Aniq Kassam’s Post

Here are five interesting facts about Jeff Bezos: 1. **Early Computer Enthusiast**: Jeff Bezos showed an early interest in technology and innovation. He transformed his parents' garage into a laboratory and rigged electrical contraptions around his house. This passion for tinkering with technology laid the foundation for his future ventures. 2. **High School Valedictorian**: Bezos graduated as the valedictorian of his high school in Miami, Florida. During his valedictory speech, he revealed his ambition to colonize space, showcasing his long-standing fascination with space exploration even as a teenager. 3. **Wall Street Career**: Before founding Amazon, Bezos worked on Wall Street in the field of computer science. He held several positions at firms such as Fitel, Bankers Trust, and D. E. Shaw & Co. His experience in finance and technology influenced his decision to venture into the online retail market. 4. **Customer-Obsessed Culture**: Bezos is famous for his obsessive focus on customer satisfaction. He once brought an empty chair into meetings to represent the customer, emphasizing that decisions should always consider the customer's perspective. 5. **World's Richest Man**: At various points, Jeff Bezos has held the title of the richest person in the world. His net worth has fluctuated significantly, largely due to the performance of Amazon's stock. Despite stepping down as CEO of Amazon in 2021, he continues to have a substantial influence on the company and maintains a significant portion of his wealth.

𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 - Jeff Bezos categorizes decisions into two types: 1. Two-way door decisions 2. One-way door decisions Here's the breakdown: Two-way door decisions: - Reversible - Low-risk - Can be made quickly - Should be delegated One-way door decisions: - Irreversible or costly to reverse - High-impact - Require careful analysis - Should be made by senior leadership As CEO of Amazon, Bezos often found himself being the "Chief Slowdown Officer" for one-way door decisions. Why? Because getting these right is crucial. The trap many companies fall into? Using a one-size-fits-all approach. They apply the same heavy process to all decisions, slowing everything down. Instead, Bezos advocates: 1. Empower individuals and small teams to make two-way door decisions quickly. 2. Elevate one-way door decisions to senior leadership for thorough analysis. The key? Knowing the difference. Next time you're faced with a decision, ask yourself: "Is this a one-way or two-way door?" Your answer could be the difference between paralysis and progress. Credit: Chris Tottman, Vencha Join 100,000+ founders and VCs who receive these insights in my weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dtifw4mC

Albert Camus once wrote about Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill, eternally focused on one task. Imagine if Sisyphus had multiple rocks—his task would become impossible. In business, the same principle applies. Good decision-making isn’t just about deciding what to do. It’s also about deciding what not to do. The word itself gives us a clue. ‘Decide’ comes from the Latin 'decidere,' meaning to 'cut away' or 'cut off.' Every decision involves sacrifice—eliminating other options to focus on the ones that matter most. In a world of limited resources—time, attention, energy, snacks—trying to do everything is a losing strategy. Every additional task pulls resources away from other priorities, and as a result, nothing gets done well. Amazon's Jeff Bezos embodies this principle. When a department no longer serves customer needs, he cuts it—even if it had once been a powerhouse. His commitment to focusing only on what matters is what makes Amazon successful. Success isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing a small number of the right things. As such sacrifice is essential for progress. Remember, in the end, the boulder that makes it to the top is the one you focus on pushing. #DecisionMaking #Sacrifice #Focus #ResourceManagment  #StrategicThinking

From Door Desk to Empire: Jeff Bezos' Story of Resourcefulness #entrepeneruers #inspiration This picture (insert an image of Jeff Bezos at his door desk) is a goldmine for any entrepreneur! It's Jeff Bezos back in 1999, working from a desk fashioned out of an old door. Talk about resourcefulness! Sure, having $300,000 in seed funding from his parents helped launch Amazon, but that doesn't diminish the incredible journey. It's a reminder that with a good idea, hustle, and maybe a little ingenuity (like a door desk!), you can achieve amazing things. What are your thoughts? Did you have any unconventional resources that helped you on your entrepreneurial journey? Share your story in the comments!

This is Jeff Bezos at his office desk back in 1999. The desk at Amazon's first office was made out of an old door. All he needed was this and $300,000 from his parents to create one of the biggest companies in the world. The lesson? Choose your parents wisely. P.S. for more great stuff, check out 🔔linas.substack.com🔔, it's the only newsletter you need for all things when Finance meets Technology. For founders, builders, and leaders.

Remember what it was like the day you started your business? 🤔 You were super excited to find your first clients, excited to help them, and excited about both your professional and personal future. Right? 👉🏻 Curious. Nimble. Experimental. Brave enough to fail. That was day one. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a theory about day one that is so powerful that he created Amazon’s culture around it. Organizations start to fail when they hit day two. “Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always day 1.” Are you living like it's day one?💭 #advisortransformation

Jeff Bezos - Executive Chairman of Amazon, said: "If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your inventiveness." 🔍✨ This quote reminds me that creativity comes from constantly trying and learning, without waiting for perfection. 💡 Every attempt takes us one step closer to something valuable. 🚀 Tell me in the comments, what do you think of this quote? 💭👇 #CreativityInAction #InnovateEveryDay #KeepExperimenting

Slow, bad decisions are not a universal problem. Some organizations are able to make good decisions fast and at scale. The difference has a lot to do with culture. In this article I lay down the key principles that enable Amazon, Google, Netflix and modern armies to distribute and accelerate decision-making.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 Recently, I came across a tweet about internal documents from Amazon disclosed by the House Judiciary Committee. These documents offer insight into Amazon's decision-making processes, which I find particularly interesting as decision-making is crucial in my current role and I find it often a bottleneck in larger organizations. A 2016 note from Jeff Bezos explains the idea of "one-way" and "two-way" door decisions: "Some decisions are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible – one-way doors – and these decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. If you walk through and don’t like what you see on the other side, you can’t get back to where you were before. We can call these Type 1 decisions. But most decisions aren’t like that – they are changeable, reversible – they’re two-way doors. If you’ve made a suboptimal Type 2 decision, you don’t have to live with the consequences for that long. You can reopen the door and go back through. Type 2 decisions can and should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups." Bezos highlights the danger of large organizations treating too many decisions as "one-way doors," which leads to risk aversion and stifles innovation. This results in slow, unthoughtful decision-making, hindering experimentation and creativity. An internal Amazon meeting invite from March 2021 reflects this framework, stressing the importance of distinguishing between these types of decisions: What is the decision? Who needs to make the decision? Is it a one-way door decision? If yes, why? This approach helps ensure that decisions are made efficiently and appropriately, fostering a culture of innovation and agility.

The opposite of a profound truth is also true. This applies in #CX. Jeff Bezos famously had a 70% rule at Amazon: "Most decisions should be made when you have about 70% of the information you wish you had." This is great advice that most people hear only one way. 🎧 Most people hear it as an admonition to move faster, decide sooner. ❓ Are you doing the research? Or are you guilty of Analysis Paralysis? But, the 70% rule also suggests that you should get to a point where you have most of the information you wish you had to make the decision. It is my experience working with companies that it is far more common for decisions to made with less than 70% of information, not more. The reality is that companies aren't guilty of analysis paralysis as often as they are guilty of another failing: 💡 Extinct by Instinct Stop and ask yourself: Are we taking decisive action? Or are we guilty of making a rash decision? For many important decisions, the right course of action is to slow down, do more research, and get to a point of more (stopping short of total) certainty. Please, take the time to do the research now. ⏲ It will save you time later.