Top 5 Skills used by Jeff Bezos to build Amazon into a global superpower? 1. Self-Reliance In his early years, Bezos spent all his summers at his grandfather’s ranch. Over time, he learned how to fix and build things from scratch. His grandfather was very self-reliant and taught a young Jeff Bezos how to fix things by himself. The ranch was in a remote location, which meant the family had to be self-sufficient and resourceful with repairs, food, construction work, and even some basic medical procedures. 2. Deep Research & Analysis During a research assignment at work, Bezos found a staggering statistic. He discovered that the internet was growing at a rate of 2,300% per year. He knew immediately that anything with such an unprecedented growth rate was going to be HUGE. At the time many internet companies were starting and receiving significant interest both from investors and the public. Bezos didn’t want to later experience the regret of missing out on the internet boom, so he started Amazon. 3. Clear and Concise Communication Bezos preferred to write things down in structured memos that were not more than a page long. He figured in this way, he could simplify things and explain them clearly. When he started Amazon.com, Bezos banned all PowerPoint slides during meetings. Instead, he introduced the structured memo. Meeting participants had to go through the memos during the meeting so everyone would have clarity before the actual discussion began. Each answer had to be answered with a “Yes”, “No”, “I don’t know” or “backed up with data”. 4. Effective Risk Management Entrepreneurship is about taking risks Yes, but taking risks blindly can lead to disaster. These sentiments are shared by Bezos who believes you should take risks after taking the downside into consideration so at least you are familiar with the potential consequences if something doesn’t work. For example, In 1995, Bezos's parents poured some of their life savings into Amazon and he told them that there was a high likelihood that they would lose all their money since most startups don’t succeed. Bezos calculated the downside and made his parents aware of what they were getting themselves into. 5. Data-Driven Decision Making Earlier in his career, Bezos was responsible for driving high-quality investment decisions. If he made the wrong investment recommendations, clients would lose money, so he had to collect enough data to back up his decisions. Bezos admits that most of his important decisions were made with intuition after gathering and studying vast amounts of data. Why is this important? A while ago Bezos realized intuition alone couldn’t be trusted as it is often based on faulty information. He discovered that concrete evidence plus intuition was the right mix for a high-quality decision. This approach allowed Bezos to introduce innovations such as Amazon Prime, Kindle & the transition from a bookstore to an e-commerce giant.
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Founder & CEO Of Sg.creation Industry Co.Pvt.Ltd, Director of EDP Program Entrepreneur, Business Coach,Author,Blogger, Startup Development Adviser,Motivational Speaker.
#Advice 4. Success Secrets from Jeff Bezos ✏️🌟 Today, looking back to the colossal takeoff of Jeff Bezos, it seems nearly inevitable. The Amazon’s founder was relentlessly seeking to build the most powerful and customer-oriented enterprise ever. But is it only hard work that stands behind this success? Actually, the billionaire employed a handful of wisdoms that helped him achieve the goal. Here are 5 of them: 1. Minimize your regrets When Bezos first came up with the idea of moving from one end of the country to the other, he used a mental exercise called "regret minimization system." It suggests you need to imagine yourself as an 80-year-old and look back at your life. Bezos explains: "I wanted to minimize the number of my regrets. And I knew that at the age of 80 I wouldn't regret trying to do it. I wasn't going to regret my attempt to take advantage of the possibilities of the Internet, which I had predicted a great future for." 2. Find the right opportunity Initially, Bezos planned to set up an online business, not a bookstore. While still working at the investment firm, he heard that Internet usage was growing by 2300% annually. In fact, this figure was fundamentally wrong. The Internet grew by 2,300 times, that is, in reality, 230,000%. But even the erroneous calculations worked out. Bezos was not a big fan of books, but they seemed to him a suitable commodity to make the most of the explosive Internet growth. When Amazon launched in 1994, the catalog of printed books was almost endless and numbered over 3 million titles. That business was well suited for e-commerce. 3. Be obsessed with customers "Many companies are completely customer-oriented. Bezos literally worshipped this philosophy. "Amazon's secret ingredient includes several principles. And the most important of them is a compulsive focus on the client," Bezos said in 2018 during the Washington forum of The Economic Club. He didn't talk about good service. It was more about building a company without which people could not live. "From the very beginning, we have focused on offering customers compelling benefits," the Amazon CEO wrote in 1997. Compelling means clear. Bezos insisted on his team writing a six-page memo and a sample press release for each new product. "At Amazon, we don't do PowerPoint presentations," Bezos once wrote. — Instead, we write memos on six pages with a narrative structure. We read them at the beginning of each meeting in a kind of "classroom"." 4. Make customers’ benefits overweigh all costs When the era of online shopping began, ordering via the Internet was a terrible challenge for both sellers and buyers. Only about a third of households had computers, and they were not very fast. An even smaller number had Internet access, and the sites were shoddily made. -Shravan Gurav founder and CEO of SG.creation Industry Co.Pvt.Ltd, Business development coach, startup adviser @nilesh jadhav Sopan Patil Aman Gupta Anubhav Dubey HDFC Bank
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Lucky vs Repeatable: "Did Jeff Bezos get lucky creating Amazon? Could he, starting today, without any money or name recognition, create a new multi-trillion dollar business from scratch? Maybe, but probably not. There are so many things that helped Amazon become what it is that can’t be replicated – growth of the internet, market conditions, old competitors, politics, regulations, etc. Bezos is enormously skilled in a way that is not luck. But a lot of what he did was not repeatable. The way to get luckier is to find what’s repeatable." There's also a wall hanging in my office that says "The harder you work, the luckier you get" #luck #repeatable #sundaymusings #surispeaks https://lnkd.in/dPv7st3D
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Jeff Bezos attributes his success to this decision-making framework. It's allowed him to build $100B ventures across Cloud (AWS), Retail, and Streaming (Prime). Use it to become a master decision-maker just like JB: ↳ 𝟏. 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐰𝐚𝐲 & 𝐭𝐰𝐨-𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 Bezos categorizes decisions into two types: - Two-way door decisions: Easily reversible - One-way door decisions: Irreversible or very costly to reverse Two-way door decisions can be made quickly, allowing for experimentation. One-way door decisions require careful deliberation since it's tough to reverse them. ↳ 𝟐. 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 Early on, the founder and exec team make all of the decisions. But as a company grows, this must change, or else the company will stall & die. Bezos warns against using a one-size-fits-all approach to decision-making. - For two-way door decisions, empower individuals or small teams to make quick decisions. - For one-way door decisions, elevate to senior executives, and be comprehensive in your analysis. This approach balances speed and caution, optimizing for both agility and risk management. ↳ 𝟑. 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭" 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 When team members disagree at Amazon, they voice their concerns. After discussion, if no consensus is reached, the team commits to a decision. Everyone supports the chosen direction, even if they initially disagree. This reduces unnecessary arguments, increases decision-making velocity, and fosters team unity & trust. This principle allows for diverse viewpoints while maintaining forward momentum. Most decisions can & should be iterated upon down the road. Move, learn & re-decide later. ↳ 𝟒. 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 Bezos warns against using compromise as a default resolution mechanism. 𝑾𝒉𝒚? Compromise doesn't necessarily lead to truth or the best outcome. And it can result in suboptimal solutions that don't fully address the problem. Instead, Bezos advocates for: - Using "Disagree & Commit" for subjective matters - Escalating decisions to a higher authority when needed - Seeking objective truth when possible (e.g., using data) This approach prioritizes finding the best solution over reaching an agreement By applying Bezos' decision-making framework, you can drive better outcomes in your business and life. The key is to recognize the type of decision you're facing and apply the appropriate level of analysis and speed to it. --------- If you enjoy this, ♻️ repost to help your network. Credit Sean Kelly, follow for more insights. Follow All Chance to learn from more innovative insights
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Building BRANSO | Blends Science of BRANDing with Magic of Digital Marketing | Ex-Josh Talks| Talks about #digitalmarketing #ecommerce #contentcreation
I found this Jeff Bezos video from internet! . . . . . . 💬Interviewer : Where did you get your idea for Amazon . ⏩Jeff : Well! 3 years ago , I was in New York city working for quantitative hedge fund. When I came across this startling statistics that web usage was growing 2300% a year. So I decided try and find a business plan that made sense in context of that growth. And I picked books as the first best product to sell online . I’m making a list of 20 different products . ✅Now tell me what product you cannot find on Amazon. Now have diversified into multiple business worldwide. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Business Amazon Pay Amazon Kindle and so on... They sell A to Z what you need ! Hence they are Amazon…. ✅Jeff was clear with what he was doing backed with statistics and data way back 25 years . And jumped into the bandwagon with early entry advantage. If you are starting today, we have lot's of data and statistics available in hand. Let's make of use of it and build a strong data backed enterprises. #startup #startupbusinesses #amazonfba #amazonbusiness #
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In the chronicles of garage entrepreneurship, however, IBM retains a legendary place—as a flat-footed behemoth. In 1980, bruised by nearly 13 years of antitrust litigation, its executives made the colossal error of permitting the 25-year-old Bill Gates, a co-founder of a company with several dozen employees, to retain the rights to the operating system that IBM had subcontracted with him to develop for its then-secret personal-computer project. That mistake was the making of Microsoft. By January 1993, Gates’s company was valued at $27 billion, briefly taking the lead over IBM, which that year posted some of the largest losses in American corporate history. But The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived, a briskly told biography of Thomas J. Watson Jr., IBM’s mid-20th-century CEO, makes clear that the history of the company offers much more than an object lesson about complacent Goliaths. As the book’s co-authors, Watson’s grandson Ralph Watson McElvenny and Marc Wortman, emphasize, IBM was remarkably prescient in making the leap from mechanical to electronic technologies, helping usher in the digital age. Among large corporations, it was unusually entrepreneurial, focused on new frontiers. Its anachronisms were striking too. Decades after most big American firms had embraced control by professional, salaried managers, IBM remained a family-run company, fueled by loyalty as well as plenty of tension. (What family isn’t?) Its bosses were frequently at odds. Meanwhile, it served its customers with fanatical attentiveness, and, starting in the Depression, promised its workers lifetime employment. “Have respect for the individual” was IBM’s creed.... Maybe humans won’t matter much longer anyway. Last spring, IBM debuted its new AI product, watsonx, which has been lauded as the company’s most valuable innovation in years. It can streamline HR operations, provide tennis commentary at Wimbledon, and much more—a creation with the potential to accelerate automation in unprecedented ways. Watson Sr. had always been more concerned than his son about the possibility that machines could take the place of humans. At the same time, in his mind, IBM had never been merely a company. “IBM,” he once proclaimed, “is not merely an organization of men; it is an institution that will go on forever.” Preserving its soul, in his view, was crucial. That relinquishing its humanity might in fact turn out to be the secret to eternal life would surely have stunned both father and son. https://lnkd.in/g_CWiqgH
The Rise and Fall of the ‘IBM Way’
theatlantic.com
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✍️ Ambidextrous | 🙃 Levography | 💼 Ex-Intern @ Salesforce Developer | 🎨 Freelance Artist | ✍️ Writer | 👩💻 IEEE Member | 🚀 Trailhead Ranger
🧠 The Visionary Mind of Jeff Bezos: Lessons in Leadership and Innovation 🚀💡 🤔 Jeff Bezos ------ is the founder and former CEO of Amazon. 🕊 His journey from a young tech enthusiast 💻 to a global business leader 🌍 is a fascinating tale of vision, ambition, and relentless drive 🚀. Bezos's early life was marked by curiosity and ingenuity 🤓. 🙂 As a child, he displayed a knack for technology and problem-solving 🔧🧠. This support led him to attend Princeton University 🎓, where he graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 🏅. After college 🎓, Bezos began his career on Wall Street 💼, working for various firms such as Fitel, Bankers Trust, and D. E. Shaw & Co. 🏦. 🤔 With a vision to create a global online marketplace 🌍, Bezos launched Amazon in 1994 📦. Bezos’s relentless focus on customer satisfaction and innovation drove Amazon’s growth 📈, transforming it into a tech giant and a household name 🏠. Bezos’s leadership style is known for its emphasis on long-term thinking ⏳ and a willingness to embrace risk 🔥. Under his guidance, Amazon pioneered various technologies and services 💡, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) ☁️, which revolutionized cloud computing, and Alexa, a leader in voice-controlled technology 🎙️. 💡 Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 🚀, a space exploration company aimed at making space travel more accessible and sustainable 🌌. ------ His vision for the future extends beyond Earth 🌍, as he dreams of humanity's expansion into space 🌌🚀. In 2013, Bezos also purchased The Washington Post 📰, further showcasing his commitment to media and journalism 🖋️. Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021, transitioning to the role of Executive Chairman 🏛️. 🕊 His legacy continues through his innovations and ventures, embodying a spirit of exploration and progress 🌟. 👉 Watch this ------ "https://lnkd.in/dDfGuHf6" 🚀 📌 Learning life lessons from Jeff Bezos ------- 💡 🧿 Long-Term Thinking ⏳🔮 It involves planning for the long term, investing in ideas that may take years to pay off but have significant potential. 🧿 Embrace Risk and Failure 💥🚀 Innovation often involves trial and error, and embracing failure as a learning opportunity can lead to breakthroughs. 🧿 Relentless Innovation 💡🔍 Constantly seek new ways to improve and innovate. 🧿 Ownership and Accountability 🏆💼 Take responsibility for your actions and decisions. 🧿 Think Big and Be Bold 🌟🚀 Have a grand vision and pursue it with boldness. 🧿 Build a Strong Team 🤝🌟 Surround yourself with talented and dedicated people. ---------: "In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story." 🧠🕊 💬 Join the Conversation! 🚀 Connect with Tanishq S. for fresh ideas and innovative perspectives 🤝. #Leadership #Innovation #JeffBezos #VisionaryThinking #LongTermThinking #Entrepreneurship #BusinessSuccess
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Board Member | Founder | Program & Project Management | Strategic Management | Operations Management | Project Finance | Monitoring & Evaluation | Leadership
Jeff Bezos often tells the story of Amazon's early inefficient days. “We were packing on our hands and knees on the concrete floor, and I said to the software engineer packing with me, ‘We need knee pads.’ He looked at me like I was the dumbest guy he’d ever seen in his life, and he said 'Jeff, we need packing tables.'” Every business goes through a “knee pad” versus “packing tables” moment when there is an explosion of orders. It takes new ideas, tools, or new processes to overcome this. Some people call this innovation, and it can be as simple as a packing table; it is an improvement. I love Jeff Bezos’ story because it is so relatable. I also appreciate the start-up journey he shares, running back and forth to the post office and packing things on the floor himself. It gives those of us grafting on our hands and knees a lot of hope that we too could have a big break in business growth. Some prefer to buy into a business, and that is fine. Others like to build businesses from the ground up. There was a time I was baking bread… lots of it. It was my bakery's first year, and I decided it would be a great idea to make hot cross buns for Easter… by hand. Let’s just say that I did not bake another bun until I invested in a mixing machine, which I did the following year. Easter came around again, and I was ready for it, or so I thought. I had so many hot cross buns orders via WhatsApp, and I worked 36 hours straight to fulfill those orders. At least 14 of those hours were spent analyzing orders to ensure they were correct, and on invoicing so we could get our money in. It was another year of unnecessary suffering, so I searched for a solution to eliminate this pain. The solution came as a simple third-party App called ShopKite Merchant. Using this App eliminated that administrative bottleneck. Rather than spending hours collating customer data, I created a ShopKite Nigeria storefront where the customer could fill in that information and create an order. All that was left for me was to fulfill and print their invoice. So whether there were tens or hundreds of orders, ordering was seamless. We can leverage technology to streamline processes and improve. If you are going through similar business pains, Hulu Consulting is offering a limited amount of free 20-minute sessions to understand the problem together. Please fill in the survey linked in the comments. #WeAreAwec #Digitaltransformation #Innovation #Processimprovement #Adaptability #HuluConsulting #Shopkite #ShopkiteNigeria #Jeffbezos #Amazon #Inventorymanagement #Salestracking #Partnerships #BusinessSolutions
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Mobile First, Product Development Executive helping startups be successful. (Oh, and I work on the AWS Startup BD team)
Had the opportunity to revisit a really hard decision we had to make over the past 5 years this week and upon reflection – the process felt applicable and helpful to share. The reason the decision jumped out was b/c the decision had a massive and forever impact on our lives. In Amazon speak, this was a ‘one way door’ for sure. What the decision actually was isn’t important – but some observations about making the decision I think are. 1. Data is definitely ‘a thing’ – but not the only thing. When thinking about the chances and/or likelihood of something happening, the data represents the odds. For ex, let’s say that there is a 14% chance of success, which means there is a 86% chance of failure. But for these big decisions, you are selfishly heavily invested in a single, individual outcome, not the whole of the group. And while it is possible to be empathetic / interested in the common good – what happens to your individual data point makes a 10x, 100x, 1000x bigger impact to your life. 2. Experts deal with these situations every day – you likely are dealing with this once, maybe twice in your life – BUT – trust your instincts. Experts are important. Very important. But again, their framework and mental model come from the ‘whole body of work.’ Trust yourself and your gut instincts. You can’t throw the facts to the wind, or try and push string – but trust your instincts when considering what decision to make, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. 3. Manage against ‘regret.’ When this particular decision was being made, I’d just read ‘The Undoing Project’ by Michael Lewis. One of the few books I also stopped reading (I don’t give up on books, even bad ones), but ultimately powered through and now have read twice (unheard of for me) and want to read a third time (absolutely unprecedented). One of the topics discussed in the book was we manage against ‘the regret’ of the choice. If we were to decide ‘not to do something’ – what would we regret about it. This was incredibly clarifying for me in this context, because through that lens -- there was only one decision to be made. It didn’t make the decision easier, but it made the decision much crisper. #decisions #onewaydoors #howcanihelp #startupsarehard #toughcalls
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I was trying to explain to my younger brother as to why (IMO) youngsters with entrepreneurial ambitions should rigorously work in a semi-stressful environment early on. As I try to apply some of my learnings from Amazon in my family business, I want to share some key ones: 1. Your opinion may be worth nothing: In the early days, amidst the hierarchy, their experience, and your nervousness, your opinion will be crushed. You'll know how to accept NO for an answer. 3. You're dumb, and you know it: In many meetings, you'll feel and act dumb for many reasons. You're right, it isba reality check. But you have to work with those smarter than you - go figure. 4. Deliver, or get out: No excuses, no bullshit. The corporate impatience knows no bounds. So you'll turn into a go-getter and dive right in. 5. Hate office politics? Too bad: Life isn't fair, so you'll learn to play by the rules of the game, if you want to succeed. 5. Scalability 101: Don't solve the problem, fix the cause. Your solution will impact many teams, and that'll force you to think long-term and evaluate implications. 6. Discipline: Why should you wait if your Manager is working? I don't know, but you better wait. That'll be a great lesson in forced discipline. You don't need to be that boss, but longer hours, and a set routine will help imbibe unwavering discipline in the future. Entrepreneurship is hard, and it is easy to get carried away by a few success stories of young Founders. But if you want to fight against the odds of failure, working in an intense environment will shape you for it. While this may seem toxic, I'd say Amazon got the job done. And in this context, that matters more than any other skill set.
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GD1 Masterclass Series Spotlight 🚀 Earlier this quarter, GD1 teamed up with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver another incredibly valuable masterclass. John Kells, GD1 Co-Managing Partner, led the sold-out event on Capital Strategy & Financial Planning. 👏 John has a background in finance, entrepreneurship, and has backed global VCs who have invested in some of the world’s most well-known success stories. 💯 He discussed the strategic importance of capital planning and how startups can best protect the future viability of their businesses, especially in times of economic downturns. A few key insights: 💥Financial modelling is the backbone of financial planning 💥Scenario planning is a vital tool for preparing for a variety of different futures 💥Benchmarking against industry standards is a valuable tool to identify areas of improvement 💥Potential investors will assess capital efficiency and resource requirements in relation to your ARR - your financial model should paint a clear picture A huge shoutout to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for sponsoring the event and to Jonathan Barak for collaborating with us on this event and the Q&A 🎤 Want to learn more? Read the synopsis of the masterclass below 👇 ⚡ https://lnkd.in/d2qxiv2A
Navigating Capital Planning: the ‘Basics’ for Startups
gd1.vc
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