The presentation is based on Brad Stone's book 'The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon'. The presentation portrays Bezos as a creative and visionary leader but also as ruthless person.
Tech Startup Growth Hacking 101 - Basics on Growth Marketing
Jeff Bezos
1. JEFF BEZOS
The analysis of traits, behaviours and
attitudes of Jeffrey Bezos based on ‘The
Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age
of Amazon’ by Brad Stone.
Slawomir Starzec
Date: 5th May 2015
2. The author of The Everything Store is a
senior writer in Bloomberg Businessweek
who specialises in technology and is known
for writing cover stories on leading
technology companies such as Apple,
Google, Facebook,Twitter andYahoo.
“It’s the long-
anticipated,
honest account of
the company of
our age, and
deeply personal
look at the iconic
entrepreneur who
founded it.”
“Brad Stone
captures Jeff’s
passion and
brilliance in this
well-reported
and compelling
narrative.”
Published in 2013 and chosen as a Best Book of
2013 by TheWashington Post.
The gathered material of 300 interviews combined
with Stone’s fifteen years of writing on Amazon
resulted in 361 pages of a comprehensive biography
of Amazon and its founder enriched by unknown
stories and facts.
3. CHILDHOOD
Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a teenage mother,
JacklynGise Jorgensen, and his biological father,
Ted Jorgensen.
Bezos's parents divorced within a year, and
when Bezos was four years old his mother
married his step-father Mike Bezos, a Cuban
immigrant.
Brad Stone argues, that the fact of being
adopted gave Bezos a powerful motivation to
succeed like other technology icons, Steve Jobs
and Larry Ellison.
Interested in how things work – at the age of
three, disassembled his crib with a screwdriver
because he insisted on sleeping in an ordinary
bed.
Bezos had an early love of computers and
studied computer science and electrical
engineering at Princeton University.
4. Started from the Bezos family garage in 1995.
(First sold book - Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts
And Creative Analogies: Computer Models OfThe
Fundamental Mechanisms OfThought).
Within 30 days his siteAmazon could sell books in
50 states and 45 foreign countries.
Employs 154.000 people.
145 fulfilment centres across the world.
270 million active users (Statista.com, 2014).
Amazon US store sells 323 million of products.
Worth $38 billion (Forbes, 2015).
FACTS
6. VISIONARY
Bezos believed that technology offered
limitless possibilities i.e. limitless selection,
exceptional customer experience.
He had a vision that technology could change
the way people shop.
The venture of building e-commerce shop in
the 1990’s was seen as inviable.
He had a vision to transform Amazon from just
a retailer to a technology company which would
be difficult to compete with.
He pursues his childish dreams which tend to
become reality as Blue Origin - a privately
founded aerospace program which develops
technologies to enable private human access to
space.
8. CREATIVE
Exceedingly creative in achieving high goals. He
once introduced the idea of the effects of a zero-
gravity environment on the housefly (High school
friends).
He has a rare ability to envision new trends (i.e.
diversification into digital books when very few e-books
were available).
He’s involved in visionary projects (i.e. Amazon
PrimeAir allowing 30 min delivery through drones).
Amazon Prime Air
Described by friends as unnaturally gifted and
ambitious in inventing new things.
9. RELENTLESS
Bezos holds to the motto “Step by step. Ferociously”
which captures Amazon’s philosophy.
Friends and workers say that Bezos extremely
focused on achieving results.
If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on
experiments too soon.
Relentless.com – one of the first names of Amazon
Bezos liked the most.
11. RUTHLESS
Stone argues that Bezos , like Steve Jobs, BillGates, and
Larry Ellison, lacks a certain degree of empathy which
allows him to treat workers as expendable resources.
He can coldly allocate capital and manpower without
considering human factor.
Bezos has a volcanic temper and during his emotional
outbursts he would not hesitate to call people ‘complete
idiots’.
He devised a ruthless ‘Gazelle Project’ to approach
publishers in an aggressive way as a cheetah approach
gazelle (lower prices, longer bill payment periods).
When focused on some project, he would work people
to exhaustion and expect complete commitment.
Many CEOs left Amazon (e.g. ErickGoss) as they
couldn’t reconcile ruthless Amazon’s tactics with their
personal values .
12. “Our vision is to be the world’s most consumer-centric
company, where consumers can come to find anything
they want to buy online. ”
Jeff Bezos
13. STRATEGY
Stone argues that particular passions of Bezos
(books) guided the Amazons strategy.
Aggressive strategy of Amazon (acquisitions) is a
manifestation of personal traits of Bezos.
Always focused on a long-term strategy even if it
means to obtain ‘0 margin profit’ (as through its
formative years).
No matter what you sell - offer wider selection,
lower prices and fast, reliable deliver.
“Everyone has to be able to work in a call center”
(every A. employee has to work in call-center for 2 days
every year).
15. LEADERSHIP
Amazon’s 14 leadership principles
Customer obsession (empty chair at
meetings)
Ownership (Never say ‘that’s not my job’)
Invent and simplify
Leaders are Right, a Lot
Hire and Develop the Best
Insist on the Highest Standards
Think Big (Get big fast)
Bias for Action
Frugality
Vocally Self Critical
EarnTrust of Others
Dive Deep
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Deliver Results (Bezos is an aggressive
manager who expects immediate results)