Summary
Brandt allows the reader to get into Bezos' head and his decision making process
Key Takeaways
Bezos obsessed with customer service
Was a huge tinkerer as a kid and always one of the smartest in his class
Was very excited about the growth of the Internet and wanted to take advantage of it by trying to become the worlds largest online retailer. The huge amount of books and the ability to sort, search and organize them made it a logical choice as computers could do this very easily
Whenever he had a difficult decision to make, he would write down the essentials and create a deal flow type analysis
Had the mindset of launching everything before it's ready and figuring it out as you go
Despite his intelligence, confidence and focus, he was poor at getting this across to potential investors
Set a standard where any new hire would have to be better than the people currently working there. Kept the quality of their people very high and ever increasing
Since the beginning said that for Amazon to be profitable would be stupid as they were taking the money and building a moat and innovating
Bezos started looking at acquiring and/or investing in companies - everything from Sotheby's to IMDB in order to grow his market and customer base
Made many acquisitions but wasn't until 2007 that the nest major step was taken - the kindle. It forever changed the book publishing industry
Amazon has kept acquiring and focusing fiercely on the customer experience, preferring to invest in the future and innovate than make a profit
What I got out of it
Bezos' focus and obsession with customer service is core to Amazon's success and he will continue using this framework for future innovations and acquisitions. Interesting to get a peek into Bezos' background, influences and thought processes
Amazon patented the one click to buy technology and this upset many people since it was so broad
Spent a lot of time with his grandfather on a ranch where the entrepreneurial spirit took hold. Learned to be self dependent and stubborn
Doesn't know biological father
Bezos is a variation of "besos" as his step father was Cuban
His family invested early on and he was very honest with them - telling them not to invest if they weren't ready to lose it all
Bezos set himself apart with his selection and customer service
The Amazon website launched in 1995
The idea of negative reviews confused many competitors but it was all a part of creating the most customer centric experience possible
Got VC money from Kleiner Perkins which valued the company at $60M and one year later (1997) took the company public. One year after that it was valued at $5B
He originally did not want to be part of the distribution side but as his orders free he couldn't rely on third parties. He built some of the most advanced and efficient warehouses in the world
Soon turned to selling music as well as books
Amazon's stock got crushed in the dot com crash but rebounded soon after when he showed that amazon could be profitable if that was the goal
