Jeffrey Bezos

* Bezos' maternal grandfather was a regional director of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in Albuquerque. He retired early to the ranch, where Bezos spent most summers of his youth, working with his grandfather at the enormously varied tasks essential to the operation. At an early age, he displayed a striking mechanical aptitude -as a toddler, he tried dismantling his crib with a screwdriver
* Bezos showed intense and varied scientific interests at an early age. He rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger siblings out of his room and maintain his privacy. He converted his parents' garage into a laboratory for his science projects
* He entered Princeton University, planning to study physics, but soon returned to his love of computers and graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and electrical engineering. Bezos was awarded an honorary doctorate in Science and Technology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.
* After graduating from Princeton, Bezos worked on Wall Street in the computer science field. Then he worked on building a network for international trade for a company known as Fitel. Then Bezos worked for Bankers Trust, becoming a vice-president. Later on he also worked in computer science for D. E. Shaw & Co.
* One day that spring, Jeffrey Bezos observed that Internet usage was increasing by 2,300 percent a year. He saw an opportunity for a new sphere of business, and immediately began considering the possibilities.
* In typically methodical fashion, Bezos reviewed the top 20 mail order businesses, and asked himself which could be conducted more efficiently over the Internet than by traditional means. Books were the commodity for which no comprehensive mail order catalogue existed, because any such catalogue would be too big to mail -- perfect for the Internet, which could share a vast database with a virtually limitless number of people. He flew to Los Angeles the very next day to attend the American Booksellers' Convention and learn everything he could about the book business. He found that the major book wholesalers had already compiled electronic lists of their inventory. All that was needed was a single location on the Internet, where the book-buying public could search the available stock and place orders directly.
* From the beginning, Bezos sought to increase market share as quickly as possible, at the expense of profits.
* Through each round of expansion, Jeff Bezos continually emphasized the "Six Core Values: customer obsession, ownership, bias for action, frugality, high hiring bar and innovation."
* With the introduction of the Kindle, Amazon quickly captured 95 percent of the U.S. market for books in electronic form -- e-books.

References

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos
* http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bez0bio-1

Highlights

* Bezos spent most summers of his youth, working with his grandfather at the enormously varied tasks. At an early age, he displayed a striking mechanical aptitude -as a toddler, he tried dismantling his crib with a screwdriver
* One day, Jeffrey Bezos observed that Internet usage was increasing by 2,300 percent a year. He saw an opportunity for a new sphere of business, and immediately began considering the possibilities.
* In typically methodical fashion, Bezos reviewed the top 20 mail order businesses, and asked himself which could be conducted more efficiently over the Internet than by traditional means. Books were the commodity for which no comprehensive mail order catalogue existed, because any such catalogue would be too big to mail -- perfect for the Internet, which could share a vast database with a virtually limitless number of people.
* From the beginning, Bezos sought to increase market share as quickly as possible, at the expense of profits.

==HAVING A TINKERER'S MINDSET==
==LOOKING FOR TRENDS THAT INDICATE PHENOMENAL MARKET GROWTH==
==REVIEWING AND ANALYSING POSSIBLE BUSINESSES BEFORE GETTING IN==
==FOCUSSING ON BECOMING THE LARGEST==