Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that it was the most difficult task that he had ever done. Speaking at the New York Times Dyel Ross Spring at the New York Times Dyel Summit in December 2024, Bezos recalled that in 1995, to raise the first $ 1 million in seed funding for Amazon, he sold 20% of the company in the evaluation of $ 5 million to 22 Angel investors. He took around 60 pitches to secure those investments. At that time, many potential investors did not even know what the internet was, Bezos said. He said that he warned him that there was a 70% chance that he would lose his money. “If those 22 did not say,” he said, “None of it will be present.”
Bezos said that the initial struggle shaped Amazon’s culture. “Punishment cases”, stating that it was important to control doubts in the beginning.
Amazon was founded in 1994 by Bezos. He launched the company in a garage in Seattle, Washington, which was originally selling books online. Over time, Amazon expanded in other areas such as cloud computing, streaming, grocery and artificial intelligence.
Early gambling turned out to be very successful. According to Trading Konomics, today the market value of Amazon is close to $ 1.99 trillion. If the original 20% stake is not diluted over time, it will be around 400 billion dollars today. From 1995, a single $ 50,000 will now be invested around $ 18 billion.
Jeff Bezos shares advice for founders
Bezos also talked about how the founders often “reduce risks and low opportunities.” He said that he tries to think differently by focusing more on possibilities than dangers. What appears to be as confidence, he explained, in fact “is compensating for that human bias.” He said that thinking small is small results because it becomes a “self-fulfilling prediction”.
Amazon founder on Trump’s second term
During the conversation, Bezos also spoke about Donald Trump’s second term as US President. He said that lighter rules may promote commercial activity and suggested that Washington should focus on controlling spending by encouraging rapid economic growth. He said that the target should increase the economy from 3% to 5% each year, so the national debt increases more gradually than the economy.
