Re:Why aren't more companies like Amazon?
by tixocloud on Wednesday June 05, 2013 @12:23PM
(#5826601)
Just curious but has there ever been a day one where Amazon had to step backwards or some idea failed? It's hard to believe that everything Amazon touches is gold and I personally feel like we learn more from our failures than our successes. Just wondering if you know any Amazon failures from the past?
Re:Why aren't more companies like Amazon?
by JOnAgain on Wednesday June 05, 2013 @12:55PM
(#5826873)
There's been a lot. Amazon generally avoids press, but they launch stuff that fails all the time. I'd say only 1/3 things they launch (or get really close to launching internally) is actually successful. Since they avoid press, people don't hear about things that fail. Their success rate has been higher with some AWS services, but if you could see their track record internally (basically things that make it to beta) vs. success 5 years later, it's probably under 30%.
Re:Why aren't more companies like Amazon?
by incision on Wednesday June 05, 2013 @12:37PM
(#5826703)
Off the top of my head, their investment of $175M in LivingSocial [0] comes to mind.
Also, though they're generally considered successes now, I recall no shortage of naysayers trying to claim the Kindle, Prime and AWS as failures.
0: http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/02/livingsocial-confirms-175-m...
When I first heard that, it just blew my mind. I think that's the philosophy that keeps Amazon moving upwards. At so many points in Amazon's history you can imagine the story ending, but 5 years later it turns out to have been just the beginning, just the introduction.
Successfully starting a bookstore wasn't the end, it was day1 for a music store. The music store wasn't the end, it was day1 for a retail store. Retail was day1 for digital downloads. Downloads were day1 for Kindle. Prime, AWS, India, Android, Same day delivery, groceries...
When you tell yourself the story of your business, you probably start with the idea, go through the struggle, and end with your current success. Bezos puts all of that in the first paragraph, and then tries to imagine the rest of the book.
"It's always day one."