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Here's What I Learned After Reading 23 Years of Bezos Shareholder Letters

编者按：一家企业的致股东的信往往能反映这个企业及领导者的价值观和理念。在所有致股东的信中，研究最多的是巴菲特致股东的信。除此之外，亚马逊作为一个伟大的互联网零售企业，其领导者贝索斯致股东的信也值得深入

Here's What I Learned After Reading 23 Years of Bezos Shareholder Letters

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Of all the letters to shareholders, the most studied is Buffett's letter to shareholders. In addition, as a great Internet retail enterprise, Amazon's letter from its leader Bezos to shareholders is also worthy of in-depth study. This article reviews Bezos's letters to shareholders over the past 23 years, condenses the essence of the letters, and shares them with you. This article is translated from Medium, written by Sumit Grrg, the original title is Read 23 Years Worth of Jeff Bezos' Amazon Shareholder Letters-Here's What I Learned, I hope it has inspired you.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/02c1e7f37ab0059568a615de8884c1b1\" tg-width=\"550\" tg-height=\"380\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\">Jeff Bezos speaks after receiving the 2019 International Astronautical Federation Award for Excellence in Industry in Washington, D.C., Oct. 22, 2019. Pictures : MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty ImagesIn the early 90s, few people had heard of the Internet. Jeff Bezos happens to be one of those who has heard the concept of the internet.Bezos saw that the Internet was growing at a rate of 2,300% per year, and he decided to come up with a business idea to ride the wave. He made a list of products to sell online and quickly locked in on books.Bezos originally named his online bookstore Cadabra. But only three months later, he changed his name to Amazon, named after the largest river on earth, and naturally the choice of the most people on earth. Although this company lives up to its name to this day, it has come a long way to get to where it is today. In the early days of his business, Bezos held more than 50 meetings to raise $1 million from investors. During these meetings, the most common question was, \"What is the Internet?\"Today, Amazon has a market cap of nearly $1.7 trillion. Jeff Bezos, who was recently overtaken by Elon Musk, has topped the list of the world's richest people for three years in a row.But for Bezos, the title of \"richest man in the world\" isn't that valuable because he prefers to be called an inventor or entrepreneur. He's right. The outgoing Amazon CEO is one of the best entrepreneurs in the world. Jeff Bezos has forever changed the way we shop, changing (and disrupting) multiple industries.In the past few years, I have read every open letter Bezos has written to Amazon shareholders over the past 23 years. These letters not only provide us with a brief history of Amazon, but also give us an insight into the behind-the-scenes traders behind this huge Internet enterprise.Here's a summary of the key takeaways from these letters.1997: Pursuing long-term leadership, not short-term profitabilityBy selling books online, Amazon found a unique opportunity and began to provide customers with much more book choices than physical stores. \"And it is presented to customers in a useful, easy-to-search and easy-to-browse format in a bookstore that doesn't close 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.\"Amazon went public in 1997, and soon after Bezos wrote his first letter to shareholders, which truly reflected his now famous Day-1 mentality-a principle widely adopted by the entrepreneurial world, that is, to always maintain the initial fanaticism and passion for the enterprise as in the first days.\"The web was, and still is, the wait of the world.\"Bezos aims at the long term, and his way of making decisions and weighing trade-offs is different from most other business leaders:Constant attention to our customers.Prioritize growth (scale), long-term market leadership, and long-term profitability over short-term profitability. Amazon is looking to solidify its market leadership amid numerous large entrants and stiff competition from the likes of book-selling giant Barnes & Noble.Hiring and retaining talents, the salary structure focuses on stock options rather than cash, and using \"benefit-bound risk-sharing\" to make them think and act like masters.Like a true dreamer, Bezos was prescient from the beginning: \"Today, e-commerce saves customers money and time. Tomorrow, through personalization, it will accelerate the whole process of discovery.\"1998: 3 criteria to consider when hiringBezos said that setting a high bar when hiring is the most important factor in Amazon's success. During hiring meetings, he advised managers to consider the following three questions:1. Would you appreciate this person? Someone you admire is someone you can learn from.2. Will this person improve the average efficiency level of the team? The threshold has to be higher and higher.3. To what extent is this person likely to become a superstar? Most people have unique skills that can enrich the work environment for everyone else.1999: It's good enough today, but it can get better\"The current online shopping experience is the worst. It's enough to attract 17 million users now, but it's going to get better.\" With long-term success and commercial dominance in mind, Bezos is determined to build a never-settling culture at Amazon.After adding discounted music to its online retail offerings in 1998, Amazon took a series of major initiatives in 1999, including the introduction of zShops (now Marketplace), a trading platform that supports third-party sellers, and a \"one-click\" payment solution that revolutionized e-commerce checkout.2000: A company that wants to be a heavyweightBezos's letter this year begins with one word: \"Ouch.\"Although Amazon was one of the few dot-com companies to survive the burst of the dot-com bubble, its stock price plummeted from $116 at the peak of the dot-com bubble to $6.To explain the turmoil caused by the stock market crash, Bezos borrowed the words of investor Benjamin Graham, who once said: \"In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine, and in the long term, it is a weighing machine.\"And Amazon, as Bezos said in his letter to shareholders, is a \"company that wants to be weighed in.\"In another letter, he added: \"We don't celebrate a 10% rise in stock prices like we celebrate an excellent customer experience. A 10% rise in stock prices can't improve our wisdom by 10%, and conversely, when stock prices fall, we won't be stupid by 10%. We want to be weighed, and we have been trying to build a heavier company.\"2001: Eliminating errors at their rootBezos introduced features such as Look Inside the Book, a free program that allows authors and publishers to promote their books. Bezos highlighted Amazon's efforts to forever improve the customer experience while encouraging merchants and small businesses to thrive in its ecosystem.\"One of the most important things we do to improve convenience and experience for our customers happens to be a huge driver of variable cost productivity: eliminate errors and missteps at the root,\" Bezos added. Because when you implement an eradication program, you're not solving just one customer's problem, but you're solving it for every customer. \"Eliminating the root cause of mistakes saves us money and saves customers time,\" Bezos said.2002: What's Good for Customers is Good for ShareholdersFor example, Bezos insists on constantly lowering prices in order to beat competitors and win customers. Increased sales, in turn, drive profit growth in the long term, which is best for shareholders.2003: Long-term investment, be the real master\"I know a couple who rented out their house and the family who moved in nailed the Christmas tree to the hardwood floor instead of using a tree stand. I guess it was expedient, and admittedly these tenants are very bad, but no owner is so short-sighted. Owners and tenants are different. And long-term thinking is both a necessary condition and a result of the true master.\"Similarly, a lot of investors are actually short-term tenants whose portfolios switch very quickly and are actually just renting stocks they hold temporarily,\" Bezos added, noting again that his business case is to remain optimistic about the long-term vision.In 2003, at an executive retreat held at Bezos' home, the seeds of the cloud computing business Amazon Web Services (AWS) began to be planted. The business was originally invented to help Amazon solve its own problems, but it quickly became clear that every company wanted it. Today, AWS has dominated the public cloud market and become the company's largest source of profits. A few years later, when commenting on the success of AWS, Bezos talked about this business miracle in his mind: \"We haven't met competitors with similar views for seven years. As a pioneer, if you are lucky, you can probably get a two-year lead. But no one can get a seven-year lead, which is simply unbelievable.\"2004: Cash is king\"Cash flow best explains a company's long-term stock price. Amazon has a cash-generating operating cycle because it turns around quickly and collects money from customers before paying suppliers.\"Free cash flow is what keeps Amazon going from strength to strength despite low margins, year after year. For ease of understanding, here's an excerpt from Vox that explains how \"meager profits\" compound over time:\"Free cash flow is a bit like profit, except that it doesn't assume that Amazon has to pay everything in the same time frame as it sells it. And because of Amazon's payment cycle mechanism, companies often receive money for selling things long before they have to pay for them. For example,<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/WMT\">Walmart</a>It takes an average of three days to receive payment to suppliers, while Amazon pays suppliers an average of 18 days after receiving payment. \"2005: Dare to make bold decisionsBezos proposed two types of decisions that businesses must face frequently:1. Mathematics-based decision-making: decisions that can be made with data, in which \"there is a correct answer or a wrong answer, a better answer or a worse answer, and mathematics will tell us which is which. These decisions still require us to make some assumptions and judgments, but the heaviest work is done by mathematics.\"2. Judgment-based decision-making: \"Although data, analysis and mathematics all play a role, the main factor in these decisions is judgment. In this case, there is almost no historical data to guide us, and prospective trials are either impossible or impractical or no different from making a decision.\"According to Bezos, \"Any institution that is unwilling to put up with controversy must limit its decision-making to the first type. But doing so will not only limit controversy, but also significantly limit innovation and long-term value creation.\" He advises companies to \"combine their strong culture of quantification and analysis with a willingness to make bold decisions.\"It is precisely because of the theme of boldness that 2005 is also the year when Amazon Prime was born. It all started with the idea that a junior software engineer at Amazon came up with to offer customers a \"fast, free shipping buffet\". By 2018, Amazon will become the second largest paid membership program, second only to Netflix. And Amazon Prime is still one of Amazon's most valuable and brand-aware assets at present.2006: Planting the seeds for new businessBezos recommends carefully evaluating this checklist before investing in a new business:Whether the new opportunity can generate the expected return on capital.How large it can grow to.Is the service in this market not yet in place?Do you have the necessary ability to introduce strong customer-facing differentiation to the market?Bezos used the above factors to explain why Amazon has refused to open physical stores so far.He said: \"The potential scale of the physical store network is exciting. However, we don't know how to achieve low capital and high returns. Retail in the physical world is a cautious and ancient industry, and the service is already very perfect. We don't have any new ideas to build a physical store so that customers can feel better differentiated.\"He added: \"When you see us entering new areas of business, it's because we believe that the above test has been passed.\"It wasn't until 2015 that Amazon opened its first physical bookstore. It will then acquire<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/WFM\">Whole Foods</a>(Whole Foods), moved into grocery retail and opened an Amazon Go convenience store without cashiers.2007: \"Missionaries\" make better productsOn November 19, 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle e-reader to the world, redefining the way we consume books.Bezos said: \"We have set a long-term vision from the very beginning: no matter which language, as long as it is a published book, users can read it in 60 seconds. We start by setting ourselves obviously bold goals to improve physical books. This goal is not easily chosen. Anything that exists in roughly the same form and has been in conflict with change for 500 years can't be easily improved.\"Bezos said that as an inventor, you are either a mercenary or a preacher. The mercenaries are thinking about how to sell things. Missionaries love their products, their customers, and try to provide excellent service. But paradoxically, he said, \"it's often the missionaries who make more money.\" A product like Kindle can only be built with a pure enthusiasm and true belief.\"The Kindle is designed for long hours of reading. We hope that the Kindle and its later products will gradually extend the time we can concentrate on reading over a few years, buffering the recent tendency to read bits and pieces of information. I know my tone is like a preacher, and I can assure you that I speak from the heart. This is not my idea alone. There are a lot of people in our company who also have this idea. I'm very happy about that because the dedication of the missionaries can help us build better products. \"But Bezos also quickly admitted that innovation won't wait for anyone. So, if you don't execute well enough and fast enough, others will seize the opportunity.2008: Safeguarding the long-term interests of the companyBezos wrote: \"Seek instant gratification, or make a promise that is out of reach, and it is likely that you will find that there is already a gang ahead of you.\" Conversely, long-term thinking:Play into our existing capabilities.Allow us to do something new that we couldn't think about before.Failures and iterations needed to support the invention.Free us to explore the unknown.This year, Amazon bought Audible, which is now the leader in the audiobook market.2009: Listen to customers and innovate for themBezos defines Amazon's basic policy as: \"Start with customers and go back. Listen to customers' opinions, but don't just listen to customers' opinions, but invent for them.\"Although he didn't mention the now obvious and infamous rebuttal in his letter, \"If you can't beat them, buy them.\" Zappos, an early shoe e-commerce giant, is an example. After finding it difficult to catch up with the former, Amazon bought it directly.2010: Inventing new methodsInvention is an essential tool for developing and improving every aspect of the customer experience. \"Although many of our systems are based on the latest achievements of computer science research, this is often not enough: our architects and engineers have to conduct further research in directions that have not been explored academically, and we face many problems that haven't been given solutions in textbooks, so we are happy to invent new solutions,\" Bezos wrote.Corporate Milestone: In July 2010, Amazon announced that in the three years since the Kindle launched, e-books have outsold physical books.2011: The most radical inventions are those that'allow others to pursue their dreams'\"Even well-meaning gatekeepers can hinder innovation,\" Bezos said, emphasizing the self-serving nature of various Amazon platforms, including Amazon Web Services, Marketplace and Kindle Direct Publishing. \"When the platform is self-serving, even unlikely ideas will be tried, and many of them do work, and society is the beneficiary of this diversity.2012: Prioritizing customers, not catching up with competitorsBezos believes that one of the advantages of focusing on customer orientation is that \"it helps with some type of initiative. When we are at our best, we don't have to wait for external pressure. Before we are forced to do it, we are already pushed internally to improve our service, add benefits and functionality. We have lowered prices and added value for customers before we are forced. We invented it before we had to. \"He added: \"What motivates these investments is customer orientation rather than a response to competition. We believe that this practice has won more trust from customers and driven rapid improvements in customer experience-importantly-even in those areas where we have become leaders.\"2013: Separation paymentsAmazon pays employees once a year for separation. Although, the title of this offer is \"Please don't accept this invitation\". \"Our goal is to encourage people to take time to think about what they really want. In the long run, if an employee barely stays in the company, it is not only bad for himself, but also bad for the company.\"In 2013, Bezos acquired \"<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/WPO\">The Washington Post</a>The Washington Post.2014: When you find a fantastic business opportunity, actBezos believes that \"fantastic commercial products\" have at least four characteristics:1. Customers love it.2. It can grow to be very powerful.3. It has a high rate of return.4. It is possible to last for decades.In 2014, Amazon launched Fire TV and launched the first Echo smart speaker for users to choose from.2015: Big winners pay for numerous experimentsThis year, Amazon launched its first and final smartphone, the Fire. The phone proved to be a huge failure, and Bezos talked about the importance of failure.\"If there's a 10% chance of getting a 100x return, you should bet every time, which is usually right. But nine times out of ten, you'll still be wrong,\" Bezos wrote.With entrepreneurial enthusiasm, he added: \"We want to be a big company that is also inventing machines. We want to combine the extraordinary customer service capabilities that scale gives, with the usual<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/V03.SI\">Startups</a>The combination of speed of action, flexibility and risk acceptance mentality. \"Amazon also bought video game streaming site Twitch this year. And Echo smart speakers are rolling out just in time for the holiday season.2016: Always Day 1\"A'day two 'company is stagnant, followed by irrelevance, followed by a painful recession, and then death,\" Bezos said. What can be done to avoid stepping into day two? You can ask yourself these simple questions:Will you keep your customers happy?Are you a casualty of agents, or do they serve you? Are you the master of the process, or is the process your master?Are world trends in your favor?Are you only satisfied with the quality of the decision, or are you also focused on the speed of the decision?Bezos details how to make high-quality, high-speed decisions:1. What if you are wrong? Some decisions are irreversible and have to be made slowly and thoughtfully. But most decisions are reversible, and it is easy to make route corrections. It is important to determine which is which and not to use a \"one size fits all\" approach.2. After you have mastered 70% of the information you want to get, you should be able to make most decisions. If you have to wait until you have mastered 90%, you are slow. If you are good at course correction, the cost of making mistakes will be less than making decisions slowly.3. Dare to admonish and obey the overall situation. Bezos explained: \"If you are quite sure of a specific direction, even if there is no consensus, it is helpful for you to raise it:\" I know everyone disagrees with this, but are you willing to bet me? Disagree but obey? \"At this point, no one is sure they know the answer, and at this time, you may get everyone's agreement very quickly.\"4. \"Sometimes teams have different goals and fundamentally different perspectives. They are inconsistent, and no amount of discussion or meeting can solve this serious misalignment.,\" Bezos wrote. Therefore, it is best to detect the dislocation problem early and pay attention to it immediately.2017: Yesterday's \"wow\" quickly became today's \"ordinary\"No matter how much customer requirements and expectations continue to improve, Amazon can always catch up with it more or less. Why is it? According to Bezos, the reason lies in their high standards.Bezos believes that setting high standards is taught, infectious, and domain-related, which means that you must learn high standards separately in each area of interest. To achieve high standards:1. You have to know what is good.2. Your expectations must be realistic, and you must know how difficult it is to achieve your goals or how much effort it takes.According to Bezos, identification and scope are the two most important principles for high standards of delivery.Leaders relentlessly set high standards that many people would even think are ridiculously high. -Amazon Leadership PrinciplesFor example, PPT is nothing at all here at Amazon. Instead, their employees here have to write six pages of narrative structured memos and speak them out. According to Bezos,Good memos are to be written over and over.Also share it with colleagues who are being asked to improve their work.Set aside a few days and then re-edit with new ideas.Bezos said: \"Poor memos are often not because the authors don't realize what high standards are like, but because they have wrong expectations of scope: they mistakenly think that they can write a high-standard six-page memo in a day or two or even a few hours, but in fact it may take a week or more! They want to make a perfect handstand in just two weeks, but we didn't teach them well.\"\"The point is that it just takes to teach them the scope to improve results-let them know that a good memo can take a week or more,\" he said.In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods.2018: The road to success is by no means smooth sailingSometimes doing a business is like this. You know where to go, and you can get there efficiently. However, those extremely \"nonlinear\" discoveries may require you to take detours and rely on the guidance of intuition or curiosity. In order to find a way out, it is worthwhile to be a little confused and deviated.\"Extra-large'nonlinear 'discoveries require detours.\"In 2013, if you went to a customer and said to him, \"Do you want to have a black cylinder in the kitchen, about the size of Pringles, that you could chat with and ask questions while still helping you turn on the lights and play music?\" I guarantee they'll look at you weirdly and say, \"No thanks. No customer wants an Echo,\" Bezos explained.\"It was definitely a detour that we took,\" he said.2019: It's still day oneThe letter from Bezos was written in April 2020, when the world was hit hard by the pandemic. Bezos explained Amazon's role in fighting the pandemic, as well as meeting growing demand, as consumers now rely more than ever on Amazon's services to deliver goods to their doors.Bezos ended with a quote from Theodor Seuss Geisel, who said, \"When something bad happens, you have three choices: you can let it define you, let it destroy you, or let it make you stronger.\"Bezos reiterated, \"Even in this situation, still maintain the day one mentality.\"","source":"36k","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Here's What I Learned After Reading 23 Years of Bezos Shareholder Letters</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nHere's What I Learned After Reading 23 Years of Bezos Shareholder Letters\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n36氪2021-05-07 21:56\n\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\nEditor's note: A company's letter to shareholders can often reflect the values and ideas of the company and its leaders. Of all the letters to shareholders, the most studied is Buffett's letter to shareholders. In addition, as a great Internet retail enterprise, Amazon's letter from its leader Bezos to shareholders is also worthy of in-depth study. This article reviews Bezos's letters to shareholders over the past 23 years, condenses the essence of the letters, and shares them with you. This article is translated from Medium, written by Sumit Grrg, the original title is Read 23 Years Worth of Jeff Bezos' Amazon Shareholder Letters-Here's What I Learned, I hope it has inspired you.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/02c1e7f37ab0059568a615de8884c1b1\" tg-width=\"550\" tg-height=\"380\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\">Jeff Bezos speaks after receiving the 2019 International Astronautical Federation Award for Excellence in Industry in Washington, D.C., Oct. 22, 2019. Pictures : MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty ImagesIn the early 90s, few people had heard of the Internet. Jeff Bezos happens to be one of those who has heard the concept of the internet.Bezos saw that the Internet was growing at a rate of 2,300% per year, and he decided to come up with a business idea to ride the wave. He made a list of products to sell online and quickly locked in on books.Bezos originally named his online bookstore Cadabra. But only three months later, he changed his name to Amazon, named after the largest river on earth, and naturally the choice of the most people on earth. Although this company lives up to its name to this day, it has come a long way to get to where it is today. In the early days of his business, Bezos held more than 50 meetings to raise $1 million from investors. During these meetings, the most common question was, \"What is the Internet?\"Today, Amazon has a market cap of nearly $1.7 trillion. Jeff Bezos, who was recently overtaken by Elon Musk, has topped the list of the world's richest people for three years in a row.But for Bezos, the title of \"richest man in the world\" isn't that valuable because he prefers to be called an inventor or entrepreneur. He's right. The outgoing Amazon CEO is one of the best entrepreneurs in the world. Jeff Bezos has forever changed the way we shop, changing (and disrupting) multiple industries.In the past few years, I have read every open letter Bezos has written to Amazon shareholders over the past 23 years. These letters not only provide us with a brief history of Amazon, but also give us an insight into the behind-the-scenes traders behind this huge Internet enterprise.Here's a summary of the key takeaways from these letters.1997: Pursuing long-term leadership, not short-term profitabilityBy selling books online, Amazon found a unique opportunity and began to provide customers with much more book choices than physical stores. \"And it is presented to customers in a useful, easy-to-search and easy-to-browse format in a bookstore that doesn't close 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.\"Amazon went public in 1997, and soon after Bezos wrote his first letter to shareholders, which truly reflected his now famous Day-1 mentality-a principle widely adopted by the entrepreneurial world, that is, to always maintain the initial fanaticism and passion for the enterprise as in the first days.\"The web was, and still is, the wait of the world.\"Bezos aims at the long term, and his way of making decisions and weighing trade-offs is different from most other business leaders:Constant attention to our customers.Prioritize growth (scale), long-term market leadership, and long-term profitability over short-term profitability. Amazon is looking to solidify its market leadership amid numerous large entrants and stiff competition from the likes of book-selling giant Barnes & Noble.Hiring and retaining talents, the salary structure focuses on stock options rather than cash, and using \"benefit-bound risk-sharing\" to make them think and act like masters.Like a true dreamer, Bezos was prescient from the beginning: \"Today, e-commerce saves customers money and time. Tomorrow, through personalization, it will accelerate the whole process of discovery.\"1998: 3 criteria to consider when hiringBezos said that setting a high bar when hiring is the most important factor in Amazon's success. During hiring meetings, he advised managers to consider the following three questions:1. Would you appreciate this person? Someone you admire is someone you can learn from.2. Will this person improve the average efficiency level of the team? The threshold has to be higher and higher.3. To what extent is this person likely to become a superstar? Most people have unique skills that can enrich the work environment for everyone else.1999: It's good enough today, but it can get better\"The current online shopping experience is the worst. It's enough to attract 17 million users now, but it's going to get better.\" With long-term success and commercial dominance in mind, Bezos is determined to build a never-settling culture at Amazon.After adding discounted music to its online retail offerings in 1998, Amazon took a series of major initiatives in 1999, including the introduction of zShops (now Marketplace), a trading platform that supports third-party sellers, and a \"one-click\" payment solution that revolutionized e-commerce checkout.2000: A company that wants to be a heavyweightBezos's letter this year begins with one word: \"Ouch.\"Although Amazon was one of the few dot-com companies to survive the burst of the dot-com bubble, its stock price plummeted from $116 at the peak of the dot-com bubble to $6.To explain the turmoil caused by the stock market crash, Bezos borrowed the words of investor Benjamin Graham, who once said: \"In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine, and in the long term, it is a weighing machine.\"And Amazon, as Bezos said in his letter to shareholders, is a \"company that wants to be weighed in.\"In another letter, he added: \"We don't celebrate a 10% rise in stock prices like we celebrate an excellent customer experience. A 10% rise in stock prices can't improve our wisdom by 10%, and conversely, when stock prices fall, we won't be stupid by 10%. We want to be weighed, and we have been trying to build a heavier company.\"2001: Eliminating errors at their rootBezos introduced features such as Look Inside the Book, a free program that allows authors and publishers to promote their books. Bezos highlighted Amazon's efforts to forever improve the customer experience while encouraging merchants and small businesses to thrive in its ecosystem.\"One of the most important things we do to improve convenience and experience for our customers happens to be a huge driver of variable cost productivity: eliminate errors and missteps at the root,\" Bezos added. Because when you implement an eradication program, you're not solving just one customer's problem, but you're solving it for every customer. \"Eliminating the root cause of mistakes saves us money and saves customers time,\" Bezos said.2002: What's Good for Customers is Good for ShareholdersFor example, Bezos insists on constantly lowering prices in order to beat competitors and win customers. Increased sales, in turn, drive profit growth in the long term, which is best for shareholders.2003: Long-term investment, be the real master\"I know a couple who rented out their house and the family who moved in nailed the Christmas tree to the hardwood floor instead of using a tree stand. I guess it was expedient, and admittedly these tenants are very bad, but no owner is so short-sighted. Owners and tenants are different. And long-term thinking is both a necessary condition and a result of the true master.\"Similarly, a lot of investors are actually short-term tenants whose portfolios switch very quickly and are actually just renting stocks they hold temporarily,\" Bezos added, noting again that his business case is to remain optimistic about the long-term vision.In 2003, at an executive retreat held at Bezos' home, the seeds of the cloud computing business Amazon Web Services (AWS) began to be planted. The business was originally invented to help Amazon solve its own problems, but it quickly became clear that every company wanted it. Today, AWS has dominated the public cloud market and become the company's largest source of profits. A few years later, when commenting on the success of AWS, Bezos talked about this business miracle in his mind: \"We haven't met competitors with similar views for seven years. As a pioneer, if you are lucky, you can probably get a two-year lead. But no one can get a seven-year lead, which is simply unbelievable.\"2004: Cash is king\"Cash flow best explains a company's long-term stock price. Amazon has a cash-generating operating cycle because it turns around quickly and collects money from customers before paying suppliers.\"Free cash flow is what keeps Amazon going from strength to strength despite low margins, year after year. For ease of understanding, here's an excerpt from Vox that explains how \"meager profits\" compound over time:\"Free cash flow is a bit like profit, except that it doesn't assume that Amazon has to pay everything in the same time frame as it sells it. And because of Amazon's payment cycle mechanism, companies often receive money for selling things long before they have to pay for them. For example,<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/WMT\">Walmart</a>It takes an average of three days to receive payment to suppliers, while Amazon pays suppliers an average of 18 days after receiving payment. \"2005: Dare to make bold decisionsBezos proposed two types of decisions that businesses must face frequently:1. Mathematics-based decision-making: decisions that can be made with data, in which \"there is a correct answer or a wrong answer, a better answer or a worse answer, and mathematics will tell us which is which. These decisions still require us to make some assumptions and judgments, but the heaviest work is done by mathematics.\"2. Judgment-based decision-making: \"Although data, analysis and mathematics all play a role, the main factor in these decisions is judgment. In this case, there is almost no historical data to guide us, and prospective trials are either impossible or impractical or no different from making a decision.\"According to Bezos, \"Any institution that is unwilling to put up with controversy must limit its decision-making to the first type. But doing so will not only limit controversy, but also significantly limit innovation and long-term value creation.\" He advises companies to \"combine their strong culture of quantification and analysis with a willingness to make bold decisions.\"It is precisely because of the theme of boldness that 2005 is also the year when Amazon Prime was born. It all started with the idea that a junior software engineer at Amazon came up with to offer customers a \"fast, free shipping buffet\". By 2018, Amazon will become the second largest paid membership program, second only to Netflix. And Amazon Prime is still one of Amazon's most valuable and brand-aware assets at present.2006: Planting the seeds for new businessBezos recommends carefully evaluating this checklist before investing in a new business:Whether the new opportunity can generate the expected return on capital.How large it can grow to.Is the service in this market not yet in place?Do you have the necessary ability to introduce strong customer-facing differentiation to the market?Bezos used the above factors to explain why Amazon has refused to open physical stores so far.He said: \"The potential scale of the physical store network is exciting. However, we don't know how to achieve low capital and high returns. Retail in the physical world is a cautious and ancient industry, and the service is already very perfect. We don't have any new ideas to build a physical store so that customers can feel better differentiated.\"He added: \"When you see us entering new areas of business, it's because we believe that the above test has been passed.\"It wasn't until 2015 that Amazon opened its first physical bookstore. It will then acquire<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/WFM\">Whole Foods</a>(Whole Foods), moved into grocery retail and opened an Amazon Go convenience store without cashiers.2007: \"Missionaries\" make better productsOn November 19, 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle e-reader to the world, redefining the way we consume books.Bezos said: \"We have set a long-term vision from the very beginning: no matter which language, as long as it is a published book, users can read it in 60 seconds. We start by setting ourselves obviously bold goals to improve physical books. This goal is not easily chosen. Anything that exists in roughly the same form and has been in conflict with change for 500 years can't be easily improved.\"Bezos said that as an inventor, you are either a mercenary or a preacher. The mercenaries are thinking about how to sell things. Missionaries love their products, their customers, and try to provide excellent service. But paradoxically, he said, \"it's often the missionaries who make more money.\" A product like Kindle can only be built with a pure enthusiasm and true belief.\"The Kindle is designed for long hours of reading. We hope that the Kindle and its later products will gradually extend the time we can concentrate on reading over a few years, buffering the recent tendency to read bits and pieces of information. I know my tone is like a preacher, and I can assure you that I speak from the heart. This is not my idea alone. There are a lot of people in our company who also have this idea. I'm very happy about that because the dedication of the missionaries can help us build better products. \"But Bezos also quickly admitted that innovation won't wait for anyone. So, if you don't execute well enough and fast enough, others will seize the opportunity.2008: Safeguarding the long-term interests of the companyBezos wrote: \"Seek instant gratification, or make a promise that is out of reach, and it is likely that you will find that there is already a gang ahead of you.\" Conversely, long-term thinking:Play into our existing capabilities.Allow us to do something new that we couldn't think about before.Failures and iterations needed to support the invention.Free us to explore the unknown.This year, Amazon bought Audible, which is now the leader in the audiobook market.2009: Listen to customers and innovate for themBezos defines Amazon's basic policy as: \"Start with customers and go back. Listen to customers' opinions, but don't just listen to customers' opinions, but invent for them.\"Although he didn't mention the now obvious and infamous rebuttal in his letter, \"If you can't beat them, buy them.\" Zappos, an early shoe e-commerce giant, is an example. After finding it difficult to catch up with the former, Amazon bought it directly.2010: Inventing new methodsInvention is an essential tool for developing and improving every aspect of the customer experience. \"Although many of our systems are based on the latest achievements of computer science research, this is often not enough: our architects and engineers have to conduct further research in directions that have not been explored academically, and we face many problems that haven't been given solutions in textbooks, so we are happy to invent new solutions,\" Bezos wrote.Corporate Milestone: In July 2010, Amazon announced that in the three years since the Kindle launched, e-books have outsold physical books.2011: The most radical inventions are those that'allow others to pursue their dreams'\"Even well-meaning gatekeepers can hinder innovation,\" Bezos said, emphasizing the self-serving nature of various Amazon platforms, including Amazon Web Services, Marketplace and Kindle Direct Publishing. \"When the platform is self-serving, even unlikely ideas will be tried, and many of them do work, and society is the beneficiary of this diversity.2012: Prioritizing customers, not catching up with competitorsBezos believes that one of the advantages of focusing on customer orientation is that \"it helps with some type of initiative. When we are at our best, we don't have to wait for external pressure. Before we are forced to do it, we are already pushed internally to improve our service, add benefits and functionality. We have lowered prices and added value for customers before we are forced. We invented it before we had to. \"He added: \"What motivates these investments is customer orientation rather than a response to competition. We believe that this practice has won more trust from customers and driven rapid improvements in customer experience-importantly-even in those areas where we have become leaders.\"2013: Separation paymentsAmazon pays employees once a year for separation. Although, the title of this offer is \"Please don't accept this invitation\". \"Our goal is to encourage people to take time to think about what they really want. In the long run, if an employee barely stays in the company, it is not only bad for himself, but also bad for the company.\"In 2013, Bezos acquired \"<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/WPO\">The Washington Post</a>The Washington Post.2014: When you find a fantastic business opportunity, actBezos believes that \"fantastic commercial products\" have at least four characteristics:1. Customers love it.2. It can grow to be very powerful.3. It has a high rate of return.4. It is possible to last for decades.In 2014, Amazon launched Fire TV and launched the first Echo smart speaker for users to choose from.2015: Big winners pay for numerous experimentsThis year, Amazon launched its first and final smartphone, the Fire. The phone proved to be a huge failure, and Bezos talked about the importance of failure.\"If there's a 10% chance of getting a 100x return, you should bet every time, which is usually right. But nine times out of ten, you'll still be wrong,\" Bezos wrote.With entrepreneurial enthusiasm, he added: \"We want to be a big company that is also inventing machines. We want to combine the extraordinary customer service capabilities that scale gives, with the usual<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/V03.SI\">Startups</a>The combination of speed of action, flexibility and risk acceptance mentality. \"Amazon also bought video game streaming site Twitch this year. And Echo smart speakers are rolling out just in time for the holiday season.2016: Always Day 1\"A'day two 'company is stagnant, followed by irrelevance, followed by a painful recession, and then death,\" Bezos said. What can be done to avoid stepping into day two? You can ask yourself these simple questions:Will you keep your customers happy?Are you a casualty of agents, or do they serve you? Are you the master of the process, or is the process your master?Are world trends in your favor?Are you only satisfied with the quality of the decision, or are you also focused on the speed of the decision?Bezos details how to make high-quality, high-speed decisions:1. What if you are wrong? Some decisions are irreversible and have to be made slowly and thoughtfully. But most decisions are reversible, and it is easy to make route corrections. It is important to determine which is which and not to use a \"one size fits all\" approach.2. After you have mastered 70% of the information you want to get, you should be able to make most decisions. If you have to wait until you have mastered 90%, you are slow. If you are good at course correction, the cost of making mistakes will be less than making decisions slowly.3. Dare to admonish and obey the overall situation. Bezos explained: \"If you are quite sure of a specific direction, even if there is no consensus, it is helpful for you to raise it:\" I know everyone disagrees with this, but are you willing to bet me? Disagree but obey? \"At this point, no one is sure they know the answer, and at this time, you may get everyone's agreement very quickly.\"4. \"Sometimes teams have different goals and fundamentally different perspectives. They are inconsistent, and no amount of discussion or meeting can solve this serious misalignment.,\" Bezos wrote. Therefore, it is best to detect the dislocation problem early and pay attention to it immediately.2017: Yesterday's \"wow\" quickly became today's \"ordinary\"No matter how much customer requirements and expectations continue to improve, Amazon can always catch up with it more or less. Why is it? According to Bezos, the reason lies in their high standards.Bezos believes that setting high standards is taught, infectious, and domain-related, which means that you must learn high standards separately in each area of interest. To achieve high standards:1. You have to know what is good.2. Your expectations must be realistic, and you must know how difficult it is to achieve your goals or how much effort it takes.According to Bezos, identification and scope are the two most important principles for high standards of delivery.Leaders relentlessly set high standards that many people would even think are ridiculously high. -Amazon Leadership PrinciplesFor example, PPT is nothing at all here at Amazon. Instead, their employees here have to write six pages of narrative structured memos and speak them out. According to Bezos,Good memos are to be written over and over.Also share it with colleagues who are being asked to improve their work.Set aside a few days and then re-edit with new ideas.Bezos said: \"Poor memos are often not because the authors don't realize what high standards are like, but because they have wrong expectations of scope: they mistakenly think that they can write a high-standard six-page memo in a day or two or even a few hours, but in fact it may take a week or more! They want to make a perfect handstand in just two weeks, but we didn't teach them well.\"\"The point is that it just takes to teach them the scope to improve results-let them know that a good memo can take a week or more,\" he said.In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods.2018: The road to success is by no means smooth sailingSometimes doing a business is like this. You know where to go, and you can get there efficiently. However, those extremely \"nonlinear\" discoveries may require you to take detours and rely on the guidance of intuition or curiosity. In order to find a way out, it is worthwhile to be a little confused and deviated.\"Extra-large'nonlinear 'discoveries require detours.\"In 2013, if you went to a customer and said to him, \"Do you want to have a black cylinder in the kitchen, about the size of Pringles, that you could chat with and ask questions while still helping you turn on the lights and play music?\" I guarantee they'll look at you weirdly and say, \"No thanks. No customer wants an Echo,\" Bezos explained.\"It was definitely a detour that we took,\" he said.2019: It's still day oneThe letter from Bezos was written in April 2020, when the world was hit hard by the pandemic. Bezos explained Amazon's role in fighting the pandemic, as well as meeting growing demand, as consumers now rely more than ever on Amazon's services to deliver goods to their doors.Bezos ended with a quote from Theodor Seuss Geisel, who said, \"When something bad happens, you have three choices: you can let it define you, let it destroy you, or let it make you stronger.\"Bezos reiterated, \"Even in this situation, still maintain the day one mentality.\"\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n source：<a href=\"https://tech.sina.cn/i/gj/2021-05-07/detail-ikmyaawc3966834.d.html?vt=4\">36氪</a>\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/9666a5b83e36990bd4e534d3ea5b2003","relate_stocks":{"AMZN":"亚马逊","QNETCN":"纳斯达克中美互联网老虎指数"},"source_url":"https://tech.sina.cn/i/gj/2021-05-07/detail-ikmyaawc3966834.d.html?vt=4","is_english":false,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"2133050027","content_text":"编者按：一家企业的致股东的信往往能反映这个企业及领导者的价值观和理念。在所有致股东的信中，研究最多的是巴菲特致股东的信。除此之外，亚马逊作为一个伟大的互联网零售企业，其领导者贝索斯致股东的信也值得深入研究。本文回顾了23年来贝索斯致股东的信，浓缩了信中的精华部分，与君分享。本文译自Medium，作者Sumit Grrg，原标题为\" Read 23 Years Worth of Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Shareholder Letters — Here’s What I Learned\"，希望对您有所启发。\n2019年10月22日，杰夫·贝索斯在华盛顿特区接受2019年国际宇航联合会卓越工业奖后发表讲话。图片:MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images\n在90年代初期，很少有人听说过互联网。杰夫·贝索斯(Jeff Bezos)恰好是听过互联网概念的人之一。\n贝索斯看到，互联网以每年2300%的速度增长，他决定要想出一个商业创意来驾驭这股浪潮。他列了一个网上销售产品的清单，很快就锁定了书籍。\n贝索斯最初将他的网上书店命名为Cadabra。但仅仅过了三个月，他就把名字改成了亚马逊（Amazon），以地球上最大的河流命名，自然也是地球上最多人的选择。虽然这家公司到今天也算名副其实，但它走了很长一段路才走到今天。在创业初期，贝索斯开了50多次会才从投资者那里筹集到100万美元，在这些会议中，最常见的问题是，“什么是互联网？”\n如今，亚马逊的市值接近1.7万亿美元。最近刚刚被埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)超越的杰夫·贝索斯，连续三年蝉联全球富豪榜榜首。\n但对于贝索斯来说，“世界首富”的头衔并没有那么有价值，因为他更喜欢被称为发明家或企业家。他是对的。这位即将卸任的亚马逊首席执行官是世界上最优秀的企业家之一。杰夫·贝索斯永远地改变了我们的购物方式，改变(并颠覆)了多个行业。\n在过去的几年里，我反复阅读了这23年来贝索斯的每一封致亚马逊股东公开信。这些信件除了为我们提供了亚马逊的简史之外，还让我们深入了解了这家庞大互联网企业背后的幕后操盘者。\n以下是这些信件中的关键要点总结。\n1997年：追求长期的领导力，而不是短期的获利能力\n通过在网上卖书，亚马逊发现了一个独特的机会，并开始为顾客提供比实体店多得多的图书选择，“而且是在一年365天一天24小时不打烊的书店里面，用一种有用的，易于搜索且易于浏览的格式呈现给顾客。”\n亚马逊于1997年上市，不久之后贝索斯就写了他的第一封致股东信，这封信真实地反映了他现在著名的第一天心态(Day-1心态)——这是一个被创业界广泛采用的原则，即要像一开始的日子那样，始终对企业保持最初的狂热和激情。\n“网络曾经是，现在仍然是，全世界的等待。”\n贝索斯的目标是长远，他在做决定和权衡取舍时的方式与其他大多数商业领袖不同：\n对客户的持续关注。\n优先考虑增长(规模)、长期市场领导地位和长期盈利能力，而不是短期盈利能力。亚马逊希望在众多大型进入者以及来自图书销售巨头Barnes & Noble等公司的激烈竞争中巩固其市场领导地位。\n雇佣并留住人才，薪酬结构偏重股票期权而不是现金，用“利益绑定风险共担”来让他们就必须像主人翁一样去思考与行动。\n就像一个真正的梦想家，贝索斯从一开始就有先见之明：“今天，电子商务为顾客节省了金钱和时间。明天，通过个性化，它将加速发现的整个过程。”\n1998：招聘时要考虑的3条标准\n贝索斯表示，在招聘时设置高门槛是亚马逊成功的最重要因素。在招聘会议上，他建议经理们考虑以下三个问题:\n1.  你会欣赏这个人吗？你敬佩的人是你可以向他学习的人。\n2.  这个人会提高团队的平均效率水平吗？门槛必须越来越高。\n3.  这个人在多大程度上有可能成为超级明星？大多数人都具备可以为其他所有人充实工作环境的独特的技能。\n1999年：今天已经足够好了，但它还可以变得更好\n“目前的网上购物体验是最糟糕的。现在它已经足够吸引1700万用户了，但它还会变得更好。”贝索斯着眼于长期的成功和商业统治地位，他决心在亚马逊建立一种永不安定的文化。\n在1998年将打折音乐加入其在线零售产品之后，亚马逊在1999年采取了一系列重大举措，其中包括引入支持第三方卖家的交易平台zShops（也就是现在的Marketplace），以及彻底改变了电子商务结帐方式的“一键式”付款解决方案。\n2000年：一家想要作为重量级的公司\n贝索斯今年的信以一个词开头：“哎呦。”\n尽管亚马逊是在互联网泡沫破灭后幸存下来的少数几家互联网公司之一，但其股价却从互联网泡沫顶峰时的116美元暴跌至6美元。\n为了解释股市崩盘带来的动荡，贝索斯借用了投资者本杰明·格雷厄姆(Benjamin Graham)的话，格雷厄姆曾说：“短期内，股市是一台投票机，从长远来看，它是一台称量机。”\n而亚马逊，正如贝索斯在给股东的信中所说，是一家“希望被称重的公司”。\n在另一封信中，他补充道：“我们不会像庆祝卓越的客户体验那样庆祝股价上涨10%。股价上涨10%不能让我们的智慧提高10％，反之，当股价下跌时，我们也不会愚蠢10%。我们想要被称重，我们一直在努力打造一个更重的公司。”\n2001年：从根源上消除错误\n贝索斯推出了“看书”(Look Inside the Book)等功能，这是一个免费程序，允许作者和出版商推广他们的书籍。贝索斯强调了亚马逊的努力，即永远改善客户体验，同时鼓励商家和小企业在其生态系统中蓬勃发展。\n贝索斯补充说：“我们为提高顾客的便利性和体验所做的最重要的事情之一，恰好也是可变成本生产率的巨大驱动力：从根本上消除错误和失误。”因为当你实施根除计划时，你解决的不只是一个客户的问题，而且也在为每一位客户解决问题。贝索斯说：“消除错误的根源可为我们节省金钱，并为客户节省客户时间。”\n2002年：对客户有利的，就是对股东有利的\n例如贝索斯坚持不断降低价格，以击败竞争对手，赢得顾客。从长远来看，销售额的增加反过来又会推动利润的增长，这对股东来说是最好的。\n2003年：长期投资，做真正的主人\n“我认识一对夫妇，他们把房子租了出去，搬进来的那一家人把圣诞树钉在了硬木地板上，而不是用树架。我想这是权宜之计，诚然，这些房客非常糟糕，但没有哪个业主会如此目光短浅。业主和租户是不同的。而长期思维既是真正主人的必要条件，也是其结果。\n贝索斯补充道：“同样，许多投资者实际上都是短期租户，他们的投资组合转换得非常之快，实际上只是租用他们暂时持有的股票。”贝索斯再次指出，他的商业理由是保持对长期愿景的乐观。\n2003年，在贝索斯家里举行的一次高管务虚会上，云计算业务Amazon Web Services（AWS）的种子开始种下。这项业务一开始是为了帮助亚马逊解决自己的问题而发明的，但情况很快变得很明显，每一家公司都想要它。现如今，AWS已经统治了公有云市场，成为该公司最大的利润来源。几年后，在点评AWS的成功时，贝索斯谈到了这个自己心目当中的商业奇迹：“整整七年我们都没有遇到有相似看法的竞争对手。作为先驱，如果幸运的话，你大概能获得两年的领先优势。但没有人能够获得长达7年的领先优势，这简直令人难以置信。”\n2004年：现金为王\n“现金流最能解释一家公司的长期股价。亚马逊有一个现金产生的运营周期，因为它周转迅速，在付款给供应商之前就能从客户那里收取款项。”\n自由现金流是亚马逊在低利润的情况下不断壮大的原因，年复一年。为了便于理解，以下是Vox的一段摘录，解释了“微利”是如何随着时间的推移而产生复利效应的：\n“自由现金流跟利润有点像，只是它不假定亚马逊必须在卖东西的同一时间范围内支付一切费用。而且由于亚马逊的付款周期的机制，公司往往在必须支付卖出的东西的费用之前很久就能收到卖出东西的钱。比方说，沃尔玛在向供应商付款后平均要用三天时间才能收到货款，而亚马逊在收到货款平均18天后才向供应商付款。”\n2005年：敢于做出大胆决定\n贝索斯提出了两种企业必须经常面对的决策：\n1.  基于数学的决策：可以用数据做出的决策，其中“有一个正确答案或错误答案，一个更好的答案或一个更坏的答案，数学会告诉我们哪个是哪个。这些决定仍然需要我们做出一些假设和判断，但最繁重的工作是由数学完成的。”\n2.  基于判断的决策：“虽然数据、分析和数学都起着作用，但这些决定的主要因素是判断。这种情况下几乎没有历史数据可以指导我们，而前瞻性的试验要么不可能，要么不切实际或者跟要做决定无异。”\n贝索斯认为，“任何不愿忍受争议的机构都必须把自己的决策限制在第一种类型。但这样做不仅会限制争议，还会显著限制创新和长期价值创造。”他建议企业“将其强大的量化和分析文化与大胆决策的意愿结合起来。”\n正是因为秉承了大胆这个主题，2005年也是Amazon Prime诞生之年。这一切都始于亚马逊的一名初级软件工程师提出的想法，为客户提供“快速、免费送货的自助餐”。到2018年时，亚马逊将成为第二大的付费会员计划，仅次于Netflix。而且Amazon Prime仍然是亚马逊目前最有价值，品牌知名度最高的资产之一。\n2006年：为新业务播下种子\n贝索斯建议，在对新业务进行投资之前，请先仔细评估一下这份检查清单：\n新的机会是否可以产生预期的资本回报。\n它可以发展到多大的规模。\n这个市场现在是不是服务还不到位。\n你是不是具备必要的能力把强大的面向客户的差异化引入到市场。\n贝索斯利用上述因素解释了为什么亚马逊到目前为止拒绝开设实体店。\n他说：“实体店网络的潜在规模令人兴奋。然而，我们不知道如何做到低资本和高回报。实体世界的零售是一个谨慎而古老的行业，服务已经非常完善，我们没有任何新想法来建立一个实体的商店，让客户感受到更好的差异化。”\n他补充道：“当你看到我们进入新的业务领域时，那是因为我们相信上述测试已经通过了。”\n直到2015年，亚马逊才开设自己的第一家实体书店。然后它将收购全食超市（Whole Foods），进军食品杂货零售领域，并开设没有收银员的Amazon Go便利店。\n2007年：“传教士”能制造出更好的产品\n2007年11月19日，亚马逊向世界推出了Kindle电子阅读器，重新定义了我们消费书籍的方式。\n贝索斯说：“我们从一开始就设定了长期愿景：无论哪种语言，只要是出版过的书，用户都能在60秒中读到。我们从给自己设定显然十分大胆的目标开始，去改进实体书。这个目标不是轻易选择出来的。任何以大致相同的形式存在，并且抵触改变已经有500年时间的事物，都不可能轻易就得到改善的。”\n贝索斯说，作为一个发明家，你要么是一个雇佣军，要么是一个传教士。雇佣军就想着怎么把东西卖掉。传教士却热爱自己的产品，自己的客户，并设法做出优质的服务。他说，但自相矛盾的是，“赚更多钱的往往是传教士。” 类似Kindle这样的产品唯有凭借着一股纯粹热情，自己真正相信，才能打造得出。\n“Kindle是专为长时间阅读而设计的。我们希望Kindle和其之后的产品能用几年的时间，逐渐地延长我们能专心阅读的时间，对最近盛行的阅读零碎信息的倾向有所缓冲。我知道我的语气像个传教士，我可以向您保证我是发自内心的。这并不是我一个人的想法，我们公司有一大帮人也有这想法。对此我很高兴，因为传教士的那种执着精神能帮助我们打造出更好的产品”\n不过贝索斯也很快承认，创新不会等待任何人。所以，如果你执行得不够好不够快的话，别人就会抓住机会。\n2008年：维护公司的长远利益\n贝索斯写道：“寻求即时的满足，或做出遥不可及的承诺，很可能你会发现已经有一帮人在前面了。”反过来，长期思维则：\n发挥我们现有的能力。\n允许我们做一些之前无法思考的新事情。\n支持发明所需的失败和迭代。\n解放我们去探索未知的空间。\n今年，亚马逊收购了Audible，后者现在是有声读物市场的领导者。\n2009年：倾听客户的心声，同时替他们去创新\n贝索斯对亚马逊的基本方针的定义是：“从客户开始，向后退。倾听顾客的意见，但不要只听顾客的意见，还要替他们去发明。”\n尽管他在信中并没有提到那句现在已显而易见，而且臭名昭著的反驳，“如果你没法打败它们，那就收购对方。”早期鞋类电商巨头Zappos就是例子。发现自己很难赶上前者之后，亚马逊直接就把它给收购了。\n2010年：发明新方法\n发明是发展和改善客户体验各个方面的基本工具。“虽然我们的许多系统都是基于计算机科学研究的最新成果，但这往往还不够：我们的构架师和工程师不得不在学术上还没探讨的方向进行进一步研究，我们面对很多问题在教科书上还没有给出解决方案，所以我们很高兴去发明新办法，”贝索斯写道。\n企业里程碑：2010年7月，亚马逊宣布，Kindle推出三年来，电子书的销量已经超过了实体书。\n2011年：最激进的发明是那些“能让别人追求自己梦想”的发明\n贝索斯说道：“就算是善意的看门人也会阻碍创新。”他强调了包括Amazon Web Services，Marketplace以及Kindle Direct Publishing在内的各种Amazon平台的自服务性。“当平台是自服务时，哪怕是不大可能的想法也会有人尝试，而且其中的很多想法确实是行得通的，而社会就是这种多样性的受益者。\n2012年：优先考虑客户，而不是追赶竞争对手\n贝索斯认为，聚焦于客户导向的优势之一是“这有助于某种类型的主动性。当我们处在最佳状态时，我们就不必等待外部施加压力。在我们被迫去做之前，内部就已经推动我们要改善服务，增加好处和功能了。我们在被迫之前就已经替客户降低价格和增加价值了。在不得不这样做之前我们就先发明了。”\n他补充道：“激励这些投资的是以顾客为导向而不是对竞争的反应。我们认为，这种做法赢得了客户更多的信任，并推动了客户体验的快速改善——重要的是——甚至在那些我们已经成为领导者的领域也是如此。”\n2013年：离职金\n亚马逊每年向员工支付一次离职费用。尽管，这个offer的标题是“请不要接受这个邀请”。“我们的目标是鼓励人们花点时间想想自己真正想要的是什么。从长期来看，如果员工勉强留在公司，不仅对他自己不好，对公司同样不利。”\n2013年，贝索斯以2.5亿美元现金从格雷厄姆家族手中收购了《华盛顿邮报》(The Washington Post)。\n2014年：当你找到一个梦幻的商机时，行动起来\n贝索斯认为，“梦幻般的商业产品”至少有四个特点：\n1.  客户喜欢它。\n2.  它可以发展到非常强大。\n3.  它的回报率很高。\n4.  有可能持续几十年。\n2014年，亚马逊推出了Fire TV，并推出了首款Echo智能音箱供用户选择。\n2015年：大赢家为众多实验买单\n今年，亚马逊推出了第一款也是最后一款智能手机Fire。这款手机被证明是一个巨大的失败，贝索斯谈到了失败的重要性。\n“如果有10%的机会获得100倍的回报，你应该每次都下注，这通常是对的。但十有八九你还是会错。”贝索斯写道。\n带着企业家的热情，他补充道：“我们希望成为一家同时也是发明机器的大公司。我们希望将规模所赋予的非凡客户服务能力，与通常创业公司才有的行动速度、灵活性和风险接受心态结合起来。”\n亚马逊今年还收购了视频游戏流媒体网站Twitch。而Echo智能音箱也正好赶在假日季之前全线铺开。\n2016：永远是第一天\n贝索斯说:“‘第二天’的公司是停滞的，会紧接着变得无关紧要，随后是痛苦的衰退，然后就是死亡。”怎么才能避免步入第二天？可以自问一下这几个简单的问题：\n你会让顾客满意吗？\n你是代理的牺牲品，还是它们为你服务？你是流程的主人，还是流程是你的主人？\n世界潮流对你有利吗？\n你只满足于决策的质量，还是也关注决策的速度？\n贝索斯详述了如何做出高质量、高速度的决策：\n1.如果你错了怎么办？有些决定是不可逆的，得慢慢地，深思熟虑地做决定。但是大多数的决策都是可逆的，是很容易做路线修正的。重要的是要确定哪个是哪个，而不要用“一刀切”的方法。\n2.在掌握了你希望获得的信息的70%之后，应该就可以做出大多数的决定了。如果你非要等到掌握了90％，那你就慢了。如果你擅长路线修正，那犯错的代价会比决策慢要小。\n3.敢于谏言，服从大局。贝索斯解释说：“如果你对特定方向十分确信，就算没有共识，你提出来也是有帮助的：“我知道大家都不同意这一点，但你们愿意跟我打赌吗？不同意但是服从？” 到了这个时候，没人敢肯定自己知道答案，这时候你可能很快就能得到大家的同意。”\n4.  “有时候团队有不同的目标和根本不同的观点。他们不一致，再多的讨论、再多的会议也无法解决这种严重的错位。,”贝索斯写道。因此，最好及早发现错位问题，并立即重视起来。\n2017：昨天的“哇”很快变成了今天的“平凡”\n不管客户要求和期望再怎么的不断提高，亚马逊总能多多少少赶在前头。为什么呢？按照贝索斯的说法，原因在于他们的高标准。\n贝索斯认为，设定高标准是可传授的，会感染的，而且是领域相关的，这意味着你必须在每个感兴趣的领域分别去学习高标准。要想达到高标准：\n1.  你必须知道什么是好的。\n2.  你的期望必须具有现实性，对实现目标的难度，或者需要付出多少努力要心中有数。\n根据贝索斯的说法，识别和范围是高标准交付的两个最重要的原则。\n领导者不懈制定高标准，甚至很多人会认为这些标准高得离谱。——亚马逊领导力原则\n比方说，PPT在亚马逊这里根本就不算什么。相反，他们这里的员工得写6页纸叙述性结构化的备忘录，还得讲出来。根据贝索斯的说法，\n好的备忘录要一遍又一遍地写。\n还要与被要求改进工作的同事分享。\n留出几天时间，然后以新的思路重新编辑。\n贝索斯说：“备忘录写得不好往往不是作者认识不到高标准是什么样的，而是对范围有着错误的期望：他们错误地认为一两天甚至几个小时就能写出高标准的六页纸备忘录，但其实这可能要花费一周或更长时间！他们想在短短两周内就做出完美倒立，而我们没有教好他们。”\n他说：“关键是，只需要把范围教给他们就可以改善结果了——让他们知道，一份好的备忘录可能需要一周或更长时间。”\n2017年，亚马逊收购了全食超市。\n2018年：通往成功的道路绝不是一帆风顺\n做企业有时候是这样的，你知道要去哪里，而且也可以很高效地去到那里。但是，那些特大的“非线性”的发现，却可能需要你走走弯路，要靠直觉或好奇心的引导，为了找到出路，有点乱有点跑偏也是值得的。\n“特大的‘非线性’发现需要走走弯路。”\n2013年，如果你去找一位顾客，对他说：“你想不想在厨房里放一个黑色圆筒，大小和品客薯片(Pringles)差不多，你可以一边跟它聊天，一边问问题，同时还能帮你打开灯，播放音乐？”我保证他们会奇怪地看着你然后说，“不，谢谢。”没有顾客想要Echo，”贝索斯解释说。\n“这绝对是我们走的弯路，”他说。\n2019年：现在仍是第一天\n贝索斯的这封信写于2020年4月，当时全球正遭受疫情的严重打击。贝索斯解释了亚马逊在抗击疫情以及满足日益增长的需求方面的作用，因为现在消费者比以往任何时候都更依赖亚马逊的服务，将商品送货上门。\n贝索斯以西奥多·苏斯·盖泽尔(Theodor Seuss Geisel)的一句话作为结尾，他说：“当不好的事情发生时，你有三种选择：你可以让它定义你，让它摧毁你，或者让它使你变得更强。”\n贝索斯重申，“即使在这种情况下，仍然要保持第一天心态。”","news_type":1,"symbols_score_info":{"AMZN":0.9,"QNETCN":0.9}},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":2353,"commentLimit":10,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false,"reportStatus":false,"symbols":[],"verified":2,"subType":0,"readableState":1,"langContent":"EN","currentLanguage":"EN","warmUpFlag":false,"orderFlag":false,"shareable":true,"causeOfNotShareable":"","featuresForAnalytics":[],"commentAndTweetFlag":false,"andRepostAutoSelectedFlag":false,"upFlag":false,"length":3,"xxTargetLangEnum":"ORIG"},"commentList":[{"id":4259620,"commentId":"4259620","gmtCreate":1620442270995,"gmtModify":1680787569762,"authorId":3571822975434375,"author":{"id":3571822975434375,"idStr":"3571822975434375","authorId":3571822975434375,"name":"wormsccc","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/3aa76875645103bf18f2faa96838defd","vip":1,"hat":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/46b6808e1ba3716fb9c53339adffa3c5","crmLevel":11,"crmLevelSwitch":0,"individualDisplayBadges":[]},"repliedAuthorId":0,"objectId":104277450,"objectIdStr":"104277450","type":1,"supId":0,"supIdStr":"0","prevId":0,"prevIdStr":"0","content":"??","text":"??","html":"??","likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"subComments":[],"verified":10,"allocateAmount":0,"commentType":"invalid","coins":0,"score":0,"disclaimerType":0}],"hasMoreComment":true,"orderType":2}