What I learned from reading Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr.
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Jul 19
#425 The Merchant Bankers
This episode discusses Joseph Wechsberg’s 1966 book, The Merchant Bankers. Rather than recounting the histories of families like the Rothschilds, Barings, Hambros, Warburgs, and Lehman Brothers, I wanted to extract the principles they shared. Merchant banking is fascinating. It's ... Show More
46m 19s
Feb 2021
Amazon Narratives: Memos, Working Backwards from Release, More
<p>When you hear stories about Amazon's "invention machine" -- which led to a company with not just one or two products but several successful diverse lines of business -- we often hear about things like: Memos, six pages exactly and no powerpoints at all!; or, the idea of just " ... Show More
1h 3m
Feb 2021
#105: Colin Bryar Co-author of Working Backwards Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon
Colin co-authored the book, "Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon," which is a first-person account of how Amazon created and implemented the principles and processes that have made it successful. He takes you in the room and shows how these princi ... Show More
43m 4s
Nov 2020
How Jeff Bezos Built One of the World’s Most Valuable Companies
Sunil Gupta, Harvard Business School professor, has spent years studying successful digital strategies, companies, and leaders, and he's made Amazon and its legendary CEO Jeff Bezos a particular areas of focus. Drawing on his own in-depth research and other sources, including a n ... Show More
27m 7s
May 2022
Innovating While Scaling: Lessons from Amazon
<p>In this episode from February 2021, early Amazon execs Colin Bryar and Bill Carr -- in conversation with a16z's Sonal Chokshi -- go beyond the well-known artifacts of Amazon innovation, like the memo and the press release, and share the leadership principles, decision making p ... Show More
1h 4m
Apr 2025
TIP716: The Power of Customer Obsession: Amazon’s Secret Weapon w/ Kyle Grieve
On today’s episode, Kyle Grieve explores the DNA of Amazon by tracing Jeff Bezos’s early influences, strategic decisions, and relentless focus on customer experience, revealing how a bold vision and founder-led culture built one of the most dominant businesses in history. IN THIS ... Show More
1h 4m
Jul 2024
Jeff Bezos Uncovers His Success Secrets: Amazon's Blueprint Revealed!
Jeff Bezos Uncovers His Success Secrets: Amazon's Blueprint Revealed!Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, motivational speech, business success, entrepreneurial spirit, leadership lessons, innovation in business, success stories, building a business, Amazon’s growth, success tips, busine ... Show More
8m 45s
Jul 2024
Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead)
<p><strong>Jeff Weinstein</strong> is a product lead at Stripe, where he helped grow their payment APIs to hundreds of billions in volume and transformed the way founders start companies into a few simple clicks with Atlas. Prior to Stripe, Jeff led several startups and sold comp ... Show More
2h 35m
Nov 2023
Unpacking Amazon’s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards)
<p><strong>Bill Carr </strong>is the co-author of <em>Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon</em>. With a background at Amazon of over 15 years, Bill played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s global digital music and video ventures, including Am ... Show More
1h 33m