“The electronics effort faced even greater challenges. To launch that category, David Risher tapped a Dartmouth alum named Chris Payne who had previously worked on Amazon’s DVD store. Like Miller, Payne had to plead with suppliers—in this case, Asian consumer-electronics… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“That summer, Harrison Miller and Bezos butted heads in front of the board of directors over the size of the bet on toys. Bezos wanted Miller to plow $120 million into stocking every possible toy, from Barbie dolls to rare… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“There was little science to Amazon’s earliest distribution methods. The company held no inventory itself at first. When a customer bought a book, Amazon ordered it, the book would arrive within a few days, and Amazon would store it in the basement and then ship it off to the customer. It took Amazon a week to deliver most items to… — Brad Stone Copy Share
“They agreed on five core values and wrote them down on a whiteboard in a conference room: customer obsession, frugality, bias for action, ownership,… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“In a world where consumers had limited choice, you needed to compete for locations,” says Ross, who went on to cofound eCommera, a British… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“The first week after the official launch, they took $12,000 in orders and shipped $846 worth of books, according to Eric Dillon, one of… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“Look, you should wake up worried, terrified every morning,” he told his employees. “But don’t be worried about our competitors because they ' re… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“Amazon may be the most beguiling company that ever existed, and it is just getting started. It is both missionary and mercenary, and throughout… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
We see Google experimenting in so many places outside of its core search and advertising business, whether that's bringing broadband Internet to the world… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“The production philosophy pioneered by Toyota calls for a focus on those activities that create value for the customer and the systematic eradication of… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“Apple’s founder reportedly fired employees in the elevator and screamed at underperforming executives. Perhaps there is something endemic in the fast-paced technology business that causes this behavior, because such intensity is not exactly rare among its CEOs. Bill Gates used to throw epic tantrums. Steve Ballmer, his successor at Microsoft, had a propensity for throwing chairs. Andy Grove, the longtime… — Brad Stone Copy Share
“Just as Clayton Christensen had predicted in The Innovator’s Dilemma, technological innovation caused wrenching pain to the company and the broader industry” — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
“Eric Benson took about two weeks to construct a preliminary version that grouped together customers who had similar purchasing histories and then found books… — Brad Stone Copy Share Image
