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A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#11

Post by juskrey »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #9
a1pulley wrote: post #8

Apparently Shel didn't negotiate "founder's stock." This excerpt is from [1]: So, you are kind of the forgotten founder? Most people think of Jeff Bezos as the creator of the company. “In fact, to be completely technically true about it, he is the founder. But I was talking to him about joining him on the venture before the company was incorporated. He basically was just arriving from the East Coast and setting up hi…

It seems that being employee #1 is a sucker of a deal with a lot of the same downsides as being a founder without the huge upside of being a founder.

Employee does not take any risk. He says in the interview he was working with number of failing startups before. They failed, but they've paid his fixed project or hourly salary nevertheless.

Moreover, many of those people are willing to hire someone good who is available for temporary jobs, and hence paying very competitive rates, at the same time surviving on canned tuna themselves.

I've been #1 techie in many failed protects. Not depending how you think about that business ideas and personalities behind them, all those people should be highly respected for putting their neck on the line.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#12

Post by ignoramous »

kirillzubovsky wrote: post #10

If you like that, check out this interview with Amazon’s second employee too. Lots of early startup lessons in there. https://www.raddadshow.com/episode/paul-davis

> Lots of early startup lessons in there.

If you'd please highlight some excerpts?

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#13

Post by raldi »

I'm confused about the part where Bezos was considering Washington and Nevada because he was looking for a state with no sales tax.

As far as I can google, both of those states have had a substantial sales tax for many decades — Washington's is one of the highest in the country!

What am I missing?

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#14

Post by vinhboy »

What kind of person flies across the country to meet complete strangers, then ask those strangers to move with them to another state to start a business in a completely new frontier.

What's like the percentage of people who takes on that kind of wild Hail Mary pass and win it all?

Also I am curious, as single-track minded Software Engineers, how do we protect ourselves from the super smart and super driven Bezos of the world? And I don't mean that in a negative way. I am genuinely curious how we can stay competitive when we're working with that type of personality.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#15

Post by eastdakota »

raldi wrote: post #13

I'm confused about the part where Bezos was considering Washington and Nevada because he was looking for a state with no sales tax. As far as I can google, both of those states have had a substantial sales tax for many decades — Washington's is one of the highest in the country! What am I missing?

Was about where consumer base/population was. In Amazon’s early years, you only paid taxes in state where you were located. If they’d setup shop in CA then they’d pay sales tax on all shipments to CA (~20% of early sales). By setting up outside CA/NY (their two earliest markets) they’d have a competitive pricing advantage over any competitors set up in either. Arguably, this regulatory “loophole” gave Amazon a huge head start.

Think the article confuses sales and income/capital gains tax. Being in a small market was an advantage from a sales tax perspective. Being in WA or NV was advantage from income/capital gains tax perspective. The latter gave Amazon an advantage in hiring. And, later when successful, allowed Jeff and early employees to realize more wealth from their stock/options.

Nevada, on both fronts, would have been as much of more efficient. But, I’m guessing, the difficulty of recruiting great technical talent (which was needed in the early days of Internet ecommerce) would have swamped those advantages.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#16

Post by dang »

a1pulley wrote: post #8

Apparently Shel didn't negotiate "founder's stock." This excerpt is from [1]: So, you are kind of the forgotten founder? Most people think of Jeff Bezos as the creator of the company. “In fact, to be completely technically true about it, he is the founder. But I was talking to him about joining him on the venture before the company was incorporated. He basically was just arriving from the East Coast and setting up hi…

Discussed in 2011 here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2975122

Edit: ah yes, and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12437322 from 2016.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#17

Post by kirillzubovsky »

ignoramous wrote: post #12
kirillzubovsky wrote: post #10

If you like that, check out this interview with Amazon’s second employee too. Lots of early startup lessons in there. https://www.raddadshow.com/episode/paul-davis

> Lots of early startup lessons in there. If you'd please highlight some excerpts?

Heh. I will. The biggest irony is that I started Smash Notes to pull out excerpts from podcasts, but haven't gotten to this one yet.

Take a look tomorrow night. I'll pick out a few juiciest bits by then.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#18

Post by headmelted »

guiambros wrote: post #2

For those interested, I just watched the excellent PBS Documentary "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos". Available for free [1], and Shel Kaphan is one of the several former and current employees interviewed by the Frontline investigative reporters. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s

Speaking as someone not from the States, do folks over there generally realise how exceptionally good of a resource PBS is?

Been watching SpaceTime with Matt O’Dowd with my kids and it’s utterly terrific.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#19

Post by jsolson »

raldi wrote: post #13

I'm confused about the part where Bezos was considering Washington and Nevada because he was looking for a state with no sales tax. As far as I can google, both of those states have had a substantial sales tax for many decades — Washington's is one of the highest in the country! What am I missing?

I assume that's supposed to be state/local income tax -- Nevada is one of the few states other than Washington without one.

For much of Amazon's early history, the sales tax in Washington was only relevant if you happened to live in Washington. The set of areas where Amazon must collect taxes has grown, and at this point for all I know might be everywhere in the US.

Re: A conversation with Shel Kaphan, Amazon’s first employee (2016)

#20

Post by s5300 »

headmelted wrote: post #18
guiambros wrote: post #2

For those interested, I just watched the excellent PBS Documentary "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos". Available for free [1], and Shel Kaphan is one of the several former and current employees interviewed by the Frontline investigative reporters. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s

Speaking as someone not from the States, do folks over there generally realise how exceptionally good of a resource PBS is? Been watching SpaceTime with Matt O’Dowd with my kids and it’s utterly terrific.

No. They don't.

As a matter of fact, the U.S. (of which I'm a citizen) has a singular entity to thank for the fact PBS is here today.

https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA

And, to add some insult, one of our two leading political parties is currently making fun of that entity. Things are great over here.

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