The question Amazon founder Jeff Bezos asked himself before he left his ‘multi-million’ job to start Amazon
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was working at a lucrative job at a Wall Street hedge fund before starting Amazon. Serving as a senior vice president at hedge fund D.E. Shaw, Bezos was just 30 years old when loved the idea of an internet bookstore. Bezos then shared the idea of an internet bookstore with his boss, who really liked it and said that it is a good idea for someone who already didn’t have a great job. This feedback prompted Bezos to walk away from a multimillion-dollar career and take a leap into the unknown. “When I’m 80 years old, I want to have minimized the number of regrets that I have,” Bezos said, explaining his now-famous regret-minimization framework. “I knew that I would never regret trying and failing. But I might always regret not trying.”As per an article in GoBankingRates, this mental exercise became the foundation of his successful entrepreneurial journey. Bezos also imagined himself into the future and the thought of not working on the idea of an internet bookstore haunted him more than the risk of failure.
Jeff Bezos chose vision over security
As mentioned above, Bezos revealed that his boss told him, “It’s a good idea—but better for someone who doesn’t already have a good job.” He found the advice to be logical, but he decided to choose vision over security and decided to transform retail by working on the idea of internet bookstore.In order to pursue his idea and create Amazon he gave up bonuses, stability and prestige. Amazon now is one of the world’s most valuable companies and apart from e-commerce the company also operates in cloud computing, AI and streaming.
A lesson from Amazon founder
Bezos’s story continues to inspire entrepreneurs and risk-takers. His framework encourages people to ask: “Will I regret not doing this when I’m older?” If the answer is yes, Bezos says, go for it—because the biggest regrets are often the paths not taken.“Do something you’re very passionate about and don’t try to chase what is kind of the hot passion of the day,” concluded Bezos.
