It's probably also important to note that Amazon was a pioneer and that it's 16 years later, so perhaps their model isn't as relevant today. More importantly,

It's probably also important to note that Amazon was a pioneer and that it's 16 years later, so perhaps their model isn't as relevant today. More importantly, I'm confident they showed their first revenue well before '02, so it wasn't just VC money paying for sysadmins (and other employees) the whole 8 years.