Back here on Earth , Bezos , the founder and CEO of Amazon , is a business legend .
Way back in 1994 , he was intrigued by the potential of the nascent internet . So , he quit his lucrative job at a hedge fund and set up shop in his garage to try selling books online . “ I was driving all the packages to the post office myself ,” he told Charlie Rose in a recent wide-ranging interview on PBS . “ I thought maybe one day we would be able to afford a forklift .”
Bezos was taking a lot of trips to the post office in those early days . In its first month , Amazon sold books to readers in 50 states and 45 countries . Soon , Bezos added music and videos to the company ’ s virtual store shelves .
He was thinking about expanding to offer other products but he wasn ’ t sure what might fly , so he sent an email to 1,000 randomly selected customers to ask what else they ’ d like Amazon to sell . At least one wrote back asking for windshield wipers . “ A light kind of went on in my head ,” Bezos said . “ People will want to use this newfangled e-commerce way of shopping for everything .”
It was a pretty good hunch .
Amazon , which started with four employees , moved out of Bezos ’ garage . It went public in 1997 , and today the company is worth $ 292.6 billion .
It sells everything from luggage to brake pads and frying pans and does a brisk business in clothing , reportedly selling more than even Macy ’ s . “ I think if we ’ re not the largest we ’ re among the largest apparel sellers in the world ,” Bezos told Rose . “ There is so much opportunity . Nobody knows how to do a great job of offering apparel online yet . And we have tons of invention and ideas and working our way through that experimental list .”
Jeff Bezos , founder of Blue Origin , inspects New Shepard ’ s West Texas launch facility before the rocket ’ s maiden voyage .
Jeff Bezos announcing commitments to hire and train veterans and military spouses
Photo Credit : Chip Somodevilla
While Amazon works its way down its list of how to improve selling , it ’ s coming up with a seemingly endless supply of other products customers may need , from cloud-based apps to protect your corporate information , artificial intelligence devices to help you around the house , and compelling television series .
The “ everything store ” does , in fact , sell almost everything you can imagine except maybe that forklift Bezos was hoping for back in 1994 , although you can pick up a toy one and safety straps to use with a real one .
SOME SECRETS TO SUCCESS
Bezos built Amazon by employing what he calls a “ customer obsession ” rather than a “ competitor obsession .” Simply put , Bezos has infused Amazon with the unshakeable commitment to always think about the customer first and foremost , and work back from there . This “ customer-centric point of view ” is everywhere in Amazon , including the chair at the meeting table that ’ s left empty for the ( invisible ) customer , whom Bezos calls : “ the most important person in the room .”
Another ingredient in Bezos continued string of successes is keeping his cards close to his vest . It ’ s not so much that ’ s he ’ s secretive in nature , it ’ s more that he ’ s strategic and smart . Why tip off your competitors ? As way of example , he points to building Amazon Web Services , cloud-based infrastructure technology for enterprises that includes data bases , analytics and security applications . Amazon had
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