On #1 (Jeff Bezos went to Seattle, not San Francisco), in the book "Wander and Invent" the following is explained:
"I made a list of products I might sell online. I started ranking them, and I picked books because books are super unusual in one respect: there are more items in the book category than in any other category. There are three million different books in print around the world at any given time. The biggest bookstores had only 150,000 titles. So the founding idea of Amazon was to build a universal selection of books in print. That’s what I did: I hired a small team, and we built the software. I moved to Seattle because the largest book warehouse in the world at that time was nearby in a town called Roseberg, Oregon, and also because of the recruiting pool available from Microsoft."
No I didn't know it! But it definitely looks solid, being edited by Walter Isaacson and edited by HBS (and the content is likely to be excellent, being Bezos's own writing).
On #1 (Jeff Bezos went to Seattle, not San Francisco), in the book "Wander and Invent" the following is explained:
"I made a list of products I might sell online. I started ranking them, and I picked books because books are super unusual in one respect: there are more items in the book category than in any other category. There are three million different books in print around the world at any given time. The biggest bookstores had only 150,000 titles. So the founding idea of Amazon was to build a universal selection of books in print. That’s what I did: I hired a small team, and we built the software. I moved to Seattle because the largest book warehouse in the world at that time was nearby in a town called Roseberg, Oregon, and also because of the recruiting pool available from Microsoft."
On #7 (Bezos as a skilled and masterful business writer), I have also enjoyed this:
23 Lessons From Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters To Shareholders
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/bezos-amazon-shareholder-letters/
Indeed, I have this one in my Evernote—hesitated between linking it or the Gassée piece (I eventually picked the latter).
Have you read "Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos"?
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/1647820715
If so, do you recommend it?
No I didn't know it! But it definitely looks solid, being edited by Walter Isaacson and edited by HBS (and the content is likely to be excellent, being Bezos's own writing).
(I bought it 😉)
Let me know if it it is worth reading!
I am sharing another one that I got recommend by friends in the US.
"Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon"
It is written by two long-time Amazon executives (Colin Bryar and Bill Carr) with 27 years of Amazon experience between them.
https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595/
Yes—by coincidence I discovered it yesterday listening to part of this podcast on the a16z! => https://a16z.com/2021/02/07/working-backwards-amazon-bezos-memos-releases-narratives-innovation/