Jeff Bezos' short list

Things that made Amazon successful.

January 02, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Jeff Bezos at his desk back in '94.

Happy New Year! Another year ahead, full of potential. If you're a business owner, in the early days, or about to start, this year holds big opportunities. Let’s make it count, and I’ll be here bringing you the best insights from the past & present.

Speaking of insights, some lessons stand the test of time.

1998, 2009, 2015, 2018, and 2024. These are some of the years when Jeff Bezos gave public talks, and I watched them all. A lot of things changed during these years, but one thing didn’t. It was his principles in business.

These principles are the backbone of why Amazon is a $2 trillion company today.

Is there something you can take away from it? Let’s find out.

1. Obsess Over Your Customers

In the earliest days of Amazon, Bezos and his small team ran everything from his home. With wires stretched across rooms and circuit breakers constantly flipping, they were focused on one thing: making customers happy.

“When given the choice of obsessing over competitors or obsessing over customers, we always obsess over customers.”

Bezos understood that happy customers weren’t just a goal—they were the foundation. Mistakes were inevitable, but when you genuinely focus on fixing them and improving experiences, people stick around. It’s a simple rule that became Amazon’s north star.

2. Invent on Their Behalf

Here’s the catch: customers can tell you what they want, but they can’t tell you what’s possible. That’s where invention comes in.

“It’s not a customer’s job to invent for themselves; you need to invent on their behalf.”

Take the Kindle, for instance. No one asked for it, but it revolutionized reading. The same goes for AWS, which powers much of the internet today. Bezos believed in solving problems before people even realized they had them, and that mindset kept Amazon ahead of its time.

3. Think Long Term

When you’re building something great, it doesn’t happen overnight. Bezos revealed that many of Amazon’s most successful projects didn’t make money for five to seven years. That’s a long time to wait, but it’s the price of real innovation.

“If we think we’re right, we keep going—even if people misunderstand us.”

Bezos faced plenty of skepticism, from doubters who called Amazon a “dot-com bubble” to critics who said his ideas were too ambitious. But staying the course, even when misunderstood, became Amazon’s biggest advantage.

4. It’s Always Day 1

Even after Amazon became a household name, Bezos stuck to one principle: “Day 1.”

Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.

For Bezos, this means treating every day like the start of something new—full of energy, focus, and a drive to innovate. Day 1 thinking kept Amazon hungry, even as it grew into a giant, and it’s a reminder for all of us to keep striving for better, no matter how far we’ve come.

That’s it! Four principles to build a $2 trillion company. Everything else was a variable for them. Things change over time, and they adapted to it, but they never strayed from these principles.

These lessons are the foundation of success. The most successful entrepreneurs live by them, and if you pay attention, you’ll see this pattern in every thriving startup.

Thanks for reading!