Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon AMZN and Blue Origin, believes that worrying too much about risks and not seeing opportunities can stop people and companies from achieving their goals. In a recent interview, he shared how being cautious often holds people back.
“I think it's generally human nature to overestimate risk and underestimate opportunity,” Bezos said. He explained that small thinking leads to small results and is “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
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Bezos shared that his approach to risk has played a big role in his success. When he started Amazon in 1994, he knew there was a high chance of failure. He had to pitch his idea to 60 different investors to raise his first million dollars in funding and, in his words, “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Most of them said no, but the 22 who said yes helped him build what would become one of the world's most valuable companies.
He thought there was a 70% chance Amazon would fail and those investors would lose their money. Despite those odds, he focused on the opportunity rather than the risk.
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He encouraged others to adopt a similar mindset, saying, “The risks are probably not as big as you perceive and the opportunities may be bigger than you perceive.”
Bezos often emphasizes that success is never instant. In a 2018 CNBC interview, he famously said, “All overnight success takes about 10 years.” This sums up exactly how Amazon went from being a new and small online bookshop to becoming one of the most valuable corporations in the world. It demonstrates that years of work, perseverance and failure-based learning are the foundation of every significant accomplishment.
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When Amazon was founded in 1994, the internet was still a novelty and online shopping was far from mainstream. Bezos started by selling books but had much bigger plans for the company. However, turning that vision into reality took time. For nearly a decade, Amazon operated at a loss, facing skepticism and criticism from many. It wasn't until 2003 that the company finally posted its first full-year profit, earning $35 million after a $149 million loss the previous year.
A big part of Amazon’s success came from taking risks and learning from failures. Bezos believes in “high-quality failures,” which happen when companies take bold risks that don't always work out. Thanks to these calculated risks, Amazon was able to develop services like Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services (AWS), which are now essential to the company’s success.
Today, Amazon is a leader in retail, cloud computing and entertainment industries. But Bezos's story shows that success doesn't come easily.
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