Hockey Stick Growth Charts
Amazon: Stage-By-Stage: How They Did It
Tinkering/Pre-Start (1994 and earlier)
- Founder Jeff Bezos graduates from Princeton in 1984 after studying electrical engineering and computer science
- 1994: As an employee at D.E. Shaw, a global investment and technology development firm, Bezos is asked by founder David E. Shaw to look into internet sales opportunities; Bezos finds online book retailing as a business idea and quits job
- 1994: Moves from New York to Seattle to launch business (started as Cadabra, then Relentless, then Amazon)
The Blade Years (1994-1997)
- 1994: Builds company on $10,000 investment from Bezos, $44,000 in loans, wife handling admin., plus two hired programmers
- 1995: Bezos and team build technology that allows Amazon to purchase a book from a distributor as soon as it is purchased through Amazon (keeps inventory costs down)
- Site launches July 16, 1995
- Selling at heavy discounts, experiencing only losses
- Bezos expects employees to work more than 60 hours/week
Growth Inflection Point (1997)
- Year 4 growth inflection point: $173,154,541 revenue (grew 864% from 1996)
- Listed on NASDAQ in 1997
Surging Growth (1998-2000)
- 1998: Music and movies added to product offering
- 1999: Electronics added to product offering
- 1999: Customer service team of more than 500; compete in weekend-long events to clear out backlog of customer emails
- 2000: Amazon Marketplace allows other companies and individuals to sell products using Amazon platform
- Company doesn’t make a profit until 2001: $5M on revenues over $1B
The Hockey Stick Principles: The 4 Key Stages to Entrepreneurial Success
For anyone toying with the idea of founding their own company or launching a new product, this accessible guide will teach you what to expect when you first start out—from the tinkering phase, to the blade years, the crucial growth inflection point, and onward to surging growth.
