Product Description

In Amazon.com Jeff Bezos built something the world had never seen. He created the most recognized brand name on the Internet, became for a time one of the richest men in the world, and was crowned "the king of cyber-commerce."

Yet for all the media exposure, the inside story of Amazon.com has never really been told. In this revealing, unauthorized account, Robert Spector, journalist and best-selling author, gives us this up-to-date, fast-paced, behind-the-scenes story of the company's creation and rise, its tumultuous present, and its uncertain future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12849 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01
• Released on: 2002-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
The tale of Amazon.com is well known to anyone who follows the stock market, the book business, the Internet explosion--heck, it's hard to imagine not knowing at least a piece of this extraordinary story. But few, it would seem, know the entire story, and it's these gaps that Robert Spector's Amazon.com: Get Big Fast attempts to fill (or at least the information available in early 2000, when the book was published). For example, those who know about Amazon.com's paradigm-shifting influence on the book business may not know it wasn't even the first online book retailer, or the second or the third. (It was preceded by clbooks.com, books.com, and wordsworth.com, the last of which beat Amazon.com to the Internet by almost two years.) Those who've heard quirky stories about Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos--for example, that he built his own desk out of a door, and that his mother bought the desk at an online charity auction in 1999 for $30,100--may not know that he was a studious overachiever from an early age. As a 12-year-old in Houston, he was even profiled in a book on gifted education in Texas. And those who marvel at the company's multibillion-dollar stock valuation may not know that it was broke and nearly out of business in the summer of '95.

Put it all together and you have a book that should be interesting to many different readers. As a pure business read, it certainly provides a blow-by-blow account of an important company's critical decisions. And anyone looking for a brief history of e-commerce will see how one idea--Bezos's realization in 1994 that Web usage was growing 2,300 percent a year--set the entire online retailing phenomenon in motion. If nothing else, that last fact should propel parents to pay very careful attention to their kids' math scores. Had Bezos, a summa cum laude Princeton grad in computer science, not realized the implications of exponential growth ... well, let's just say you wouldn't be reading this review right now. --Lou Schuler

From Publishers Weekly
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos declined to be interviewed for this book, relates Spector, a journalist who has written for USA Today and UPI. But Bezos had nothing to fear. Spector has taken an extremely benign look at the so-called e-commerce success story, beginning with Bezos's career as an investment banker, passing through Amazon.com's early days in a dingy warehouse, the search for investor dollars, the company's transformation from a virtual to a physical entity, skirmishes in the marketplaces and the courts and, finally, the improbable expansion into other products (besides books) and countries. Sometimes chronological, sometimes topical, this comprehensive overview is filled with interesting trivia (e.g., the company initially protected itself against credit card theft by walking a floppy disk from one PC to another instead of transmitting information over the Net). Unfortunately, Spector writes with a glibness that leaves the reader wondering exactly what he means: "Setting about to run a corporate culture from the ground up, Bezos focused on hiring the absolute best people he could find." In other cases, he starts down a promising road but never brings us to the end; for example, he writes that "in reality, in the quest to get big fast, the seemingly mild-mannered Bezos is a fierce, take-no-prisoners competitor," and proceeds to fuzzily document how Amazon gets closer to the consumer. Those looking for a quick primer on the growth of one of the world's most famous dot-coms will find this useful. Readers looking for a journalistically penetrating account, readers will be better served by the business press. (Apr)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A compelling look at the 'granddaddy' of e-commerce companies, this book isbrimming with detail about the genesis, maturation -- and even missteps -- of Amazon.com. It will be interesting to see how Amazon itself figures out how to review this revealing book." -- David A. Kaplan, author of the national bestseller, The Silicon Boys

"A wonderful opportunity to look behind the scenes at what makes Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com tick! This is a must-read for any serious player in the Internet economy. Bezo's fanatical focus on the total customer experience is the key takeaway!" -- Patricia Seybold, bestselling author of Customers.com; founder and CEO, Patricia Seybold Group

"I thought that I knew the Amazon story before reading this book. How wrong I was! Spector tells the Amazon story with exceptional acuity and journalistic flair. And he draws lessons that all businesses should heed. This book will be a business history classic." -- Philip Kotler, professor of international marketing, J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University

"This is the book that everyone doing business in the New Economy must read. Robert Spector puts the spotlight on the how, what, and why of Amazon's incredible performance. The result is a much needed, unbiased picture ofthis towering phenomenon of the Internet Age. It inspires, informs, and mesmerizes the reader from start to finish." -- Stan Rapp, author of The New MaxiMarketing, chairman, CEO. McCann Relationship Marketing Worldwide

"Warning! You won't be able to put this book down after reading the first paragraph. It's really two books in one: a fascinating tale of one of the most interesting revolutionaries of our time, and an insider's guide to the world of e-business. Your investment in this book will pay off immediately!" -- David Siegel, author of Futurize Your Enterprise

It's a shame Andy Warhol isn't around to do Jeff Bezos' portrait.

One can easily imagine his friendly, vacant grin and bright, harmless eyes done up in Warhol's candy colors. Like many of the artist's celebrity subjects, Bezos is a true icon, not only of his company but of the Internet Economy in general.

This, apparently, is no accident. Toward the end of Amazon.com: Get Big Fast, Robert Spector quotes early Amazon employee Nicholas Hanauer: "From the day he opened the doors, Jeff knew what [the company] had to become: the poster child for Internet commerce." So Bezos promoted a story of himself and his company that was just so - a road trip West, a business plan written on a laptop, a desk made of an old door, three guys in a garage - and bolstered his image with stunts like personally delivering the company's 1 millionth order to a customer in Japan or making televised deliveries for HomeGrocer.com after Amazon invested in the company.

What exactly is it that has made Amazon a lightning rod for Internet Economy true believers and skeptics alike? Is it Bezos? Is it the stock? Is it the fact that the company was a "first mover"?

It's astonishing to think that it's been less than three years since the company went public, and only a little more than five since it began. What can explain how the company became so thoroughly inescapable as not only a business phenomenon but also as a cultural one - and so quickly?

Although Bezos himself did not play along on this book, Spector produced a slight volume that could have come directly from Amazon's PR department. A hash of material culled from previously published reports, plus some interviews with largely uncritical former insiders like Hanauer, the book doesn't need more criticism of its subject, but rather more serious critical thinking about it. Spector never makes it clear why it's worth writing a book about a company that is so young - even though with this particular company it would have been an easy case to make.

Instead, what he seems most taken with about Amazon is the "get big fast" idea. "Amazon.com's was a business that was going to be built on the altar of scale," he writes at one point. Elsewhere he reports that Bezos handed out T-shirts at the first company picnic, in 1996, that read "Get big fast."

This is not particularly new stuff, and in fact you could almost argue that lately it has gone out of fashion - plenty of Web companies now spend millions of dollars on brand-building campaigns, although "get bought fast" seems like a better summary of the current crop's endgame.

It's certainly true that it was crucial for Amazon to reach a certain critical mass before the company's most obvious competitors got their act together. But here Spector ignores how the reality of the Amazon story contradicts the conventional wisdom about how such companies succeed.

For example, Amazon did not advertise until well after its Web site was up and running. And while it's now considered reasonable for a company to pay seven-figure fees to acquire a no-brainer URL, Bezos picked a word that had nothing to do with retailing, let alone books, and turned that word into one of the most recognizable and definable brands on the Web.

How did he do it? Getting big fast is only part of the story, and the easier part at that. For answers, look to Warhol. In the same way that Warhol's apparently simple ideas radically redefined what could qualify as fine art, Amazon has gradually redefined what qualifies as a business success: In the absence of earnings, seeming successful is what matters. Get within the Bezos aura and you, too, can be a superstar. (Think Henry Blodget.)

Like Warhol's creations, Bezos' company seems to have the same power to infuriate skeptics: Amazon has never earned a penny, and what's so special about a soup can? And as with Warhol, Bezos' most impressive creation may well be his own guileless public persona.

Maybe my favorite thing in this book is a quote from another early employee, who recounts that Bezos "just continually reinforced [the idea] that we weren't going to spend money where we didn't need to, where it didn't ultimately benefit the customer. Sometimes, that meant spending a little bit more to reinforce the idea that we weren't wasting money. Jeff would say, if [a piece of furniture] looks cheap - even though it's a bit more expensive - we should buy it, because it reinforces our culture of being cheap and not wasting money."

Spector seems to miss the significance of this statement entirely, following it up with a bland quote from Bezos about customer-focused spending, and making one of his chapter-ending "take-away" lessons to "keep overhead low."

But think about what this ex-employee is actually saying: Sometimes we spent more to reinforce the idea that we weren't wasting money. Now that's a sentiment that would make even Warhol grin.

Customer Reviews

A Gripping and Informative Book
I picked up this book after reading various reviews about it here on Amazon. And I wasn't disappointed. It is probably the best book which describes, in quite some detail, the history and success of Amazon.com and its founder, Jeff Bezos. It gives interesting insights into the world of books and is a must-read for anybody who is interested in starting his/her own website.

Jeff Bezos's amazing business instincts coupled with the originality of the Amazon.com business model were responsible for the company's success. You will discover the details as you go through the book, page-by-page. A riveting book indeed.

The Ultimate Online Experience
If you are "in love" with the amazon.com website then this may be one of the most exciting books you ever read on the subject. While the information basically only covers 1995-2000 it is an eye-opening account of what it truly took to make amazon.com a success story. For anyone interested in amazon.com's history, this is essential reading.

Robert Spector has written a compelling story that also includes interesting tidbits, like how Amazon.com used to reward cash prizes for the best customer book reviews. This was news to me. There is also detailed information on hiring practices. Who was hired when and how did they affect the company's progress? The details are at times a little overwhelming and this book is an intricately researched masterpiece.

For the most part, "Get Big Fast" shows the world the brilliance of Jeff Bezos and how his leadership and vision made amazon.com what it is today. Since 2000 I've personally watched the site grow into a place where you truly can buy anything your heart desires. It was fun to read about the beginnings of my favorite website that provides the ultimate online experience.

~The Rebecca Review

The story of Amazon
I love Amazon.. both to shop and to analyze, but I found this book to be a little slow. Regardless, Jeff Bezos is someone to stand in awe of. I wish my mind were that sharp.