4 ms·

In what world is AWS a startup?

by justinator 4y ago

lazide 4y ago
When AWS was starting?
- Nowado 4y ago
  You mean when they separated internal infrastructure of the largest ecommerce in the world to the point when it was possible to sell it in commodified pieces to other businesses?
  - vasco 4y ago
    That is not what happened and is a fake myth origin story. AWS was started from scratch with a small team in south africa. The best description of all the myths and the real thing I've heard is here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/amazon-web-services https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/amazon-web-services It sounds good to perpetuate the "but Amazon.com had extra capacity they could sell" but it's not true.
    - remram 4y ago
      Unfortunately if the only source is this 3 hour podcast, you are going to have trouble convincing anyone.
      - Nowado 4y ago
        There are sources, I didn't go through them yet, but they are there. It's pages of unorganized links, but it's something.
- smachiz 4y ago
  I mean... a little disingenuous. AMZN was a $10-20B publicly traded company at that time. When is it a startup vs a product offering of an established company?
- drsnow 4y ago
  I think it's a bit unfair to characterize every company that is "starting" as a "startup", particularly when the "startup" in question is/was backed by one of the largest companies on the planet. I don't think people think of such companies' endeavors as startups, even when they are starting.
sillysaurusx 4y ago
There is an exact answer to your question, and it has nothing to do with the size of the company: a startup is a company designed to grow fast. Everything we associate with the success of a startup is a byproduct of growth. With that definition, AWS is a startup. So was the iPhone. Both invented their respective markets, and had to grow quickly to do it. If either of them had needed to raise money from VCs, smart VCs would’ve invested. But they didn’t need to raise capital, since they were already a successful company.
rossdavidh 4y ago
The shovel-seller isn't necessarily also a prospector. They do, however, make a lot of money off of prospectors, whether any gold gets ultimately found or not. But, when the gold rush is over, the shovel-seller may have to do big layoffs.

In what world is AWS a startup?

lazide 4y ago

When AWS was starting?

Nowado 4y ago
You mean when they separated internal infrastructure of the largest ecommerce in the world to the point when it was possible to sell it in commodified pieces to other businesses?
- vasco 4y ago
  That is not what happened and is a fake myth origin story. AWS was started from scratch with a small team in south africa. The best description of all the myths and the real thing I've heard is here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/amazon-web-services https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/amazon-web-services It sounds good to perpetuate the "but Amazon.com had extra capacity they could sell" but it's not true.
  - remram 4y ago
    Unfortunately if the only source is this 3 hour podcast, you are going to have trouble convincing anyone.
    - Nowado 4y ago
      There are sources, I didn't go through them yet, but they are there. It's pages of unorganized links, but it's something.
smachiz 4y ago
I mean... a little disingenuous. AMZN was a $10-20B publicly traded company at that time. When is it a startup vs a product offering of an established company?
drsnow 4y ago
I think it's a bit unfair to characterize every company that is "starting" as a "startup", particularly when the "startup" in question is/was backed by one of the largest companies on the planet. I don't think people think of such companies' endeavors as startups, even when they are starting.

sillysaurusx 4y ago

There is an exact answer to your question, and it has nothing to do with the size of the company: a startup is a company designed to grow fast. Everything we associate with the success of a startup is a byproduct of growth. With that definition, AWS is a startup. So was the iPhone. Both invented their respective markets, and had to grow quickly to do it. If either of them had needed to raise money from VCs, smart VCs would’ve invested. But they didn’t need to raise capital, since they were already a successful company.

rossdavidh 4y ago

The shovel-seller isn't necessarily also a prospector. They do, however, make a lot of money off of prospectors, whether any gold gets ultimately found or not. But, when the gold rush is over, the shovel-seller may have to do big layoffs.