![]() The orders poured in, and by September 1996, had grown into a company of 100 employees and had racked up more than $15.7 million in sales. ![]() Enraptured by the enormous selection of books, the superior customer service and the user-friendly design of the site, Internet users ecstatically plugged on Internet newsgroups and mailing lists. Fueled by word of mouth, or more accurately, word of e-mail, rocketed off the line like a nitro-burning dragster. In July 1995, opened its virtual doors, calling itself "Earth's Biggest Book Store," with more than 1 million titles to choose from. A true marketing visionary, in addition to creating a user-friendly interface that would streamline the "needle in a haystack" process that bookstore shopping often entails, Bezos wanted to establish a "virtual community" where visitors could "hang out." To achieve this goal, he and his team created a number of innovative programs, including one that would let customers add their own book reviews to the site and a feature that recommends books based on a customer's previous purchases. With $1 million raised from family and friends, Bezos rented a house in Seattle and set up his business in the garage.įor nearly a year, Bezos and a crew of five employees worked out of the garage, learning how to source books and setting up a computer system that would make easy to navigate. While MacKenzie drove, Jeff spent the trip pecking out a business plan on a laptop computer and calling prospective investors on a cell phone. Not only was it home to a tremendous pool of high-tech talent, it was also in close proximity to Ingram Book Group's Oregon warehouse. Bezos passed up a fat bonus, packed his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, and their dog, Kamala (named after an obscure "Star Trek" character), and headed for Seattle.įor Bezos, Seattle was the ideal city for his new business. Bezos realized that while even the largest superstores could stock only a few hundred thousand books, a mere fraction of what is available, a "virtual" bookstore could offer millions of titles. After reviewing the list, books were the obvious choice, primarily because of the sheer number of titles in existence. He drew up a list of 20 potential products he thought might sell well via the Internet, including software, CDs and books. Bezos immediately recognized the expansive possibilities of selling online and began exploring the entrepreneurial possibilities of developing an Internet business. While surfing the Internet in search of new ventures for D E Shaw to invest in, he came across the statistic that World Wide Web usage was growing by 2,300 percent a month. Just four years after Bezos created, the virtual bookstore became the template for how e-commerce businesses should be run, with sales of more than $610 million and more than 13 million customers worldwide.īezos first got the idea to start an Internet enterprise in 1994. It was a risky move, but it quickly paid off. But Bezos had other plans.įueled by a secret passion for the infant business of electronic retailing, Bezos dreamed of creating his own company in the vast, then virtually uncharted wilds of the World Wide Web. , the then 30-year-old Princeton University graduate was already making an estimated six-figure salary and was destined to rise even further in the company ranks. ![]() The youngest-ever senior vice president at Wall Street investment bank DE Shaw & Co. In 1994, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was already extremely successful by most peoples standards. Keep scrolling for more details on how Bezos made Amazon what it is today. As the child of an immigrant, Bezos' rise to success is a true American dream.
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