Arrrrrrrgh
JA WestenbergWhen Jeff Bezos started Amazon he had nothing but an Ivy League education and $150,000 from his parents.
He didn't let that hold him back.
What's your excuse?
Alb_You do not seem to realize that those are assets that most people will never have !
From what you write, it seems that Bezos was already one of the happy few right from the beginning.
Just call me Ashi was not sure about it so i prefered to clarify π
Jennifer
Roadskater, Ph.D.
PirateRo
Joe βπ
your auntifa liza π΅π· π¦ π¦¦@Daojoan and like 10 years working on Wall Street at an investment bank, if am not mis-remebering.
also, isn't another reason for his success that he was at the forefront of tapping investment "dark pools"? he started the trend of running businesses that supposedly didn't make money for more than the "3 years of no profit and you fold" they taught people at business school. Amazon didn't show a profit for like a decade.
OtownKim@Daojoan Ha! Tax the Billionaires!!
PJ "Vote Green" Coffey
KayleeSerenada@Daojoan wait -- he only had $150k? And probably just an undergrad degree? Jesus, what am I doing with my life. These piles of money and myriad opportunity are just going to absolute waste when I could be using them to churn the bones of the working class
@kayleeserenada @Daojoan More line $400k in today's money, since it was in the 80s.
Martin Du4@Daojoan I have no parents π’
Maxilo OveritHe didn't let antitrust law hold him back either. Because it had already been gutted. Those are also advantages that the Beez had, that all capitalist sociopaths have.
Stefan MΓΌnz@Daojoan It seems that you are not playing in Jeff's league since I've never heard of you before. So what's your excuse?
BTW: getting a life start package of $150,000 isn't commonplace.
BTW: getting a life start package of $150,000 isn't commonplace.
Aaron@StefanMuenz @Daojoan OP was being *very* sarcastic.
You aren't the first commenter to have missed it. The fact that we hear stuff like this said in earnest often enough that *anyone* missed the sarcasm says a lot about our culture. :(
@hosford42 @Daojoan Thanks for clarifying. It's not my mother language (and of course not my native culture) so that might explain my lack of sensitivity in that case.
@StefanMuenz @Daojoan I get it. Being autistic is often compared to even your mother tongue being a second language. That's why I'm a fan of the /s qualifier for sarcastic posts.
Ian K Tindale@Daojoan I forgot
Adrian Dymorz@Daojoan @STimmchen I nearly missed the sarcasmβ¦
Stargeezer Smith@Daojoan
Well now I don't feel so bad.
Well now I don't feel so bad.
Joe Beam@Daojoan
Oprah did it wrong
Oprah did it wrong
Deirdre Assenza@Daojoan Pulled himself up by the bootstraps but they're Gucci boots
JayWhole new meaning of 'Bootstrapping'.
AB de Royse777@Daojoan I don't know how to use mastodon π
Bibliolater π π π@Daojoan Nothing is holding me back except being below mediocrity.
Corey Taylor@Daojoan Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps just like poor Jeffy did!!
floydgump@Daojoan I really would like to see them stripped of everything and the system totally rigged to keep them in poverty and then see how far they get.
real misaki fujioka & critters@Daojoan some may call this one a self made doll. this one got it's start in life with a measley $12million.
We all have our struggles but you can be the ultra wealthy too if you just stop buying takeout
Adrien Plazas@Daojoan Don't forget he also had a wife to thanklessly steal the work from! He really had nothing, poor guy.
Giles Goat@Daojoan Correct me if I am wrong, almost ALL stories of "those people that got rich" apart the "privileged startup" they usually had they almost always displayed a sort of "narcissistic behaviour" and/or I don't know "borderline psychopath" in the sense that for them "ALL IS LEGIT in the pursue of making money". Like there was that one cutting chocolates in 2 and re-selling it to his friends. What "normal people" would do that ??!! Or think to invent "the X card for super rich" or stuff like ?
Maria Velasco Κβ’α΄₯β’Κ@Daojoan I dont have 150k from my parents or an ivy league education :)
David Sheneman@Daojoan I only got a small $1,000,000 loan from my dad so I can't really do much
Democracy Matters 
@Daojoan my personal convictions forbid me to exploit other human beings for my personal profit. Besides, I'm a woman and never had $150000 or the money to pay myself an ivy league education.
ββ«βͺMarianneVedderβͺβ«β@Daojoan people are so poor all they have is money!, i wish the likes of Bezos would care more about people and the planet instead of flauting with their money! So don't say this should be followed....
Dan RileyI still have more respect for Bezos (and Gates, and even Zuckerberg) than I do for Musk (or Trump, Koch, etc.).
Building Amazon took some skill, some discipline, and picking the right people. He did have a head start, but it wasn't like being born on 3rd base and thinking he had hit a triple (in the immortal GWB metaphor coined by Molly Ivins).
Philippa Cowderoy@dan131riley @Daojoan It totally required being in the right place at the right time though. Two years later and somebody else would've got the easy starting market and the current net infrastructure gig would've gone to whichever business got there first.
@flippac @Daojoan Oh, absolutely. Luck (for want of a better term) plays a huge role, one that the beneficiaries of that luck often try to deny. Fortunate people want to believe that their good fortune was earned.
That said, Amazon could have been another internet burnout. Bezos was unusually smart about scaling up the business. I don't necessarily like the result--I have a bias towards avoiding Amazon--but I still admire his skill in growing the business.
@dan131riley @Daojoan They certainly could have tripped at moving much beyond books and maybe CDs, which probably would've left a major B&M retailer taking up their present-day role 5-10 years later on if nobody else found an in, yeah.