten Wrong Features in Product Development 

Fonz’s entrepreneurial lessons transformed his approach to product development: “I’m less focused on shipping. I’m cool with shipping one thing if it’s the right thing, like would you rather ship 10 wrong things or ship one right thing?”

This philosophy guides his work at Netflix: “Now I’m only focused on shipping the right things. So I take the right steps. UX research, using the data, making sure that the team is aligned, cross-collaborative, making sure that everybody is involved in the decision-making process.”

He contrasts this with previous approaches: “In my other startups it was like if I said we wanted to do something, we were going to do it… There wasn’t even really a check and balance between things. So, stay focused y’all!”

When Brand Ambassadors Make Sense

For companies considering brand ambassadors, Fonz urges careful consideration: “I think that depends on where the business is. Because what you branding, if you don’t have a brand, what is the brand ambassador actually branding?”

Timing matters: “I think there comes a point where you should possibly have a face of your business that could, that could then help convert users. But I don’t think you should just have a brand ambassador to say you have one.”

The goal should be measurable results: “I think the ultimate example of that is you’re getting more users through this channel of this brand ambassador.”

Not every company needs this strategy: “I think OpenAI has their founder as the brand ambassador. But I think that’s a unique situation.”

Most importantly, brand ambassadors aren’t guaranteed wins: “Just because you have an influencer promoting your platform, that’s not a guaranteed answer for success… You see some brands use an influencer and then not convert anything.”

His practical advice: “I wouldn’t say don’t get one, but I would be very, very critical about getting one, especially if I got to pay for them. If they want to work for free, then, yeah, you can have them forever. But if they want to check, I need to figure out what the metrics are going to be just to prove that they’re helpful for the business.”

The Strategic Mindset Behind Netflix’s Remote Button

Have you ever wondered how the Netflix button got on your TV remote? Fonz shared the strategy behind this branding decision: “Just look at it as like real estate. Every time somebody buys a new TV and they have this new remote, don’t you want your button to be the brightest, prettiest, most pushed button of all time on that remote?”

He explained that “we want it to be a real estate and a marketing play for us.” But the relationship with TV manufacturers is complex: “The TV companies know that. So they’re not just going to let us put our button there for free.”

The dynamics have evolved with Netflix’s growth: “At the beginning stages it’s like, okay, I don’t mind maybe paying to get on your remote because you have a bigger audience than we do. But once Netflix is now this streaming giant, it’s like, we have a bigger brand than some of these TV brands maybe. So it’s like, why would I want to pay you to put my button on your remote where people are going to instantly recognize the Netflix brand?”

He revealed their current approach: “In certain situations, we had to pay, and we’re moving away from those. But most people watch Netflix on TV, so it still makes a lot of sense for us to have that button on your remote because that’s where we get most of our reviews from.”

The button serves as a branding touchpoint rather than a direct revenue driver: “It’s always going to be a marketing strategy there. It’s not necessarily a revenue stream, because I don’t think people buy their TV just because the Netflix button is on there. But I think it’s a branding tactic there, where you feel comfortable knowing Netflix is on this remote TV and it could help you possibly buy that.”

Setting New Design Standards

What gives Netflix its design edge? Fonz points to innovation and setting industry standards: “Just look at the other Stream platforms. You can see their UI is a copy of ours. I think we were just innovative enough. We were first, we were innovative enough, and we kept pushing the bar.”

This leadership position means competitors follow Netflix’s lead: “We did something right of setting the tone of what we think streaming should be and what a good UX experience for a streaming platform should be. We set that bar so it’s almost like since we set that bar, the competitors are trying to keep up with us.”

Yet Fonz acknowledges missed opportunities: “We had a meeting where one of our design leaders spoke about there were other features that other streaming platforms did that he thought maybe we should have done. And at Netflix, we thought that that wasn’t a good idea. And now fast forward a couple of years and it’s like, oh, maybe we should have done that.”

Rather than obsessing over competition, Netflix maintains its focus: “They tell us at Netflix, do not focus on the competition. Like, we don’t watch every week and see what Disney’s doing, what Amazon’s doing, what Max is doing.We don’t spend our time doing that. We spend our time making sure we build the best platform for Netflix.”

Do you want to find more insightful and captivating stories as the ones shared by Fonz Morris? Join us at the How to Web Conference 2025! Buy your ticket, today: https://www.howtoweb.co/tickets/