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The biggest thing is about "Amazon was started in a garage" is that Jeff Bezos had worked at hedge fund D.E. Shaw (founded in 1989) from 1990-1994 (that's where

The biggest thing is about "Amazon was started in a garage" is that Jeff Bezos had worked at hedge fund D.E. Shaw (founded in 1989) from 1990-1994 (that's where he met MacKenzie, she was an admin staff, he was a finance guy). So he had hedge fund money already before he founded Amazon.

Gud 1y ago
Also his granddad was loaded.
- steveBK123 1y ago
  Yeah an unsurprisingly large percent of self-styled.. self-made billionaires certainly came from close to or actual millionaire backgrounds. I suppose it shouldn't be terribly surprising as being successful requires hard work & a good idea. But it REALLY REALLY HELPS to also have a risk appetite, capital, and connections.. which are what coming from even moderate wealth provides.
  - wing-_-nuts 1y ago
    >it REALLY REALLY HELPS to also have a risk appetite, capital, and connections.. which are what coming from even moderate wealth provides. I graduated in 2008, and I watched classmates make the 'insane' decision to risk it all and go off and try to found startups. Inevitably, some failed, but to my shock it wasn't the end of the world for them? In one case the 'bank of mom and dad' paid rent until they got back on their feet, and in the other, they moved into an ADU in their parent's back yard. That's when it hit me that those folks took risks because they could afford to. I was worried about winding up sleeping under a bridge. That concern was as foreign to them as the thought of having a safety net to fall back on was to me.
    - toomuchtodo 1y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15659076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15659076 "Entrepreneurship is like one of those carnival games where you throw darts or something. Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to riches! The American Dream lives on. Rich kids can afford many throws. If they want to, they can try over and over and over again until they hit something and feel good about themselves. Some keep going until they hit the center bullseye, then they give speeches or write blog posts about "meritocracy" and the salutary effects of hard work. Poor kids aren't visiting the carnival. They're the ones working it."
      - wing-_-nuts 1y ago
        Wow, this is a great analogy. I'm stealing it
        hattmall 1y ago
        Except most entrepreneurs are from poor backgrounds. Maybe not in software but everything from lawn care to selling cocaine is entrepreneurship.
        pas 1y ago
        The money is in software/tech startups though.
        Gud 1y ago
        Don’t underestimate contracting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Binladin_Group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Binladin_Group
- monknomo 1y ago
  I thought it was his stepfather that gave him the ~$250k seed money (which is like $550k in today's money)
vjvjvjvjghv 1y ago
And he comes from a well off family.
jgalt212 1y ago
He also drove a car cross-country to a new city to seek his fortune to leave his current city where he was already on his way to building a small fortune. sour grapes.
jimmydddd 1y ago
Unpopular take. While I agree with the sentiment, I still think it took some fortitude to walk away from the golden handcuffs of a successful finance career to do an Internet startup at that time. Bezos said he ran the idea past his boss at the time, and the boss said something like "that's a good idea, but not for someone who already has a great job like you." So I do applaud him for that. Bloomberg made a similar transition.
- chneu 1y ago
  Nonsense. He had comfort and security to fall back on. His family was also loaded. He wasn't walking away from anything. He would have been fine if it didn't work. The reality is he had a safety net to fall back on. 99% of people do not.
  - dennis_jeeves2 1y ago
    > 99% of people do not. Which really reflects to how most people's parents/family/society is pathetic. Now I'm not merely talking about a safely net after one burns up millions in a startup but I'm taking about say a safety net after loosing a job etc. I think most people (like me) would be just happy to have stability in life rather than yearn for being financially successful. The precarious existence is depressing.
  - edanm 1y ago
    From the point of view of a good 50% or so of the world (if not more), pretty much every Westerner has comfort and safety to fall back on.
    - watwut 1y ago
      Except it is simply not true that every Westerner has safety to fall back on. There would be no homelessness crisis if this was true.
      - edanm 1y ago
        I said "pretty much". The homelessness crisis in, say, the US, affects a relatively small portion of the population; from quick looking up figures, it's less than 1% of the population. I'm no expert on any of this, but as far as I understand it, homelessness is usually 1. transitory, and 2. usually tied to other serious issues like mental health issues, drug abuse etc. It's usually not a "lack of resources".
bsder 1y ago
It also overlooks the fact that what Amazon was doing was outright illegal for years and they never got handed their ass on a platter. For years, Amazon enabled everybody to bypass sales tax which gave Amazon a 4-8% advantage on books over brick and mortar that had to pay both rent and sales tax. Quite a few of the "successful" tech companies followed this pattern: Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, etc. all engaged in blatantly illegal behavior to become big.
- nobody9999 1y ago
  >For years, Amazon enabled everybody to bypass sales tax which gave Amazon a 4-8% advantage on books over brick and mortar that had to pay both rent and sales tax. In 1992, SCOTUS ruled in Quill vs. North Dakota[0] that a business must have a "nexus" in a particular state to be required to collect sales taxes. I'd note that Amazon was founded in 1994. And so, yes Amazon did have an advantage WRT sales taxes. But it wasn't, as you said, "outright illegal" until 2018 with SCOTUS' ruling in South Dakota vs. Wayfair Inc.[1] At which time, IIRC, Amazon continued collecting sales taxes that it had already been collecting in many states, as already it had nexuses (warehouses, distribution centers, etc.) in many places. I'd note that I'm not "defending" Amazon here. They do plenty of shady stuff WRT pricing, as well as abusing their employees, suppliers and third-party sellers. Why don't we take them to task for that stuff instead of making stuff up? Just sayin' [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill_Corp._v._North_Dakota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill_Corp._v._North_Dakota [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Wayfair%2C_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Wayfair%2C_Inc.
- fallingknife 1y ago
  It was not illegal. Businesses are not required to charge sales tax in states where they have no operations.
  - mandevil 1y ago
    If you had said "were" instead of "are" this would be a true statement. Since South Dakota v. Wayfair in 2018, states have been allowed to charge sales taxes on businesses that have no operations in their state. That decision overturned 1992's Quill v. North Dakota, which held as you say. But that is no longer the law of the land. The 5-4 majority in 2018 included two justices who were part of the unanimous holding in 1992 (Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas), voting to overturn their own decision from a quarter century before.

Gud 1y ago

Also his granddad was loaded.

steveBK123 1y ago
Yeah an unsurprisingly large percent of self-styled.. self-made billionaires certainly came from close to or actual millionaire backgrounds. I suppose it shouldn't be terribly surprising as being successful requires hard work & a good idea. But it REALLY REALLY HELPS to also have a risk appetite, capital, and connections.. which are what coming from even moderate wealth provides.
- wing-_-nuts 1y ago
  >it REALLY REALLY HELPS to also have a risk appetite, capital, and connections.. which are what coming from even moderate wealth provides. I graduated in 2008, and I watched classmates make the 'insane' decision to risk it all and go off and try to found startups. Inevitably, some failed, but to my shock it wasn't the end of the world for them? In one case the 'bank of mom and dad' paid rent until they got back on their feet, and in the other, they moved into an ADU in their parent's back yard. That's when it hit me that those folks took risks because they could afford to. I was worried about winding up sleeping under a bridge. That concern was as foreign to them as the thought of having a safety net to fall back on was to me.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15659076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15659076 "Entrepreneurship is like one of those carnival games where you throw darts or something. Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to riches! The American Dream lives on. Rich kids can afford many throws. If they want to, they can try over and over and over again until they hit something and feel good about themselves. Some keep going until they hit the center bullseye, then they give speeches or write blog posts about "meritocracy" and the salutary effects of hard work. Poor kids aren't visiting the carnival. They're the ones working it."
    - wing-_-nuts 1y ago
      Wow, this is a great analogy. I'm stealing it
      - hattmall 1y ago
        Except most entrepreneurs are from poor backgrounds. Maybe not in software but everything from lawn care to selling cocaine is entrepreneurship.
        pas 1y ago
        The money is in software/tech startups though.
        Gud 1y ago
        Don’t underestimate contracting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Binladin_Group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Binladin_Group
monknomo 1y ago
I thought it was his stepfather that gave him the ~$250k seed money (which is like $550k in today's money)

vjvjvjvjghv 1y ago

And he comes from a well off family.

jgalt212 1y ago

He also drove a car cross-country to a new city to seek his fortune to leave his current city where he was already on his way to building a small fortune. sour grapes.

jimmydddd 1y ago

Unpopular take. While I agree with the sentiment, I still think it took some fortitude to walk away from the golden handcuffs of a successful finance career to do an Internet startup at that time. Bezos said he ran the idea past his boss at the time, and the boss said something like "that's a good idea, but not for someone who already has a great job like you." So I do applaud him for that. Bloomberg made a similar transition.

chneu 1y ago
Nonsense. He had comfort and security to fall back on. His family was also loaded. He wasn't walking away from anything. He would have been fine if it didn't work. The reality is he had a safety net to fall back on. 99% of people do not.
- dennis_jeeves2 1y ago
  > 99% of people do not. Which really reflects to how most people's parents/family/society is pathetic. Now I'm not merely talking about a safely net after one burns up millions in a startup but I'm taking about say a safety net after loosing a job etc. I think most people (like me) would be just happy to have stability in life rather than yearn for being financially successful. The precarious existence is depressing.
- edanm 1y ago
  From the point of view of a good 50% or so of the world (if not more), pretty much every Westerner has comfort and safety to fall back on.
  - watwut 1y ago
    Except it is simply not true that every Westerner has safety to fall back on. There would be no homelessness crisis if this was true.
    - edanm 1y ago
      I said "pretty much". The homelessness crisis in, say, the US, affects a relatively small portion of the population; from quick looking up figures, it's less than 1% of the population. I'm no expert on any of this, but as far as I understand it, homelessness is usually 1. transitory, and 2. usually tied to other serious issues like mental health issues, drug abuse etc. It's usually not a "lack of resources".

bsder 1y ago

It also overlooks the fact that what Amazon was doing was outright illegal for years and they never got handed their ass on a platter. For years, Amazon enabled everybody to bypass sales tax which gave Amazon a 4-8% advantage on books over brick and mortar that had to pay both rent and sales tax. Quite a few of the "successful" tech companies followed this pattern: Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, etc. all engaged in blatantly illegal behavior to become big.

nobody9999 1y ago
>For years, Amazon enabled everybody to bypass sales tax which gave Amazon a 4-8% advantage on books over brick and mortar that had to pay both rent and sales tax. In 1992, SCOTUS ruled in Quill vs. North Dakota[0] that a business must have a "nexus" in a particular state to be required to collect sales taxes. I'd note that Amazon was founded in 1994. And so, yes Amazon did have an advantage WRT sales taxes. But it wasn't, as you said, "outright illegal" until 2018 with SCOTUS' ruling in South Dakota vs. Wayfair Inc.[1] At which time, IIRC, Amazon continued collecting sales taxes that it had already been collecting in many states, as already it had nexuses (warehouses, distribution centers, etc.) in many places. I'd note that I'm not "defending" Amazon here. They do plenty of shady stuff WRT pricing, as well as abusing their employees, suppliers and third-party sellers. Why don't we take them to task for that stuff instead of making stuff up? Just sayin' [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill_Corp._v._North_Dakota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill_Corp._v._North_Dakota [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Wayfair%2C_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Wayfair%2C_Inc.
fallingknife 1y ago
It was not illegal. Businesses are not required to charge sales tax in states where they have no operations.
- mandevil 1y ago
  If you had said "were" instead of "are" this would be a true statement. Since South Dakota v. Wayfair in 2018, states have been allowed to charge sales taxes on businesses that have no operations in their state. That decision overturned 1992's Quill v. North Dakota, which held as you say. But that is no longer the law of the land. The 5-4 majority in 2018 included two justices who were part of the unanimous holding in 1992 (Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas), voting to overturn their own decision from a quarter century before.