When most entrepreneurs and aspiring techs are asked about their inspirations, they mostly name Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and maybe some mention Bill Gates. But, the self-made multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, is not mentioned.
Jeff Bezos started his journey in 1994 when he launched Amazon.com from his garage. It was the start of the digital age, and Bezos was the man of the vision.
Bezos runs more than just a retail store. And there's a lot we can learn from his inspiring story. Read on to learn about some of his business lessons.
To Be Stubborn and Flexible
According to Bezos, good entrepreneurs need to be stubborn and flexible in their business. Being stubborn with the vision is the first part, and being flexible with the tactics is the second part.
According to Bezos, "if you're not stubborn, you'll give up on ideas too soon without trying and experimenting. And if you're not flexible, you will not be able to think about different solutions for your problems."
One of the best things to learn from entrepreneurs is that they are inherently stubborn. They're natural leaders who like to do things in their way. So, one of the characteristics that define entrepreneurs is being stubborn and flexible on plans.
Two Pizza Rule
Bezos believes that the team needs to be small. He believes in the two-pizza rule, meaning that the groups should be small that two pizzas are enough to feed them. That generally means, that group needs to have only 5 to 7 members in a team.
According to Bezos, when the team grows, they tend to become self-efficient. This inefficiency leads to low productivity and waste.
Never Stop Experimenting
According to Bezos, " if you double the number of experiments you do every year, you're going to double your inventiveness."
If you ask any CEO, they'll tell you that experimentation is important for any business growth. It's how new innovations are born and how to be competitive in the market.
Automotive companies experiment with new vehicles, food companies experiment with new foods and flavours, and many companies experiment to be competitive in the market.
His Words, " Experiment Patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, and protect saplings."
Think Long Term
One thing to learn from Bezos should be thinking for the long term.
Thinking for the long term requires patience- this is especially true when CEOs need to focus on day-to-day strategies. He also says that long-term thinking and experimentation need to be fundamental ingredients of the company.
Identify and Avoid Risk
What's the best thing about entrepreneurs?
They love taking the risk- they get excited and thrive on it.
According to Bezos, great entrepreneurs don't like risk and identify them in the early days and remove it quickly.
Get Started Early
One of the worst things to live with is regrets, guilt, and sorrow. When Bezos was thinking about starting Amazon, he had to decide whether to start a company or keep his job.
He created a framework to start making a decision and called it as Regret Minimization Framework. It helped him not to start Amazon and regret it afterward. This fear of recreation helped him to decide to go ahead and start Amazon.
Conclusion
Jeff Bezos still has lots of lessons to teach us, and we will learn more from him in the future. Whatever people will remember him for, but there are still lots of things we need to learn from him.