As I embrace my full inner nerd, I decided to read about tech giants this year. Specifically, Apple’s Steve Jobs; the Google guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page; Amazon’s Jeff Bezos; Facebook‘s Mark Zuckerberg; and any other HUGE site I follow. (Uh, where are my women in tech???)
There are two reasons why I’m doing this. First, to find out how and why they started their sites. And second, to see what I can learn so I can apply it to my sites. I’m know all of my sites have the potential to blow up!
So, my read for January is One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com by Richard L. Brandt. It’s a pretty good read. And it’s under 200 pages!
First of all, I like Mr. Brandt’s ability to write about this tech giant in an engaging manner. Bezos is a tech guy, literally and figuratively. And I’m certain that the author had to put his skills in overdrive to write parts of this book.
Brandt took us through a journey of Bezo’s life starting with his childhood; his school years; and his early career in the financial industry. This young man is very intelligent, competitive, and driven. And he has a keen interest in science as well as technology.
Second, there are a few things about Bezos that really stood out.
- He wanted to create a great online experience with very little human interaction.
- His one-click system was patented and could not be copied by competitors.
- Bezos hired people with the most talent rather than the most experience.
- He changed the books industry on various levels.
- This guy has been sued so many times, they probably have a dedicated courtroom just for Amazon.
Third, as I read this book, I realized two things. Although Amazon’s primary focus is books, it’s a giant search engine. Also, many tech people started with very humble beginnings and refused to give up. Invariably, this helped with Amazon’s.com survival.
I would recommend One Click to anyone who wants a better understanding of how Bezos got started and to get ideas on how to start and maintain their online businesses. While many of his strategies were unusual and frowned upon, he stayed true to goal and vision.
How About You?
What are you reading? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?
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