Specifically: "You moved from New York to Seattle to start this business. Why?" Bezos: "It sounds counterintuitive, but physical location is very important fo

Specifically: "You moved from New York to Seattle to start this business. Why?" Bezos: "It sounds counterintuitive, but physical location is very important for the success of a virtual business. ... Obviously Seattle has a great programming culture. And it's close to Roseburg, Oregon, which has one of the biggest book warehouses in the world. We thought about the Bay Area, which is the single best source for technical talent. But it didn't pass the small-state test. I even investigated whether we could set up Amazon.com on an Indian reservation near San Francisco. This way we could have access to talent without all the tax consequences."