Jeff Bezos – Things to Learn from Him for Entrepreneurial Success

It is inspiration that drives people towards progress. It is something that makes people realize their potential; their will power; and kindles the fire to achieve something. This inspiration comes from people who have climbed the ladder of success. People looking forward to succeeding in their life, specifically entrepreneurs, get their inspiration from some of the famous entrepreneurs and achievers like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and the like. However, in this list of entrepreneurs and CEOs should be the name of another man who has, unfortunately, seldom appeared under the limelight. He remains in stealth, yet continues to inspire thousands of people across the world. He is Jeff Bezos – the Founder and CEO of Amazon.

Born in 1964 in New Mexico, his life is an inspirational story by itself. Before becoming the Founder and CEO of Amazon, Bezos was involved in the computer science industry on Wall Street. He then moved on to develop a network for an international trading company. While working at Banker’s Test he became the Vice President, and then worked at D.E Shaw & Co., an Internet based company. There are a lot of things aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from Jeff’s life and apply them for their own and their businesses’ success.

Be Flexible and Stubborn

Bezos feels that entrepreneurs, and people who intend to start their own firms, must be both stubborn and flexible at the same time. He says that by being flexible and stubborn, one can achieve many things. By being stubborn, one will be determined and will not give up on taking risks and doing experiments; and by being flexible, one will be able to see a fresh perspective on a crisis and solve it easily.

Minimal Team

The Amazon founder and CEO firmly believes in what he calls the Two Pizza Rule. According to him, a startup or a business, in its initial stages, must have a team which can be fed by just two pizzas. For him, an autonomous group of five to seven people will be sufficient to build a strong company. One fascinating aspect is that this plan works. The Gold Box feature that we see even today on the Amazon website was developed by Two-Pizza teams.

Never Stop Experimenting

Experiments are not about making inventions and discoveries but learning from inferences. It is through the mistakes that we make, or the things we infer from the experiments, that we realize what went wrong and what can be done to attain the goal. When we stop experimenting, we stop learning; and when we stop learning, we stop growing. This is a chain reaction, where one is associated with the consequences of another. So, it has been a practice of Bezos to keep experimenting with new things. It was only after he gave up his high profile job and experimented with the Internet that the concepts of online shopping and Amazon were born.

Focus on Customers

It is true that customers are the kings of any market. At Amazon, Bezos re-iterates this fact. He says that by focusing on customers, companies and enterprises become more salient. Logically, this is true for any given company. We make products and offer services for them and they, in turn, pay for it. They have the liberty to switch to using another product or service if they are not satisfied with the current one. So, as an emerging entrepreneur, one should focus on delivering the best to their customers than focusing on profit and competitors, because both will follow if we serve our customers.

A Regret- Free Venture

One of the worst things a person can ever experience is regret. Regret is something that burns us alive. And at one point, one is bound to arrive at a conclusion that disappointments are better than regrets. Disappointment marks an attempt which failed, but regret comes from failure in making an attempt. Bezos feels the former to be less harmful. According to him, fear of regret is the reason for coming up with Amazon. He feels entrepreneurs should be able to take risks and go ahead with whatever they feel like doing because, in the long run, this will help.

They say wise people are those who learn from the experiences of others before it happens to them. It may prove expensive for any entrepreneur to learn whatever Bezos has shared by experiencing them personally. It is better that we learn from leaders like him – and people who we look up to. Let’s learn and grow, and help others in achieving this as well.