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What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

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Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#21

Post by FD3SA »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #3

I'd add to this: the most sure fire way to dominate a market is by executing with a combination of skills that do not naturally tend to go together. Google succeeded by combining high quality software engineering with cutting edge computer science research and beyond state-of-the-art data center operations. Apple succeeded by combining solid software engineering with equally solid internet services engineering and mo…

Exactly. Innovation is far more likely to occur at the boundary of multiple disciplines, rather than at the pointy end of one. In this day and age, expertise in one area is required, but to be a visionary CEO, one must also have a breadth of knowledge in many fields. Jobs is an excellent an example of such a person. The age of the polymath is once again upon us.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#22

Post by ofca »

I would just add that all these things are common knowledge. The most remarkable thing he did is - he followed and delivered on all those things. Just look at number 2:"Think long-term meaning 5 – 7 years, not 5 – 7 months". Almost every sane person knows this. But only few deliver. It takes a lot of guts and integrity to undertake such a journey, and Jeff made it look easy. Great guy.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#23

Post by smokinn »

jpwagner wrote: post #17
asr wrote: post #7

Most of these points strike me as contrary to traditional lean startup advice--e.g. it's ok to expend a huge amount of resources without seeing results for 5-7 years, and it's important to be first in a big market. Obviously, this worked for Amazon, and there are some opportunities you won't be able to take advantage of in any other way, but it's certainly high risk. I mean, Pets.com arguably followed much of this ad…

Some research companies will build things that are 5 years off from being viable and that approach is generally contrary to "lean startup advice". But Amazon built something that was viable immediately AND fit into a 5-7 year plan.

Amazon was nowhere near immediately viable.

It was founded in 1994. It had its IPO in 1997. It posted its first net profit in 2002.

It lost money for 8 years. Hardly "something that was viable immediately".

On the other hand it didn't take that much investment before IPO. It was seeded with 300K from Bezos and his family followed by 50K in angel money and finally an 8MM round.

http://www.quora.com/Who-were-the-original-investors-in-Amaz...

It rode the cheap cash infusion from the dot com bubble for as long as it could until the bubble collapsed. At that point it had cash but was going to run out eventually which is why I imagine they decided then it was time to try and make the company profitable rather than expand through investment.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#24

Post by burgerbrain »

FrojoS wrote: post #11
chubot wrote: post #10

Yup, that is why I bought Amazon stock in 2005 (really, from an interview that was very similar to this one). Jeff Bezos talks about long term thinking and also executes on it. I think it also relates to the point made a few weeks ago about Silicon Valley being ADD in some respects -- chasing the hottest new thing, rather than conscientiously building value over years. I think someone said something about Bezos choos…

I agree, though, zero sales tax certainly plaid a role, too.

Retailers do not pay sales tax, consumers do. And in every state I am aware of that has a sales tax, those consumers still have to pay use tax.

I really don't understand why people have a hard time dealing with this. This is an issue settled over a century ago by Sears.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#25

Post by jpwagner »

smokinn wrote: post #23
jpwagner wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some research companies will build things that are 5 years off from being viable and that approach is generally contrary to "lean startup advice". But Amazon built something that was viable immediately AND fit into a 5-7 year plan.

Amazon was nowhere near immediately viable. It was founded in 1994. It had its IPO in 1997. It posted its first net profit in 2002. It lost money for 8 years. Hardly "something that was viable immediately". On the other hand it didn't take that much investment before IPO. It was seeded with 300K from Bezos and his family followed by 50K in angel money and finally an 8MM round. http://www.quora.com/Who-were-the-origin…

Maybe a better word to make my point would have been "launchable" rather than viable.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#26

Post by jemfinch »

burgerbrain wrote: post #24
FrojoS wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, though, zero sales tax certainly plaid a role, too.

Retailers do not pay sales tax, consumers do. And in every state I am aware of that has a sales tax, those consumers still have to pay use tax. I really don't understand why people have a hard time dealing with this. This is an issue settled over a century ago by Sears.

There's a vast chasm between what consumers "have to" pay and what consumers do pay.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#27

Post by burgerbrain »

jemfinch wrote: post #26
burgerbrain wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retailers do not pay sales tax, consumers do. And in every state I am aware of that has a sales tax, those consumers still have to pay use tax. I really don't understand why people have a hard time dealing with this. This is an issue settled over a century ago by Sears.

There's a vast chasm between what consumers "have to" pay and what consumers do pay.

That is a separate issue.

Re: What Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla

#29

Post by tux1968 »

burgerbrain wrote: post #27
jemfinch wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a vast chasm between what consumers "have to" pay and what consumers do pay.

That is a separate issue.

It's not a separate issue. The original point was that Amazon benefited from customers who avoided sales tax. It was an option those customers didn't have when shopping locally and definitely made Amazon more attractive than it would have been otherwise.
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