Lessons of the PastSara Ras

Meet Jeff.

Meet Jeff.

Meet Jeff.

Jeff’s Epiphany

Web usage increasingannually by

2300%

Jeff’s Epiphany

Starting Up - 1994

Shel Kaphan, employee #1

Starting Up - 1994

Starting Up - 1994

“What’s the internet???”

“The riskiest moment for Amazon…was at the very beginning. I needed to raise $1 million at a certain point, and I ended up giving away 20% of the company for a million dollars.”

–Jeff Bezos

Launch - 1995

Within 40 days, orders from 50 states and 45 other countries

IPO - 1997

Business Strategy

“Get Big Fast”

Economies of Scale

=

Business Strategy

Crisis: Dot-Com Bubble Burst

Crisis: Dot-Com Bubble Burst

Failed Products:

● Amazon Webstore: ecommerce platform● Amazon Destinations: hotel booking service● Endless.com: high-end fashion commerce site● Amazon Webpay: peer-to-peer pay● Askville: Q&A site● Amazon Auction● Amazon diaper line● Fire Phone (not discontinued yet)

Successful Products:

2002

Successful Products:

2005 2007 (kindle)/ 2011 (fire)

Today...

● Net worth: $66.3 Billion (Sep 12, 2016)● Forbes #2 richest in tech (#3 in 2015)● #5 Billionaire in the world, #3 in US

● Thinks big: sets long-term goals and perseveres○ 14 Leadership Principles

● Detail oriented: very particular about how things are done

Keys to success?

14 Leadership Principles

Customer Obsession

Ownership

Learn and Be Curious

Hire and Develop the Best

Think Big

Frugality

Selective Hiring & Small Teams

Future?

Picking Challenge

Sources"Amazon Startup Story - Fundable." Fundable. N.p., 26 Apr. 2016. Web. "Amazon.com, Inc." History of – FundingUniverse. N.p., n.d. Web."Amazon's Global Career Site." Amazon.jobs. N.p., n.d. Web. BBC. "Business Boomers: Amazon's Retail Revolution." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Apr. 2014. Web.Bloomberg. "Jeff Bezos Revealed: Building Amazon One Box at a Time." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Jan. 2015. Web. Cadwalladr, Carole. "My Week as an Amazon Insider." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 30 Nov. 2013. Web. Cook, John. "Jeff Bezos Had to Take 60 Meetings to Raise $1 Million for Amazon, Giving up 20% to Early Investors."

GeekWire. N.p., 01 Dec. 2013. Web.Evans, Benedict. "Why Amazon Has No Profits (And Why It Works)." RSS. N.p., 05 Sept. 2014. Web. “Jeff Bezos.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. "Jeff Bezos Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016."Jeff Bezos Profile." Academy of Achievement. N.p., 26 Nov. 2013. Web. Kantor, Jodi, and David Streitfeld. "Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace." The New York Times.

The New York Times, 15 Aug. 2015. Web. Kim, Eugene. "Jeff Bezos Says Amazon Is Not Afraid to Fail - These 9 Failures Show He's Not Kidding." Business Insider.

Business Insider, Inc, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. Mark, Gina. "20 Things About Jeff Bezos You Probably Didn’t Know." Hongkiatcom. N.p., n.d. Web. Schneider, Laura. "History of and Information on Amazon.com." The Balance. N.p., 5 Mar. 2016. Web. Wauters, Robin. "Coolness: Amazon's Acquisitions and Investments, Visualized." TechCrunch. N.p., 27 July 2009. Web.

+2 interviews with employee Margaret and former employee John