It’s been 30 years since Jeff Bezos started Amazon out of his garage on July 5, 1994. Amazon’s humble beginnings started with the name “Cadabra” in Washington before transitioning into what we call today Amazon.
One year later, in 1995, a website was born, and the bookstore delivered to 45 countries.
In a video recorded on the company’s first day of going live, Bezos shows how the “nerve center” of the company looked, which included home desks, long cables, a fax machine, and old computer modems.
Bezos inspiring entrepreneurs
Bezos has always based his experience and leadership on a theory called ‘Day 1’. He warns that even consistency can be seen as “a trap,” and a fresh start every day is what’s needed. Bezos calls it a “renewal and rebirth” mindset.
He believes that successful entrepreneurs need to make new decisions every day about things like how the business will operate and its principles.
The founder was once asked by colleagues who knew about his leadership theory of Day 1, ‘How does Day 2 look?’
Bezos answered, “Is stasis followed by irrelevance, followed by excruciating painful decline, followed by death?”
He believes this is why he always called it Day 1. Once you forget to innovate and start fresh every day, your business will eventually die.
Amazon delivers fast in an AI world
Amazon’s main focus has been to be the fastest online delivery service the world has ever experienced. It reached those targets in 2023, delivering at its fastest speed, but it broke its record this year.
In the first four months of 2024, more than 2 billion items were sent to Prime members around the world the same day or the next day.
Four months ago, 60% of Prime member orders arrived the same or the next day across the top 60 largest US metro areas.
Amazon improved its delivery by providing 20 times more products. These products can be delivered twice as fast as when Prime first launched in 2005.
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When Prime launched, they offered two-day shipping on one million items. They now offer more than 300 million items with free Prime shipping.
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About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
