If you want to be inventive, you have to be willing to fail. Jeff Bezos More Quotes by Jeff Bezos More Quotes From Jeff Bezos Ebooks had to happen. Jeff Bezos happens I told all of our original investors that they would lose their money for sure. Jeff Bezos investors loses originals Our garage was basically science fair central. Jeff Bezos science-fair garage fairs I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you. Jeff Bezos entrepreneur meaningful believe You know, we love stories and we love narrative; we love to get lost in an author's world. Jeff Bezos narrative stories world We also have no incentive compensation of any kind. And the reason we don’t is because it is detrimental to teamwork. Jeff Bezos incentives kind teamwork Infrastructure web services had to happen. Jeff Bezos infrastructure happens What characteristics do I look for when hiring somebody? That's one of the questions I ask when interviewing. I want to know what kind of people they would hire. Jeff Bezos teamwork people looks If you're long-term oriented, customer interests and shareholder interests are aligned. Jeff Bezos interest term long We were hoping to build a small profitable company; and of course, what we've done is build a large, unprofitable company. Jeff Bezos funny-business company done The balance of power is shifting toward consumers and away from companies The right way to respond to this if you are a company is to put the vast majority of your energy, attention and dollars into building a great product or service and put a smaller amount into shouting about it, marketing it. Jeff Bezos balance marketing energy I like to be counted on. Jeff Bezos Seek instant gratification - or the elusive promise of it - and chances are you'll find a crowd there ahead of you. Jeff Bezos crowds chance promise When you are eighty years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Jeff Bezos quiet-moments reflection meaningful One of the things that I hope will distinguish Amazon.com is that we continue to be a company that defies easy analogy. This requires a lot of innovation, and innovation requires a lot of random walk. Jeff Bezos amazon innovation analogies It's perfectly healthy-encouraged, even- to have an idea tomorrow that contradicted your idea today Jeff Bezos healthy today ideas What we want to be is something completely new. There is no physical analog for what Amazon.com is becoming. Jeff Bezos amazon innovation want I think that, ah, I'm a very goofy sort of person in many ways. Jeff Bezos goofy way thinking ... if it's not your style to stretch and go the extra mile to make sure our customer experience is great, you're going to have an allergic reaction to this company. You probably won't stay. If you do try and stay, but can't adapt to the culture then it will reject you like a virus from a healthy immune system. Jeff Bezos rejects-you style healthy We're working to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. Accomplishing this mission will take time, and we're working on it methodically. Jeff Bezos cost land people