#282 Jeff Bezos Shareholder Letters

What I learned from rereading Jeff Bezos' Shareholder Letters (for the 3rd time!)  Read Jeff's letters in book form: Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos or for free online: Amazon Investor Relations ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best   [2:30] Amazon hopes to create an enduring franchise [3:00] Because of our emphasis on the long term, we may make decisions and weigh trade-offs differently than some companies. [4:00] We will continue to focus relentlessly on our customers. [4:00] We will work hard to spend wisely and maintain our lean culture. We understand the importance of continually reinforcing a cost-conscious culture. [4:00] We set out to offer customers something they simply could not get any other way. [5:00] Word of mouth remains the most powerful customer acquisition tool that we have. [5:00] We are working to build something important, something that matters to our customers, something that we can all tell our grandchildren about. Such things aren't meant to be easy. [6:00] "To read Bezos’ shareholder letters is to get a crash course in running a high-growth internet business from someone who mastered it before any of the playbooks were written." — From CB Insights [7:00] Common themes repeated in Jeff’s letters: More innovation is ahead of us. It is still early. The opportunity —if we execute well — is enormous. We will move quickly. We will endure. Amazon will be a durable, long-lasting company. We will focus on cash flow. Once in a lifetime opportunities will be risky. Jeff gave himself a 30% chance of success— at best. Customer obsession is our North Star. It is what we will bet the company on. We will be BOLD. We will have a frugal, lean culture that Sam Walton would approve of. This will be hard. All valuable things are. We will have to learn along the way. [8:00] Sam Walton: Made In America