At the time, it was giant news in the world of coding: In 2006, Netflix offered $1 million to anyone who could improve its movie-recommendation algorithm by 10%.
In doing so, CEO Reed Hastings took the unprecedented step of making available the company's huge troves of data from customers. In a recounting of the competition at Thrillist, Dan Jackson likens Hastings to a "tech-age Willy Wonka" who had decided to let "any curious hacker into his digital Chocolate Factory"—but "instead of a chocolate river, he offered a gushing stream of data."