Jeff Bezos

So excited and scared, anxious, thought the odds of success were low, told all of our early investors that I thought there was a 30% chance of success, by which I'd just been getting your money back, not what actually happened. Because that's the truth. Every startup company is unlikely to work. It's helpful to be in reality about that. But that doesn't mean you can't be optimistic.

So excited and scared, anxious, thought the odds of success were low, told all of our early investors that I thought there was a 30% chance of success, by which I'd just been getting your money back, not what actually happened. Because that's the truth. Every startup company is unlikely to work. It's helpful to be in reality about that. But that doesn't mean you can't be optimistic.

So excited and scared, anxious, thought the odds of success were low, told all of our early investors that I thought there was a 30% chance of success, by which I'd just been getting your money back, not what actually happened. Because that's the truth. Every startup company is unlikely to work. It's helpful to be in reality about that. But that doesn't mean you can't be optimistic.

So you kind of have to have this duality in your head. On the one hand, you know what the baseline statistics say about startup companies. On the other hand, you have to ignore all of that and just be 100% sure it's going to work. And you're doing both things at the same time. You're holding that contradiction in your head. But it was so exciting.

So you kind of have to have this duality in your head. On the one hand, you know what the baseline statistics say about startup companies. On the other hand, you have to ignore all of that and just be 100% sure it's going to work. And you're doing both things at the same time. You're holding that contradiction in your head. But it was so exciting.

So you kind of have to have this duality in your head. On the one hand, you know what the baseline statistics say about startup companies. On the other hand, you have to ignore all of that and just be 100% sure it's going to work. And you're doing both things at the same time. You're holding that contradiction in your head. But it was so exciting.

I love, you know, every from 1994 when the company was founded to 1995 when we opened our doors, all the way until today, I find Amazon so exciting. And that doesn't mean it's like full of pain, full of problems. It's like there's so many things that need to be resolved and worked and made better and and et cetera, but on balance, it's so fun. It's such a privilege. It's been such a joy.

I love, you know, every from 1994 when the company was founded to 1995 when we opened our doors, all the way until today, I find Amazon so exciting. And that doesn't mean it's like full of pain, full of problems. It's like there's so many things that need to be resolved and worked and made better and and et cetera, but on balance, it's so fun. It's such a privilege. It's been such a joy.

I love, you know, every from 1994 when the company was founded to 1995 when we opened our doors, all the way until today, I find Amazon so exciting. And that doesn't mean it's like full of pain, full of problems. It's like there's so many things that need to be resolved and worked and made better and and et cetera, but on balance, it's so fun. It's such a privilege. It's been such a joy.

I feel so grateful that I've been part of that journey. It's just been incredible.

I feel so grateful that I've been part of that journey. It's just been incredible.

I feel so grateful that I've been part of that journey. It's just been incredible.

It's really a very simple and I think age-old idea about renewal and rebirth. And every day is day one. Every day you're deciding what you're going to do. And you... are not trapped by what you were or who you were or any self-consistency. Self-consistency even can be a trap. And so day one thinking is kind of we start fresh every day.

It's really a very simple and I think age-old idea about renewal and rebirth. And every day is day one. Every day you're deciding what you're going to do. And you... are not trapped by what you were or who you were or any self-consistency. Self-consistency even can be a trap. And so day one thinking is kind of we start fresh every day.

It's really a very simple and I think age-old idea about renewal and rebirth. And every day is day one. Every day you're deciding what you're going to do. And you... are not trapped by what you were or who you were or any self-consistency. Self-consistency even can be a trap. And so day one thinking is kind of we start fresh every day.

And we get to make new decisions every day about invention, about customers, about how we're going to operate, even as deeply as what our principles are. We can go back to that. It turns out we don't change those very often, but we change them occasionally. And when we work on... Programs at Amazon, we often make a list of tenets. And the tenets are kind of, they're not principles.

And we get to make new decisions every day about invention, about customers, about how we're going to operate, even as deeply as what our principles are. We can go back to that. It turns out we don't change those very often, but we change them occasionally. And when we work on... Programs at Amazon, we often make a list of tenets. And the tenets are kind of, they're not principles.

And we get to make new decisions every day about invention, about customers, about how we're going to operate, even as deeply as what our principles are. We can go back to that. It turns out we don't change those very often, but we change them occasionally. And when we work on... Programs at Amazon, we often make a list of tenets. And the tenets are kind of, they're not principles.

They're a little more tactical than principles, but it's kind of the main ideas that we want this program to embody, whatever those are. And one of the things that we do is we put, these are the tenets for this program. And then in parentheses, we always put, unless you know a better way. Mm-hmm.

They're a little more tactical than principles, but it's kind of the main ideas that we want this program to embody, whatever those are. And one of the things that we do is we put, these are the tenets for this program. And then in parentheses, we always put, unless you know a better way. Mm-hmm.