Make Mine A Double
It was a Dark & Stormy Friday night in San Jose and the bourbon was flowing freely in the DoubleTree's Gateway Ballroom, at the Churchill Club's Annual Dinner With Jeff Bezos. We were greeted at the door with complimentary Woodford Reserve, a fine small-batch Kentucky sipping bourbon from Graham Distillery: Kentucky's "oldest and smallest working distillery." Very much appreciated and welcomed as JITB, 'just in time bourbon.'
What with the rain and San Jose rush hour traffic, we were a fair bit tardy for the event ... and it was difficult to find a pair of adjacent seats in the crowded ballroom. But Lupita, the Doubletree's event floor-captain, seated us at the Reserved table for Churchill Club staff and we were quite happy, although anything but reserved. Julie Crabill from Edelman, (a Daniel J Edelman company and one of the evening's sponsors) and the rest of the Churchill Club staff at our table were quite delightful company ... and my bourbon had just about kicked in when Josh and Jeff began the evening's festivities...
Vicious Dessert Topping?
Business 2.0's editor Josh Quittner started the evening off with a nearly verbatim rendition of one of five questions I had submitted earlier in response to the Churchill Club's open call for participation. If I had any notion whatsoever that it would've been chosen as the opening question, I would've come up with something better than, "What is Amazon anyway, a Platform, a Brand, or a Dessert Topping?" Geez, and this was considered a vicious question by some? Hey, it's just my schtick! Later, Josh would use another question from my personal submission arensal, "What sort of business partnerships is Amazon currently looking for and how can we (Churchill Club members) help?" Well, here is what I remember of the answers given ... although it might've just been the bourbon buzz ...
Jeff talked about how Amazon is both platform and brand, but maybe not a dessert topping yet, although he did point out his company's penchant to reinvent itself repeatedly over the last (and only) decade of its existence. Note: a ten year old (or so) Internet company is somewhat analogous to a 100 year old 'old school' corporation ... back then it just took longer to build enough company value to reach the same billion dollar (USD) valuations (that Google has recently achieved, for example) using the so-called 'old fashioned way' ...
Jeff mentioned that although the Amazon brand is strong, it would not be a good idea to open an Amazon-branded "big box" (e.g., a 'Walmart-style' retailing behemoth) using Amazon's distribution centers as a base. He cited that a lack of big box retailing operational expertise would not put Amazon in a position to effectively capitalize on its brand strengths. Instead, Amazon's main strength is providing consumers with a qualitatively better shopping experience than what is possible with conventional retailing alternatives. The Amazon advantage is efficiently offering gigantic on-line selection (over a million on-line titles vs. less than 200,000 in the largest physical bookstore), relevant shopping information, and an integral fulfillment experience second to none; including the recently offered Amazon Prime, a yearly prepaid flat-rate shipping subscription that offers 2 day service.
Laugh And The World Laughs AT You!
Jeff talked a bit about his background, how he grew up on a Texas farm and learned self-reliance at an early age. "... When something broke, you couldn't just pick up the Yellow Pages ... you had to fix it yourself ..." He also recounted how his family provided him with early investment seed capital to start Amazon. When he spoke about his family, he did so with a warmth that was quite tangible, especially when magnified by the big screen projectors flanking the stage. Jeff's farmer modesty beamed when he spoke about how luck and fortune are linked, and that "... lots of smart people work just as hard (if not harder) and achieve different (i.e. unsuccessful) outcomes ..." Jeff also made fun of his own laugh, and pointed out that as a teenager, his siblings would refuse to go to the movies with him due to the attention he would attract via his wild guffaws. Hey, his laugh seems just fine to me! Comics Credo: ANY Laugh is a GREAT Laugh!
Jeff suggested that the next wave of e-commerce opportunities will be fueled by twin forces: the proliferation of personal computers providing access points into the ever-evolving fabric of "information transparency and perfection", fostered by online web services like Amazon itself. Jeff illustrated by describing A9 ("... there are nine letters in the word 'Algorithm'..."), Amazon's Palo Alto-based service that is integrating a variety of consumer-centric web services (Google, IMDB, Guru.com, Yellow Pages and more ...) into a comprehensive offering. Jeff speculated that if more people would use PCs in their kitchen, Amazon's revenues could easily double since that's where a lot of personal time is spent. He said that even though most analysts predict only a few "big winners in e-commerce" he instead sees many winners and opportunities in providing unique on-line services to consumers. This is a Win-Win-Win scenario ... and proof positive that Jeff Bezos is a Really Nice Guy.
The Wild Blue Origin
Jeff also mentioned he is currently funding a startup called Blue Origin, a space-based venture not unlike Sir Richard Branson's new space venture, Virgin Galactic. It's nice to see private space-based investments being made by these successful entrepreneurs. Hopefully, we will see rapid and timely economic developments in an area that sci-fi fans have just dreamt and read about & longed for ... namely, affordable space travel and transport services. New and unique opportunities in travel services, communications, and space commerce will be made possible by these billionaire pioneers, all within our current generation! Indeed, this truly is the most innovative (and speculative) investment area I can think of at the moment ... ah, but I must again defer to the bourbon's wonderful effects on judgement ... :-)
The evening's session closed with the dreaded 'Philanthropy Question': "Jeff, have you thought about how much money you are going to give away and when?" At this point, Jeff recounted how he was observing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's activities, and how sometimes their good intentions have been misrepresented and even cast in a rather negative light by some. He also mentioned his respect for Patty Stonesifer, the Gates Foundation co-president and lauded her for her recent humanitarian efforts with Melinda in Haiti. Finally, he closed in earnest by revealing that he really hadn't given much thought to philanthropy, all observations aside ...
Banjo Music ...
Let me suggest that we should all 'stay tuned' to Jeff Bezos: A Really Nice Guy ... even if he did graduate summa cum laude in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton and was Time Magazine's 1999 Person of the Year. (Kidding, really!)
Let me also advise that bourbon, especially bourbon from Kentucky's oldest and smallest working distillery, can become an exquisitely bad habit. But Bourbon has a wonderful effect on the literary arts, however, both for a readin' ana writin' ... somebody better hand me a dang banjo, a right quick now!
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