12 Quotes By Jeff Bezos That Reveal How He Grew The Amazon Empire
On starting Amazon
On complacency
"A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last."
On innovation
"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out."
On progress
"If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering."
On marketing
"In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts."
On pivoting
"If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve."
On motivation
"I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you."
On strategy
"We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient."
On growth
"All businesses need to be young forever. If your customer base ages with you, you're Woolworth's."
On pricing
"There are two kinds of companies, those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second."
On failure
"Failure comes part and parcel with invention. It’s not optional. We understand that and believe in failing early and iterating until we get it right. When this process works, it means our failures are relatively small in size (most experiments can start small), and when we hit on something that is really working for customers, we double-down on it with hopes to turn it into an even bigger success."
Now see the man who rivals Bezos' braininess
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