The inspirational story of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, the world's largest online bookstore, and was elected as Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 1999. Let's take a look at the inspirational story of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, with me. I hope it will help everyone!

There is such a bookstore, covering several square miles, with more than 3.1 million books and more than 5 million customers. You have to drive a car to browse the bibliography it provides. Perhaps this number surprises you. Is there such a bookstore in reality? Of course, it can't exist in reality because the cost is too high. But on the Internet, it has become a reality. This is Amazon Online Bookstore. According to the data released by the American Internet and Digital Media Research Company, during the five weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas last year, Amazon has become the most popular e-commerce website, with 5.693 million visitors.

and the miracle it created is far more than that. As a pioneer of Internet e-commerce, as a little guy who was founded only nine years ago, its growth speed surprised all people! And all this is because of a man named Jeff Bezos!

Give up everything and start over

In 1965, Bezos was born in New Mexico, USA. He was an illegitimate child. In 1968, at the age of 3, his mother married Mike Bezos, a Cuban immigrant. Bezos followed his mother into the family and took his stepfather's surname. Bezos is lucky. Although he is not Mike's biological son, their feelings are better than many biological fathers and sons. Jeff is the eldest son at home. He also has a younger brother and sister. The family is happy.

In 1986, this outstanding young man obtained a double bachelor's degree in electronic engineering and computer science from Princeton University, a famous American university, and soon entered a newly established high-tech company in new york. Two years later, Bezos moved to a new york banker trust company to manage computer systems with assets worth $25 billion. Another two years later, he became the youngest vice president in the history of this banker trust company, when he was only 25 years old.

But Bezos is not satisfied with his achievements. He is still moving forward. In 199, seeing the future of hedge funds, he devoted himself to the craze of Wall Street, served a well-known brokerage firm, and successfully established a large number of hedge funds for the company, and became the youngest senior vice president of the company in 1992. He has worked here for four years, a little longer than before.

the early 199s was the hottest time for hedge funds. At that time, it was a financial speculation industry with great risks and high returns, and the income of the staff was astronomical. But when everyone envied Bezos' foresight and high salary, in 1994, to everyone's surprise, Bezos resigned again.

Because he is aiming at a newer and more potential industry, that is information technology, the Internet! At that time, Microsoft in Seattle had gradually grown up, and Bezos, who had long been tired of Wall Street's financial career, hoped that he would succeed in the IT industry like Microsoft and be a trendsetter on the internet! He said: "In the future, when I look back at my eighties, I won't regret leaving Wall Street today;" But I will regret not seizing the great opportunity of the rapid development of the Internet. "

After leaving Wall Street, Bezos drove around the street. He is thinking about what he should do and how to start a business. One day, while driving, he was browsing the dazzling storefronts outside the car window, when a bookstore came into view, an idea came to his mind: why not set up an online bookstore and sell books and CDs in a brand-new way? In the era of the rise of the Internet, there may be thousands of people who think like Bezos. But maybe there are fewer and fewer people to practice.

Bezos wants to set up an online bookstore, but where is the initial start-up capital? Although he has some savings over the years, he is still far from the venture capital. He thinks of his parents. His parents had a pension of $3, at that time. When Bezos explained his intention to his parents, the parents only discussed it for a while, then gave the money to his son, and said, "We don't know anything about the Internet, let alone what e-commerce is, but we know and believe you-our son!"

Changing Tradition and Creating Myths

In 1994, Bezos set up ——AMAZON.COM, the first online retail company in the United States, in the garage of his rented house in the suburbs of Seattle with a start-up capital of 3, dollars. Bezos named his company after the largest river in the world, hoping that it would become a veritable "Amazon" in the publishing industry, although.

Bezos, who has worked in Wall Street investment companies for many years, has demonstrated his extraordinary ability in financing and financial management since he started his business. In the initial stage of the company, in order to make Amazon stand firm in the competitive pressure of traditional bookstores, Bezos made full use of his understanding of the network and the advantages of online technology, and spent a year building a website and setting up a database.

The user-friendly interface is a modification of computer software by Bezos and others, with comfortable visual effects, convenient selection services and, of course, 1.1 million optional bibliographies. In setting up a database, he was even more cautious, and it took three months to test the software alone. Time has proved that Bezos's approach is extremely correct. With these advantages, in July 1995, Amazon officially opened its "virtual business door".

From the beginning, Amazon faced many challenges, the most powerful of which was the competition from the traditional giant Barnes & Noble Bookstore. Even if you don't want to compete for the market, you have to face it, because Barnes & Noble will never allow an imaginary opponent to seize its own market. On the other hand, this is a struggle between tradition and modernity.

First of all, Amazon is one of the cheapest bookstores. It offers discounts every day, and it is almost the biggest discounter in the world. There are more than 3, titles that can be discounted. Indeed, unlike the traditional bookstore operation, it is exploited without middlemen, which makes books or other commodities sold by Amazon have relatively flat prices. Of course, there are a few other bookstores that are cheaper, but the price difference is very small. Because the cheapest is not the most important thing, what is important is that there are many cheap books here and they are convenient, so customers are not even willing to look elsewhere for a small price difference, but only choose Amazon.

There is also its faster service and more comprehensive bibliography than traditional bookstores. Buying books on Amazon. com, because of its strong technical support, can usually get a response within three seconds. It greatly saves customers' time. Compared with Barnes & Noble Bookstore, there are only 25, different titles at most, but on the Internet, Amazon can produce 2.5 million titles. Bezos said: If there is a chance to print the catalogue provided by Amazon in written form, it will probably be equivalent to the weight of seven new york City phone books.

the speed is also reflected in the update of inventory goods. Amazon has almost no inventory except for 2 best-selling books. But even with this inventory, the frequency of Amazon updates is still surprising. According to statistics, Amazon changes its inventory as many as 15 times a year, while Barnes & Noble changes it only 3-4 times. This data not only shows the speed of Amazon, but also shows its sales.

Bezos is a real innovator on the Internet. At present, Amazon has 3, "entrusting institutions", which recommend books launched by Amazon on their respective websites. These "affiliates" can take a 15% commission from Amazon when visitors buy recommended books by clicking on their websites. This idea has been widely imitated now.

At the same time, Bezos also helped to define an Internet community centered on shopping websites. The editorial content of this community is updated every day, and at the same time, it also provides the services of "readers' book review" and "continuing to write novels". He is the first person to adopt this method on the Internet. Only these two small innovations have added at least nearly 4, customers to Amazon.

But Bezos will continue to expand rapidly, in short, the words "bigger, bigger". His business is not limited to books, and he wants to build the largest online shopping center.

In this process, Amazon has completed the transformation from a pure online bookstore to an online retailer. Behind this set of data, what people see is continuous expansion and expansion. At this stage, the stock price of Amazon * * * has increased by more than 5 times, and the company's market value has reached 2 billion US dollars at its peak.

when everyone still doesn't know what e-commerce is and is still discussing it, Bezos has proved what e-commerce is with his own actions. Amazon is the first e-commerce brand on the Internet. In July 1995, Amazon was just a small website, but by January 2, the total market value of Amazon had reached $21 billion, eight times that of its old rival Barnes & Noble. In less than five years, Amazon has created an online myth at an amazing growth rate.

In 1999, when Jeff Bezos took the throne of Time magazine, he was also one of the fourth young people in history to win the honor, but he was 36 years old.

The secret of success

There is no money, but it has a very high market value. This Amazon phenomenon brings people thinking.

further reading

life of Jeff Bezos

boyhood

Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, a big city in central New Mexico, USA. He was an illegitimate child. In 1968, his mother took him to marry Miguel Bezos, a Cuban immigrant in the early 196s, who worked for Exxon. Mother works in a bank. Bezos followed his mother into the family and took his stepfather's surname. Bezos is lucky. Although he is not Miguel's own son, their feelings are better than their own father and son. Jeff is the eldest son at home. He also has a younger brother and sister. The family is happy.

when Bezos was 3 years old, he was very angry about sleeping in a crib. At first his mother didn't think that he wanted a real big bed. But a few days later, his mother saw him holding a screwdriver and wanted to remove the crib to make it look more like a bed. This personality paved the way for his future success.

Bezos' grandfather was an administrator of the former Atomic Energy Commission. Grandfather cultivated his love for science. At the age of 14, he was determined to be an astronaut or a physicist. His garage is full of his engineering experiments or scientific experiments, which are full of his engineering projects: hydrofoils made of vacuum cleaners and solar cookers made of umbrellas. Bezos often spends his summer holidays on his grandfather's farm in Texas. At the age of 16, he was able to install windmills, use arc welding machines and castrate cows.

Middle school days

Middle school days were spent in Miami Pukui Middle School, and I was the monitor and graduate representative. By high school, Bezos showed his talent as an enterprise. He set up a "dream" association, held summer activities, developed students' innovative thinking, and even encouraged his sister and brother to participate. In the late middle school, Bezos became interested in shooting binoculars. But its price is as high as 2 dollars, which my mother thinks is too high. So he bought cheap components and installed them himself. This story was recorded in writing and officially published in Houston in 1977 (this book was never listed in Amazon online bookstore). When he graduated from high school, because of his outstanding performance in all aspects, Bezos won the highest honor of American high school graduates, "American Scholarship for Outstanding Students".

College days

Einstein entered Princeton University, where he taught in his later years, and his interest turned to computers, which coincided with a period of earth-shaking changes in the computer industry. He said: "I have fallen into the computer and am looking forward to some revolutionary breakthroughs." In 1986, he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University, graduated with honors, and became a member of the American Association of Outstanding Students.

Career

In 1986, Bezos graduated from Princeton University, a famous American school, and soon entered a newly established high-tech company in new york. Two years later, Bezos moved to a new york banker's trust company to manage the computer system with assets worth $25 billion. At the age of 25, he became the youngest vice president in the history of this bank trust company.

from 199 to 1995, Bezos co-founded the most advanced and successful hedge fund trading management company in the world, and became the youngest senior vice president of the company in 1992.

Entrepreneurial experience

In 1994, while surfing the Internet, Bezos came across a website and saw a number-2,3%, and the number of Internet users grew at this rate every year. At that time, Microsoft in Seattle had grown up gradually. When Bezos saw this number, his eyes lit up and he hoped that he would be like Microsoft. Be successful in the IT industry and be a trendsetter on the wave of the Internet.

Bezos listed more than 2 kinds of goods, then eliminated them one by one and reduced them to books and music products. Finally, he decided to sell books first. Books are especially suitable for online display, and the United States, as a big publishing country, has 1.3 million kinds of books, but only 2, to 3, kinds of music products. The book distribution industry has a large market space. The annual sales of this industry is 26 billion US dollars, but the annual sales of the largest chain bookstore in the United States and the largest bookstore in the world with more than 1, branches only account for 12%.

a few weeks later, he refused the generous treatment and set foot on the road of starting a business. Bezos informed the moving company that he would inform them as soon as he had selected three places in Colorado, Oregon or Washington, and then he hurried west. He put his wife in charge of driving, and he couldn't wait to draft a business plan with a laptop, and he couldn't wait to contact with his mobile phone to raise start-up funds.

in 1995, Bezos moved from new york to Seattle. He chose Seattle because there are ready-made technical talents here and it is very close to the Oregon warehouse of Ingram Book Department, a large channel distributor. Bezos founded Amazon.com (Amazon), the first online retail company in the United States, with a start-up capital of $3, in a rented garage in the suburbs of Seattle. Bezos named his company after the world's largest river in the hope that it would become a veritable "Amazon" among book companies.