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Five, four...
Command engine start.
Two, one. Ignition.
WOMAN: Oh, yeah, look at her go!
Mission control has confirmed New Shepard has cleared
the tower on her way to space from Launch Site One
in the west Texas desert with Mannequin Skywalker on board.
JEFF: I was born into great wealth.
Not monetary wealth,
but the wealth of a loving family.
A family that fostered my curiosity
and encouraged me to dream big.
My mom, Jackie, had me when she was 17 years old.
My dad's name is Miguel. He adopted me when I was four.
He was 16 when he came to the United States
from Cuba, shortly after the Castro Regime.
My dad didn't speak English
and he did not have an easy path.
What he did have was grit and determination.
Together, with my grandparents,
these hard-working,
resourceful, and loving people made me who I am.
I walked away from a steady job on Wall Street
into a Seattle garage to pursue my dream,
fully understanding that it might not work.
It feels just like yesterday I was driving packages
to the post office myself,
dreaming that one day we might afford a forklift.
You earn trust slowly, over time,
doing hard things well.
We offer fast shipping and everyday low prices.
We make promises to our customers
that we intend to keep.
We make principled decisions,
however unpopular, and our approach is working.
Jeff, David just asked about you, let's go.
-We're late. -Shit!
Oh, my goodness, how are you always late?
'Cause I'm always working.
Let's see how well that excuse works on David.
-Is this a sleeping bag? -No.
You do know that that's a poor answer
to tell me that that's a jump bag
instead of a sleeping bag
when you have a pillow sticking out of it?
-You believe it. -Come on, man.
Okay, here we go.
Mr. Bezos, thanks for joining us.
You mean, I had a choice?
Back to what we were talking about.
Look, we're not gonna spend all day
talking about how great our quarter was.
Our numbers are fine,
but that's not what we're gonna do.
We wanna talk about how we're gonna move
the business forward, right?
So, I wanted to spend a little time going over
an idea that Anton and his team brought us.
Let's put it up on the board. Online brokerage.
The idea that we would actually start transacting
completely online.
Where consumers can go on and instantaneously
execute a trade.
Now, I think all of you are kind of wondering
how it's gonna affect us on the fee side,
and there's gonna be less fee,
but there's also gonna be less cash going out.
That's a win-win for everybody, isn't it?
As we move forward, I wanna see good ideas,
the next big idea.
Does that make sense to you?
And remember one thing:
It's all about the data.
I don't know, I just...
feel like I'm in a rut.
Sometimes like I don't want to get back into writing.
You should, 100%.
Yeah, but there's no money in that.
Could be.
You're an amazing writer, you know that.
You're my husband, you have to say that.
I'm serious!
Some of the stuff you've written
just makes me want to cry.
-Ugh. -And I have several times.
-Oh, stop.
You're amazingly talented. You know that.
Thank you.
It's just easier said than done sometimes.
With the job and all, I just don't have as much time for it.
And it's not like I don't love my job,
I'm so grateful for the opportunity, but...
I never imagined myself as a glorified secretary.
You're not a secretary.
You're a novelist trapped in a boring job,
believe me, I know.
Yeah. VP of the company understands.
Things are good right now,
but I always pictured I'd start a business or something.
Never thought that I'd just end up as another hedge fund guy.
Well, what's stopping you?
Just gotta be there.
No, seriously,
what's-- what's stopping you from starting your own company?
A business idea.
There's the logistics, the supply chain,
I-- I don't know the first thing
about getting a business off the ground.
Plus, I have a steady job, why would I risk that?
No, no. Forget that!
You can get another job if you wanted to.
I mean, with a mind like yours,
you'd get hired anywhere in an instant.
Seriously.
If you wanna start your own company,
you should go for it.
You're right. You're right.
No more excuses.
And there is something.
I read an article the other day.
Did you know that the internet is growing at 2,300% a year?
Holy shit, that's a lot.
Yeah. That's an understatement. Nothing grows at 2,300%.
Ever.
Yeah.
I mean, that's the million-dollar idea, I guess.
It's-- It's numbers, really,
but if I could find a way to capitalize on it...
I mean, imagine if we started a business
and in its first year did a million dollars in sales
and grew 2,300%.
That means its second year would do $23 million,
and then if it grew another 2,300%
it would do $529 million in its third year.
-Wow. -Yeah.
Could be the idea David's been looking for.
Well, are you gonna tell him about it?
Not yet. I don't even know what we're gonna sell.
Whatever it is...
it could be big.
Move! First time in New York?
-Jeff! Jeff! -One quick minute.
Jeff, he's on a call!
A great opportunity.
I'd-- It'd be a real honor.
Absolutely.
I agree.
-What is this? -Tomorrow's best idea.
Okay, Tom, let me give you a call back,
something just came up, okay?
Hey, thanks so much.
That was a friend at the White House.
President's asking me to be on his council
for science and technology.
-Congratulations. -Well, it's important, right?
But obviously not as important as this.
Tell me something that grows at a 2,300% annual growth rate.
Outside of petri dishes, nothing.
Forget about it, keep reading. Right there.
That's a month's work, right there.
Jeff, if you don't shut the fuck up
it's gonna take me a month to read it.
Forget about it. Let me bottom line it.
-Books. -Books? That's your idea?
It's tomorrow's best idea.
The one you've been looking for.
Jeff, I haven't been looking for books. In fact,
I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
-Have you gotten any sleep? -Let me explain it to you.
See, millions of copies of books are published every year
and-- and millions more internationally,
but a physical store can only carry several thousand books.
Well, that's true of any retailer.
Right, take Barnes & Noble.
$1.6 billion a year in sales.
But any physical Barnes & Noble store
only has thousands of copies.
Now, add several of Barnes & Noble stores,
and you still have thousands of copies.
But there's potentially millions of copies
that could be sold, but not in a physical store.
Now, imagine a virtual store
that was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
and could carry an infinite amount of books,
potentially every book that ever existed.
Jeff, do me a favor.
Go wash up, shave,
and that sleeping bag that you have?
Go take a little nap.
And I want you to meet me in the park in an hour, okay?
-You clean up nice. -Thanks, David.
You know, it's a great idea with a good plan.
I'm so relieved you-- you liked it.
I mean, with 76--
Take a look at that guy over there.
Now take a look at that guy.
Which one do you think's happier?
-The one with the hotdog. -Why do you say that?
He's living for the moment.
Does that mean that the other guy's miserable? Right?
Maybe. Yeah.
Let's jump ahead 20 years to 2014.
Who do you think's gonna be happier,
the guy eating hotdogs that didn't plan for his future
or the guy who worked his ass off
to get where he wanted to go?
People always make the same mistake.
They focus on short-term goals instead of planning
for the future, instead of planning for the future
and using a short-term strategy to execute it.
You're the youngest vice president
of the fastest growing hedge fund in America.
You make a six-figure salary.
Your coworkers respect you,
and you want to throw all of that away to, what, sell books?
I thought you liked the idea, David.
I do like the idea.
I actually think it's a great idea,
but it's not for me,
and I definitely don't think it's for you.
Jeff, you're brilliant and you're ambitious
and I love that about you,
but, ultimately, you have to think bigger, okay?
You have a career to grow, and you have places to go
and you have a family to take care of
and your wife wants to move your--
your whole family forward.
But I don't think that's gonna happen with your plan.
Okay? Let's head out.
Well, what Alisson should know--
MAN ON TV: What is internet, anyway?
Internet is that massive computer network.
Starting your own business is one of the most
challenging things you can do.
The risk often outweighs the rewards,
but I'm telling you, if you know what you're doing
and you got nothing to lose,
then why not, right?
That's because fear-- fear is what runs the human heart.
Hey.
But if you got the guts to face what's ahead--
-When'd you get home? -A little while ago.
I didn't have two pennies to rub together.
But I didn't let it slow me down, you know why?
I'll tell you why. When I was a kid,
I used to caddy at this country club.
And every morning...
Brought some take out. You hungry?
Those biscuits will ruin your dinner.
-What'd you get? -Chinese.
So... you gonna tell me why you left work early today?
No reason.
Oh, come on, I know you had your pitch with David
and look at you, you're wallowing in self-pity.
No, I'm not.
Jeff, you're a terrible liar.
He's not interested, okay?
Well, why not?
He said it was a great idea,
just not for the company or for me.
What the hell's that supposed to mean?
It means I shouldn't be taking risks like this.
And he asked me, would I risk everything for this idea?
And, honestly, I wouldn't.
Well, why wouldn't you risk it all?
I don't think the risk is worth the opportunity.
I have a steady career, we have a family.
What if we wanna have kids one day?
I can't be living with this kind of risk.
Whoa, whoa, hold up there, cowboy.
Listen, if we wanna have kids,
we'll discuss that in the future.
Later on down the line.
As for your job, you can get another one.
You're Jeff Bezos,
the youngest VP in the history of D.E. Shaw.
you really think this is your only opportunity
for a good job in the future?
Hell no!
Whatever it is you choose to do,
you're going to be incredible at.
I know it.
And if this is something that you wanna do,
then I believe in you.
And you need to believe in yourself,
'cause you're not just someone who takes unnecessary risks,
you're someone who-- who looks at the possibilities,
runs the numbers,
and then takes the chances that are worth taking!
You said to think about the future, right?
Is D.E. Shaw really what you envision
for the rest of your life?
Regret... minimization.
What?
Regret minimization framework.
I need to minimize the amount of regrets
that I'm gonna have by age 80.
Okay, that's-- that's one way to look at it.
See, I'm not gonna regret being a part of this Internet thing,
but I will regret not trying, and if it fails, who cares?
I'm not living my life in regret.
So, you're gonna go for it?
Yeah, we're going for it!
All right, Internet man! So, what's our next move?
We're quitting our jobs.
I'm sorry. We?
Yeah. I'm not doing this without you.
And we're not starting a business venture here.
-I need you. -But-- But...
We can do this.
It's gonna be okay.
We have savings, we're gonna be together.
You can have time to write.
It's gonna work out.
-Okay. Okay, I'm in. -Okay? Doing it?
-We're doing it. -We're doing it!
-You're amazing. -I'm so excited for us.
This is gonna work.
-I'm scared, but I'm excited. -I'm scared, too!
Zander.
Hey, it's Jeff Bezos.
Yeah, MacKenzie's great. I'm starting a new business.
We're gonna sell on the Internet.
Yeah, Warren, Internet.
I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T.
Yeah. You have a modem, right?
Yeah, you're gonna go online and buy.
You know how you said if I ever had a big idea
to call you and-- and, um-- This is it.
We're starting a website.
Website.
Yeah, Nancy. Okay.
Hmm. We don't have a name for it yet.
Valuation?
A million dollars?
Yeah, Bill, the valuation isn't determined yet.
We don't know what the profit margins are gonna be.
No. I'm working on the business plan.
No, I've never started a business before.
That's the point, it's called a startup.
How about instead of saying it's a startup business,
why don't you tell them it's an investment opportunity?
If you just invest $50,000...
Yeah. Listen, David. It's going to be big.
We're still working on the plan,
but-- but we'd love to invite you
to be one of the first investors.
What do you mean I'd make a terrible CEO?
How much is it?
$50,000.
Can't even start a business with that.
No, that can't be,
we must've called over 60 people today.
And half of them said no.
Maybe we can get a loan?
No bank is gonna lend us money. We're a startup.
What do we do, then?
I don't know.
Let's go.
-You sure about this? -It's our only option.
But it's up to you.
All right.
There you are! Oh!
-Hey, Mom. -You made it!
Why didn't you give us some warning?
I-- I would've rolled out the red carpet.
You know me, spontaneous to a fault.
Did you hear that?
He's about as spontaneous as a stopwatch.
Oh, you look exhausted. Well, come on in, come in.
-Oh, Mike, they're here! -Oh, my God!
That's my boy. Oh, welcome!
So good to see you! You look great!
So happy you guys made it, look at this!
-Hey, Dad. -Welcome.
This is so great you guys are here!
Feels so good when you're here,
thank you so much, you guys, for coming. Gonna be great.
Okay, I've gotta ask,
is he still totally unorganized?
-Mom! -Yes.
You know, when he was a kid, he used to be just like that.
He had so many inventions, remember, Mike,
up in his room that we finally had to turn over the garage
-to make it your workshop! -Thanks, Mom.
Oh, Mike, would you take the luggage? Take their luggage.
We're gonna have a good time, we're so happy.
-Thank you. All right. -Thank you.
So...
-Oh, my gosh, is that you? -It's me.
MACKENZIE: That is such a cute photo.
A lot of memories, eh?
Ah! We're so happy you guys are here.
-Let's sit, sit, come on. -Let's go.
So, is it happening? Are we gonna be grandparents?
-No. -No.
-Oh! -Not yet.
This is a great time for you, you are so busy
and you're doing so many great things, it's better
to keep working now, have the kid when you're ready.
How's work?
Actually... we quit our jobs.
-You quit? -Yeah.
Both of you guys?
-Yep. -Yep.
Did you have a fight with David?
No, things are fine with David, you know,
I think he's one of the smartest people I know,
and somebody that uses both sides of his brain.
But, um, just, an opportunity came up
that we just couldn't pass up.
So, you got another offer?
No, Mom, um...
We're actually starting a business online.
On the Internet. Selling books.
The Internet?
So, the Internet, it's a vast network of computers
that communicate with each other and transfer information,
so why couldn't this network be used to conduct commerce?
And we've identified the potential
of selling books through the Internet as a business.
Well, why would you want to do that?
Why wouldn't you just go to the store?
A physical store can never have every book
that ever existed.
And our virtual store could potentially have every book
and we'll just ship it to you.
Mm-hmm.
And plus, the internet's growing at 2,300% a year.
Well, how do you know that?
Well, we've found several analyst reports
and we've been identifying other businesses
that-- that have seen that kind of growth and we believe
we can achieve that selling books.
I don't know, guys, I think this seems really risky.
Couldn't you, like, do this on nights
and weekends, and keep your current job?
No.
Mom, we-- we already quit our jobs.
And... we'll regret not trying this business.
That's actually why we're here.
We were hoping that you both would consider investing.
How much do you need?
Couple hundred thousand.
Three hundred would be great.
You each would get a couple percentage points and ownership
in the business and, if it's successful,
it could be millions of dollars for you.
But I have to warn you, there's a 70% chance it could fail.
I mean, that's the majority
of our retirement fund, honey.
When do you need it by?
Tomorrow.
Well, I've got an idea.
Dinner's almost ready.
Why don't we have a nice dinner
and we can just talk about this later?
-You're up early. -Yeah.
I just wanna tell you,
I don't invest in you and I hope you understand that.
Why?
You know, it's an idea that you have to understand,
it takes a lot of planning,
a lot of things, and we don't have a lot.
But I'm not gonna tell you,
you know how much you represent to me.
And I just want to tell you something.
We live in a free country. I believe in America
that every dreams can come true.
And the main thing that I want you to know...
that I believe in you.
So, I'm going to give you something.
These are life savings.
Thanks, Dad.
-I love you. -I love you.
I won't let you down.
I know that. Absolutely, I know that.
Can I ask you for another favor?
Another favor now?
Can I borrow the truck?
Oh, my God, you gonna kill me.
Your mom is gonna kill me, too, because you know that--
Go ahead, enjoy yourself. Today's a big day.
So, where are we heading?
Just keep heading west, babe.
Okay.
-I'll figure it out soon. -I mean, take your time.
The movers are only, I don't know,
18 hours behind us, I don't--
I'm sure they don't mind driving aimlessly.
It's probably not the first time they do.
You sure we're at the right place?
Um, you picked it.
Thank you.
I think I figured out where we're going.
Oh. I'm really starting to like the nomad life, though.
Well, normally, an analysis like this
would take several months, but since we have 24 hours
to notify the movers,
I've narrowed it down to one city.
It's a city with a favorable tax structure,
a reasonable cost of living, a highly qualified workforce,
and access to ports.
Ports?
'Cause we'll be getting so many books from Asia?
You never know. So, drumroll, please.
We're moving to... Seattle, Washington.
-Hmm. -You're not excited.
I mean, the coffee's good, right?
There's more than just coffee in Seattle.
I better call the movers.
Yeah, they're gonna need an actual address.
At least they know where to point the truck now.
I wanna show you something.
You're about to see something beautiful.
-It's beautiful. -Yeah. Cadabra.
-What? -Cadabra.
That's the name of our company.
Like magic.
So, you're sure he's gonna do it for a price?
Excellent.
He's a divorce lawyer, of course!
How exactly is opening a corporation
like dissolving a marriage?
All right, thank you.
Great, so you'll have a draft for us by Wednesday.
I'll send you my address in Seattle once we get there.
Yeah. Cadabra, Inc.
Like Abra Cadabra. Yeah.
No, no. Not a cadaver. Cadabra.
Yep. No, no, we're not selling any magic supplies, just books.
Thank you.
Hey, Shel. How are you? Jeff Bezos.
Yep. Peter Leventhal's friend.
So, we're heading your way,
wanted to see if you're available tomorrow.
Get some breakfast and we can talk about a job.
Yep. San Francisco, perfect.
All right. Call you in the morning.
GRANDPA: Okay, here we go, Jeff.
Uh, with your left hand take the nail like this,
and with your right hand hold the hammer like that, okay?
Hold it, hold it with strength, okay?
And then subtly tap on the nail to seed it in place.
And then when you're ready, hit it a little harder.
Then take your left hand away and give it a whack.
-Okay. -Okay? Try that.
-Did I do it good! -Yeah, you did it!
All right, drink up! You boys need to stay hydrated.
Oh, yeah.
Thanks, Grandma.
Supper's ready in 30 minutes.
Go inside and get cleaned up.
I'm making grandpa's special dish today.
Mm.
You know, you always wanna have great people
in your life, Jeff.
It's the one way to stay happy.
But make sure it has at least three bedrooms
and an attached garage.
May I ask why?
I want us to be like
all the great American suburb stories.
Apple. Dell. Disney.
They all started in a garage.
-You serious? -Yeah.
But no more than 800 a month.
-Seems like kind of a lot. -Seven hundred.
And we need the keys tomorrow.
I think the movers are in Nebraska already.
Okay.
Oh, he's here.
Hi, Shel.
Jeff. My wife, MacKenzie.
MacKenzie. Nice to meet you.
-I'll leave you to it. -Great.
So, Paul speaks very highly of you.
Said he doesn't know anybody that can build
a database as fast as you.
Yeah, I was part of the team that wrote script decks.
-Oh, impressive stuff. -It was.
You were also part of the whole Earth catalogue, correct?
-Indeed. -Yeah, great.
-You want a coffee? -Sure.
I'll have a large coffee and whatever he's having.
Cappuccino.
I'll pay 'cause we actually have startup capital.
It's from my parents, don't be overly impressed.
Here.
This is the whole business plan?
Mm, no, just what I was able to get done
between Fort Worth and now.
Um, I'll have the rest done by the time we get to Seattle.
-Books, huh? Nothing else? -That's it.
You got a name yet?
-Cadabra. -Cadaver? Like a dead body?
No. Cadabra. Like a magic trick.
That's much better.
Now, based on your qualifications,
why are you perfect for this programming job?
I was under the impression you were pitching me a job.
-Yeah, but-- -I didn't drive all the way up
from Santa Cruz to be interviewed.
-I kinda thought it'd be both. -It's not.
You'd be very lucky to have me.
Probably right.
-I am. -Fine.
The job is yours if you want it.
I commend your good judgement.
Now, I must warn you, the pay is shit,
you will be working barbaric hours,
but you will receive some stock options
and it will be the most difficult project
you've ever worked on.
You know, most tech startups never make it.
See, in the book business,
there's a huge disparity between supply and demand
and it's virtually impossible
for a physical bookstore to carry millions of books.
So, if you're able to build us a website that can handle
a product category that large, we will be successful.
Welcome aboard.
Okay, yeah. Yeah, those dates are perfect.
Amazing. Yeah, great.
Thank you so much. I'll call you when we arrive.
Okay.
-He's in. -Well, that was easy.
How'd it go on your end?
You're not the only one having success.
-Oh! -Our new home.
Perfect.
-Pleasure. -Thank you.
Yeah.
Maybe we should've seen it first before renting.
It's perfect.
That's gotta go.
What do you think?
Potential at best.
Everything we need's right here.
Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!
We came all the way from New York for this?
Yeah, this is our new offices.
Got it.
Hey, look who's here!
-Hey, Paul! -Jeff!
Good to see you. Paul, meet Shel.
Your reputation precedes you.
-Same. -How was the farewell party?
I'm a bit hungover, honestly.
They threw me quite the sendoff.
Even gave me a lovely gift.
They're a bit skeptical of Cadabra's chances of success,
so they took up a collection to tide me over
while I look for work.
-Almost $27. -Wanna buy some shares?
Mind if I take a peek at the books first?
Come on, let me show you your new home.
I just finished setting up the new computer system.
I went with high-powered servers.
Splendid.
Only problem is they draw so much power,
I had to run each one off a different circuit.
They work great,
so long as you don't plug anything else in.
Shit. Gimme a second.
-MacKenzie. -Yes?
-What're you doing? -Drying my hair!
I told you, don't plug anything in while we're working.
Well, what am I supposed to do, then?
Don't plug in any appliances!
Sorry, guys.
All right, guys. Got some stuff
I want to share with you. Let me get my notes.
I thought he came from finance?
Is he a programmer, too?
He majored in computer science at Princeton.
Oh, dear.
So, I've gone ahead and analyzed every software
in the marketplace and, unfortunately,
most of 'em were built for a mail order system.
The customer places the order, the order's processed,
and then the inventory's updated
with three typical product availabilities: in stock,
out of stock, and unavailable.
Our website's gonna have seven of them:
shipped within 24 hours,
shipped within two to three days,
shipped within one to two weeks,
shipped within four to six weeks,
not yet published, out of stock,
and, for hard to find titles, shipped within three months.
So, what does this all mean?
Indeed.
We need to build our own software.
So, we're going open source?
We don't have a choice.
You see, we don't have the finances
to hire a bunch of programmers to build this for us.
So, we're gonna count on thousands of programmers
around the world to build it for us and update it for us,
which is gonna allow us to focus on what really matters.
Selling books. Make sense?
So, if we're gonna build the world's greatest bookstore,
we're gonna need the world's greatest website.
Let's get to it.
-Jeff. -Yeah?
I feel the need to remind you that,
given all the things you want the site to do,
no one's ever built anything even remotely like it before.
Exactly.
While we're attempting the impossible,
what will you be doing?
Attempting the improbable.
I need to raise a million dollars
if we're gonna get this website live by summer.
If you're serious about this timeline, we'll need help.
Fine. Put an ad out.
Which reminds me...
Never again will we be referred
to as the website that sells dead bodies.
Cadabra.com is defunct.
Our new name is-- Drumroll...
Relentless.com.
Nick, it's Jeff. How are you?
You signed the contract, you said you were sending
the check, and then you put a stop payment on the check.
Do you understand how that affects our company?
What do you mean you don't understand what we're doing?
Yeah, I'm just following up on that investment
you committed to.
A lot of great companies have started in a garage.
Apple. Microsoft.
Um, yep.
The company's still going, but we really need you
to send us the money, if you can.
It's a virtual Internet store.
There's no physical location.
That's not our business model.
If you're not interested, just tell me.
We're selling books.
I don't care if you changed your mind,
if you make commitments,
you gotta follow through in life.
You can't have two million products
inside of a bookstore!
You think we're gonna fail?
Well, I think you're gonna fail.
It's still a little bit too confusing.
What do you mean? It's a standard landing page.
You need to imagine that all of our customers have never
used a computer before.
The homepage has to be very... user-friendly.
I can't work on this change tonight,
-I'll work on it tomorrow. -No, no.
Let's get it done now while the ideas are fresh.
Jeff, with all due respect,
we've been at this for 12 hours straight.
And there's 24 hours in the day, Shel.
I'll redraft it. And burn the midnight oil.
Jeff?
-One second. -Jeff.
One second, MacKenzie.
Is it important?
-No. It's fine. -I'll be up in a bit.
What's a bit?
I don't know!
Goodnight, fellas.
PAUL & SHEL: Night.
-Thank you so much. -Do you have your receipt?
-Hi, your name? -Vazquez.
-Hello. How are you? -Thank you.
-Thank you for attending. -Of course.
-Hi, your name? -Hi. Bezos.
Bezos.
-Here. -Thank you.
Thank you. Hi.
-Okay, okay.
Now it's time for you brave souls
to stand up and tell us about yourselves.
Who you are, your hopes and dreams.
Who's gonna go first?
-Okay. -Okay. Hi.
Hi, I'm Molly Jean Andrews
and I'm from Green Valley, Arizona,
and I'm opening up a little shop called Kitchen Bible.
And I have a few cookies. Do you wanna try one?
All right. Um, you know,
there's gonna be nothing but cookbooks.
I'm not looking to get rich or anything,
I just don't wanna lose my shirt either.
Hello. I'm Charles Allen Morrow from Highland Park, Illinois.
My shop, Marrow's Antiquaria, opening in August,
is going to be specializing in rare books
and autographs in all fields.
-Okay, anybody else?
Oh, please!
Hi. How are you?
Um, my name is Jeff, Jeff Bezos from Seattle, Washington,
and I'm mainly here to learn more about the book business
because this summer we'll be launching
the world's largest bookstore, relentless.com.
A bit overzealous for a bookstore.
Don't you think?
Well, I can-- I can explain, actually.
The reason why it'll be the world's largest bookstore
is because its vast library
is gonna exist exclusively on the Internet.
-Okay, well...
Let's move on to the other topics, then.
Um, excuse me one second.
-Hey. Internet guy. -Who, me?
-Yes, you. -Hi, how're you doing, sir?
-Do you know who I am? -Of course. Mr. Leonard Riggio.
-And you are? -Jeff. Jeff Bezos.
Care to have a drink with me, Jeff?
See, since books are a true commodity,
it seemed like the ideal first product to sell online,
being that books in every physical--
-Can I get you anything else? -We're fine.
Books in all your physical locations are identical.
So, customers should be comfortable
purchasing them online.
Hmm. Seems like an interesting idea you have there.
Well, it's more than just an idea.
-Is it, though? -Yeah.
I mean, we have programmers working on it now,
we'll be live this summer.
But until it actually comes to fruition,
and more than anything, actually proves to be viable,
it's... just an idea.
What did you say you're calling it again?
Relentless.
Huh. Peculiar name.
Doesn't quite fit the book industry, though, does it?
How so?
"Relentless," I mean, it's aggressive.
You're trying to lure bookworms in,
you're not trying to ready them for battle.
See, I never looked at it that way.
I always thought our competitors
would see us a certain way, not-- not the consumer.
And that right there is why Relentless will never be
anything more than just an idea.
But, you see, we're open to an investment
and maybe a partnership with Barnes & Noble
where we are your Internet fulfillment wing.
No, I-- I'm sorry, James.
-Uh, Jeff. -Right. Jeff, uh...
We don't do that.
You see, we're not just gonna be
another independent bookseller.
Okay. Stop right there.
Right. Do you-- Do you know who you're speaking to?
-Of course. -But do you really?
Because I'm not just Leonard Riggio.
I am Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Biggest book retailer in the entire industry, all right?
And we just had an 87% gain in revenue
over the last quarter alone.
I'm well aware of your success.
Oh, well, then you should also be aware
that we're about to open 100 more stores this year.
And then it's only a matter of time before
independent booksellers such as yourself become obsolete.
I have no interest in investing in anything
other than my own company.
But it's more about the future.
Would you like some advice?
-It's Jeff, right? -Yeah.
Um, I think you should go find another business
to look at.
Take whatever money you have and put it into
the manufacturing sector or something.
I-- It's-- You know, they're having a lot of growth lately.
But you will never find success in the book industry,
I can guarantee you that.
I'd like to say that it was good chatting with you,
but, frankly, it was a waste of time.
That is for the drinks.
And whatever is leftover, you can consider
it seed money for a new business venture.
MACKENZIE: You don't have to be quiet.
I waited up.
-How'd it go?
-Terrible. -Why? What happened?
I don't wanna talk about it.
Oh, come on. I'm just asking about your day.
MacKenzie, I don't wanna talk about it.
It was a complete waste of time.
Nobody's interested in our company.
Is that what you wanna hear?
Is this how it's gonna be from now on?
Like what?
-Like what? -Like this!
We barely talk, and when we do talk, you just yell.
-I'm not yelling. -Yes, you are!
You're yelling.
No, ever since we got here I can't talk to you
without you getting upset at me or telling me to shut up.
In case you haven't realized, I have a company
that I'm trying to get off the ground.
So, excuse me if I don't give you 100% of my attention--
I don't want 100% of your attention,
I just want a fraction of it.
Please.
This is my life, MacKenzie,
and I have everything in the world invested
in this business and I will not fail.
I will work 24 hours a day to make sure that I succeed.
And I'm sorry if I don't make you a priority.
-We. -What're you talking about?
We put everything we had into this.
In case you forgot, I quit my job and moved here for you!
Give me a break.
Jeff.
You're a really smart guy.
Hell, the smartest guy I've ever met,
but you've been acting like a complete dick
since we've gotten here.
How can you not see how you're acting?
We have a business that has taken hundreds
of thousands of dollars of investor funds,
that is days away from potentially closing.
We have the shittiest fucking name on the planet,
relentless.com, that doesn't appeal
to any of our customer base.
So, we need to understand
that Jeff may not have time for MacKenzie.
God.
'Cause we have other priorities.
You're not even listening to what I'm saying.
I get that you have a lot going on.
I get that everything is riding on this idea
and I'm not asking you to stop focusing on that.
I'm asking you to be present.
Be a little more human, for God's sake.
You're so absorbed in the computer,
it's like you're not even here.
Whoa, look at that!
-Lot of smoke. -Yeah.
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Okay. There's some little coolant over here,
so why don't you hand me that, Jeff?
There we go.
Okay.
All right, do you wanna turn it on now?
-Hey! -Whoa, you fixed it!
You should see a mechanic, though.
-Thank you so much. -You're welcome.
You're a godsend.
Okay, here we go.
You know, we really, really did a good job here today.
We helped out-- Jeff, hey.
-Listen to me, pay attention. -Okay.
We helped out today, it's important to give back,
and it's all about just being human.
-Right? -Yes, Grandpa.
-So, help me up.
Jeff.
Jeff, are you seriously not paying attention right now?
-I've gotta go. -Go where?
I have an idea.
-I need to go to the garage. -Are you fucking kidding me!
See, this is what I'm talking about, you're obsessed!
We'll talk tomorrow about this.
No, don't treat me like I'm one of your employees!
-Jeff!
Hey, guys!
-Hey! How was your trip? -You look like shit.
Well, I haven't slept at all.
But it was worth it. I figured something out.
First off, relentless.com is out.
It makes us sound crazy.
We don't want our secret getting out, now, do we?
See, whatever we call ourselves
has to be something we never need to change.
Can it start with the letter "A"?
Search engines have started ranking
the sites alphabetically, so being right at the top
would be a huge advantage.
-Interesting. -I've got it.
aar.com.
With two "A"s.
Short for "aardvark"?
Keep working on it.
You see, I realized, we've been missing a critical factor.
It doesn't matter if our product library
is the size of seven New York City phone books,
there's something we've been missing.
-Can you guess what it is? -Wouldn't dare.
What's the easiest way to build customer loyalty?
Um, coupons?
Close.
You see, when you go to that independent bookstore,
you can take your time.
Browse. No pressure to buy.
You know you're getting a fair price.
That human touch.
Now, imagine we can create that human touch virtually.
Putting the customer first no matter what all the time.
Exactly.
You see, our competitors are all focused
on what they're all doing.
They're not focused on the customer.
We will be focused on the customer.
When they get to our home page, they're gonna see
our entire product library, fair prices, fast shipping,
easy returns.
No matter what it costs.
The customer is always first.
Can you make the homepage do that?
It's complicated.
I know. Do it.
Still angry?
I'm sorry.
Look, I know I've been a little distracted by work,
but I'm sorry.
I don't need you to apologize for focusing on the company.
I-- I get that that's important.
I need you to apologize for being an asshole.
Okay, I get it, you've been working 18-hour days,
you're losing money, you've barely eaten or slept
or showered, I get that. I see it.
But that doesn't give you a right to treat me
the way you've been treating me.
You're right.
I've lost focus on what's important
and it will never happen again.
I love you.
I love you, too.
So, how's the site coming along?
Work in progress.
I got the boys working on something right now.
Yeah? What're they working on?
Something to help improve customer experience,
give people that in-store touchy feeling.
You know, the human touch when shopping.
You came up with that on your own?
Yeah, last night in the garage.
Still gotta figure out a new name for the site, though.
Wait. You're a writer.
You should have hundreds of ideas.
Okay.
-I don't know. -Come on.
But I-- I struggle with titles, like, I...
How 'bout... earthsbiggestbookstore.com?
Little wordy. Great tagline, though.
Sorry.
Anyways, we have bigger fish to fry.
-Investors? -Yup.
I sometimes feel like these investors are just wasting
my life away, to be honest.
I'm sure you'll figure something out.
It better happen soon.
We're running out of time.
The plan's to open 97 new superstores
in addition to its already existing 261 locations.
Will this be the end for independent booksellers?
Would you mind turning that TV off?
-Up next!
Still don't like it.
Why not?
It's not clever enough.
You said you wanted it simple.
Simple, but it needs to have a little bit of...
What's that word?
-Charm? -Exactly.
You see, it needs to be charming, make customers smile.
What's a smile again?
I think it's the opposite of that.
We'll tackle it after lunch.
You care to join us?
Not today, boys.
I need to go have lunch with an investor.
-Jeff. -Yeah.
Before you go...
There's a couple of things that we've been meaning
-to talk to you about. -Sure.
First, any luck getting us that help?
The ad's out, but, you know, I haven't got any leads.
You mean this job ad?
"You must have experience designing and building large
and complex, yet maintainable systems,
and you should be able to do so in about one-third
of the time that most competent people think possible."
-Perfect. -"You should have a master's
degree or doctorate from a top university.
World class communication skills are essential."
Excellent.
You go.
It'll sound nicer in an English accent.
With all due respect, Jeffrey,
have you lost your bloody mind?
Why on Earth would someone
with those qualifications want to work here?
You're both working here.
But you're not describing us at all.
Shel attended UC Santa Cruz.
I got my postdoc in Israel.
We're not the best, we're merely the most
willing to work like dogs for ludicrously low pay.
Time is running out, Jeff, you gotta get off
your high horse and hire whoever the hell you can get.
So, basically any capable human being?
All right. I'll put MacKenzie on it,
but we gotta figure out where we're gonna put these people.
That brings us to the second thing
we wanted to talk to you about.
I mean, look around, Jeff, come on.
We could move those file cabinets
and squeeze in a couple of desks over there.
How are we gonna buy desks? We've got no money.
-Jeff! -Fine.
We'll figure something out. All right?
Maybe I'll use a door.
Niko! How are you? It's Jeff.
We're in Seattle working on a new startup.
You wanna come over?
The pay's shit.
Sure, it probably pays more than that.
All right. I'll send you some information.
Bye.
Hello? Arthur!
It's good to hear from you.
How's the business coming?
Yeah. That's what I like to hear.
So, to what do I owe the pleasure today?
Yeah, yeah, I've heard of it, the so-called online bookstore.
Really?
Yeah, uh-- I-- Thanks, Arthur, I appreciate you telling me.
Oh, you better believe I'm gonna take care of this.
Yeah, thanks again. Yeah, we'll talk soon.
This is where the magic happens.
It's a dump.
I know. Come on, that's your desk right over there.
Is this a door?
It's the best desk money can buy.
Now, here's the rest of the team.
Shel, Paul, MacKenzie you know.
Of course. Hey, MacKenzie.
So, you've got your computer, your full setup there.
-Hey, Jeff. -Slight problem.
How slight?
One that threatens our very existence.
British drôlerie there?
No, deadly serious, I'm afraid.
I went to run a test on the checkout
to see if we could order an actual book
and, to my horror, the distributor requires
a 10-book minimum order on all retailers.
What?
Ten books per order, no exceptions.
That makes no sense.
I know. I told them that.
But seeing as they're the largest distributor
with five million titles and I'm a nobody,
they weren't really interested in my opinion.
It's just how they've always done business.
Let's try a different distributor.
The only other distributor that matters
has the identical policy.
I humbled myself, begged them to let our poor,
fledgling company order less than a minimum
and they told me to go fuck myself.
Not in those words exactly, but pretty close.
So, what's the bottom line?
For every one book we order,
we're gonna have to pay for ten.
We're gonna burn through our cash reserves
in less than three months.
And then we'll be swimming in inventory
we don't even need with no place to put it.
How does the payment work?
Do they charge you when you order the book?
Or when they ship it?
Or when we actually get it?
-When the books arrive. -You're sure?
Yeah.
So, if we order ten books,
but only seven arrive--
We're only billed for the seven.
-Niko! -Yeah.
You were a biology teacher.
-Yeah. -I need you to find me
the most obscure science book out there.
Something that is impossible to find.
Here's a hot title.
The Lichen-Flora of Chicago and Vicinity
by William Wirt Calkins.
Carver Press. 1896. Definitely out of print.
Perfect.
Now, what's the name of the new Grisham book?
The Rainmaker.
Let's go ahead and order one copy of The Rainmaker,
nine copies of Niko's science book.
And the distributor should only charge us
for the one copy of The Rainmaker.
Yeah. And if any of the back ordered books arrive,
we'll just return them.
Now what?
We wait, I suppose.
No. Full speed ahead.
Even if it's off a cliff?
We've done worse. Let's go!
-Full steam.
Hello?
Yeah, this is him.
I'm available. Tomorrow?
I'll be there. Thank you.
That was Leonard Riggio of Barnes & Noble.
What did he want?
He wants to meet tomorrow.
Something about a business opportunity.
Well, that's good.
Yeah. That's good.
-Jeff? -Oh. Mr. Riggio.
-Pleasure. -Good to see you.
What would you like to talk about?
An old friend gave me a call the other day.
Told me about you, actually.
Seems you didn't take my advice
and you're still going around trying to get investments.
Can you blame me?
See, it's not that you're pursuing this silly little idea
that bothers me, it's the fact that apparently
you still are referring to it
as the world's biggest bookstore.
I don't see a problem with it.
You-- You don't see why that offends me?
-No. -Well, then, I'll tell you.
How old are you Jeff? What, about 35?
Thirty-one.
When you were a one-year-old,
I opened a little shop called, uh, Student Book Exchange.
I was just a kid at the time at NYU,
but it turned into be a major retailer.
Coast to coast.
Well, I mean, that's amazing.
You should just listen, you might learn something.
So, a little bit later,
it was when you were about seven years old,
I acquired a little shop called Barnes & Noble,
and I liked its name, so I used it
after I picked up a few hundred more shops.
But Wall Street said, "Well, there's no more room,
my friend, to grow in the book industry,"
and I said, "Fuck you. I'm just getting started."
And that's when I invented the superstore.
So, you don't understand why you calling yourself
the world's biggest bookstore offends me?
Well, it's because it's a goddamn lie.
We hold that title and will for many more years to come.
And if we ever lose it,
it'll be to Crown or, I don't know, Kmart or Borders.
Not to some dope who's working out of a shit hole,
who hasn't sold one single book in his entire life.
I understand.
Yeah, I'm pretty articulate.
You see, it's not meant to be taken literally.
It's just a way for our customers to understand
the vast extent and potential of the Internet.
See, I don't care what your intentions are,
just stop saying it.
You don't and I'll sue your ass.
But not right now, no.
Not even after you've actually sold a few thousand books.
I'm gonna wait for just the right time,
like the week that you go public.
And then you'll be dead in the crib.
Or I can make you a proposal right now
so we can bury this idea five feet, under where it belongs.
Barnes & Noble is willing to acquire this idea
from you for the gracious sum of $1 million.
I mean, God knows that's more than what it's worth.
But, you know, it should be enough for you
to cover and recoup your losses,
pay whoever you owe,
and bother someone other than myself.
You're naive.
Frankly, insults me to a degree,
but you have ambition that reminds me of my younger self.
I, too, had dreams of being a conqueror,
but you would be a fool not to take this offer.
See, you have one thing wrong.
I'm not a conqueror.
I'm an explorer.
What's the difference?
It pays to explore.
You remember that time at that bar in Miami?
I was so excited.
I'm meeting Leonard Riggio, the legend,
CEO of Barnes & Noble, and inviting him
on this journey with me to invest in amazon.com.
And when you walked out on that meeting,
I realized something.
You're the past and I'm the future.
And one day, your stores will start to close,
just like all those independent bookstores
you proudly put out of business.
And your empire will begin to crumble
the day that my website goes live.
Jeff? How'd it go?
-Good.
He offered to buy us out.
-What? -How much?
A million.
Yes!
You said yes, right?
I told him to go fuck himself.
Are you bloody mad?
You see, he's willing to pay us a million dollars
before we're even live. Doesn't that tell you anything?
He's scared. He's scared of what we're gonna become.
Jeff, be sensible.
We don't have any cash, we don't have any investors.
At this rate, we're never gonna get off the ground.
Why are you challenging me about this?
I'm not challenging you.
Listen, do I need to go under this table,
get the certificate that says I'm the CEO
of this company to tell you to trust me?
Honey...
Anyways, after what I told him, that deal's gone.
But I do have good news.
What good news could you possibly give us after this?
Our name.
Come on. Get close.
Come on! Drumroll, please.
Whoa!
I like that!
Amazon.com!
Named after the world's largest river!
Actually, five times bigger than the second largest river.
Bet he tells us what it is.
The Congo, of course.
Amazon.com is a name we'll never need to change.
It tells everybody that we are the world's biggest bookstore.
And it starts with an A, just for you.
-Yeah. -Um, is it Amazon.com
or without and just Amazon?
It's Amazon.com. The dot com is-- is to be included
in every instance.
One more question. Um, why?
See, the dot com tells our customers
that we exist exclusively on the internet.
That's true of a lot of places.
No one else uses the dot com.
But we will be the first.
All right. Niko, you still got those friends in New York?
Sure, I know some guys.
Well, we need to raise some money fast.
Let's get some new investors.
Shel, let's pull up that homepage.
Come on, let's get to work.
Now, see where it says "World's Biggest Bookstore?"
Cut it.
Now, scroll all the way to the top.
Right there. On the top.
Bolder.
Bolder. Perfect.
Yeah.
-It worked!
-Whoo! -Nice.
-Oh, wow.
Because it's an online model,
we believe we can have significant cost advantages
and undercut our competitors.
And what's to stop them both from opening
their own online stores?
Well, they likely will. Um, but they're doomed to fail.
Because they're probably gonna be competing
with themselves in that scenario, right?
Exactly. Their physical locations.
And to compete, they're gonna have to close
those physical locations,
and I doubt they're gonna do that.
And if they do, it's not gonna be anytime soon.
By then, Amazon will have the market share
and it'll be too late.
Exactly. We believe that we will probably lose money
for up to 20 years.
Uh, but at Amazon.com, we're focused on the long-term.
Uh, not short-term profitability.
Um, because we don't charge our customers sales tax,
uh, we believe we can continue to gain market share,
um, without profitability.
You're talking about monopolizing the market here.
You really want to get into that, Mr. Bezos?
Monopolizing is-- is a very, uh, harsh word.
Um, it's more survival of the fittest.
Um, the smaller companies will fail.
Obviously, in order for us to succeed,
we need to continuously be raising capital,
and, um, this company will require significant amounts
of capital if we're gonna build the infrastructure
and the system to have higher revenue
and higher profitability down the road.
But you have so many big box stores.
They're not gonna let you get away with this.
Well, physical locations are paying up
to $10 a square foot when we pay pennies
a square foot for our warehouses
that can be located just outside
of big metropolitan areas.
Uh, we only have a small facility right now in Seattle,
but we believe expanding those facilities nationwide
will get the product to our customers quicker
and allow us to maintain that lower cost structure.
To me, if I'm hearing you correctly,
you're open 24 hours,
it's faster and easier to buy books,
it's cheaper 'cause of sales tax,
and it's cheaper for you to deliver that
'cause you don't have the cost of brick and mortar.
Does it end with books,
or would there be an opportunity to sell
other products and services to this customer base?
Other categories that we look to expand into are music
and, um, other vast library categories.
I mean that was the greatest performance ever.
-Thanks! -And it means a lot, like,
when you said full steam ahead, like this--
But what about small businesses?
-What about 'em? -They're honest people.
We're a small business,
we should be helping each other out.
We won't be for long.
If this is gonna work, we have to continue to scale.
-All right, team.
So, as you all know, beta testing begins today.
We've assembled a list of several hundred of our friends
and family that will be receiving a link
to a test site where they can place test orders.
Of course, they could place a real order,
but there's a chance that
there'll still be some glitches.
Now, there's a lot of work to be done
before the whole site goes live in July, but there's a saying.
You can work long, you can work hard,
and you can work smart,
but you can only pick two of them.
At Amazon.com, we need all three every single day.
If we're gonna make Amazon.com the world's greatest website,
it begins with all of our hard work.
So, let's go.
Ready?
-We're live.
I'm going to get something to eat.
Care to join me?
-I'm gonna hang back. -All right.
-Niko? -Yeah, I could eat.
-Jeff? -I'm good, thank you.
-All right.
Jeff, can I talk to you for a second?
Sure.
So, I guess because we're on the home stretch now,
I've been thinking.
I look at everything I've given to this company
and quite frankly, I put everything I had into it.
Paul has, too.
I mean, we built the damn site.
The site is everything, you know that.
You guys are rock stars, I know.
So, I guess what I'm wondering is,
why aren't we founders along with you and MacKenzie?
Why aren't we receiving founder's shares?
'Cause you never asked.
You remember that time we got together for coffee?
Came up with the terms of your agreement,
wrote up the contract, which you signed.
Now, whatever the difference is from what you did receive
to what you believe you're due should be a lesson to you.
Know your worth, Shel.
When we had first met in that coffee shop,
I knew my worth.
I knew my worth so much, I was willing to follow
this dream of yours to revolutionize commerce.
I know you wanna change the world,
Jeff, but what're you trying to change it to?
Huh. To think I figured you out.
I just want to make history.
Hey. I'm going to bed. You should, too.
-I should, too. -No, but really. You should.
It's the weekend.
The test is running smoothly, and there's no reason
why you can't get a good night's sleep with your wife.
While you're at it,
why don't you send Paul and Shel home, too.
You're right.
Don't sound too excited.
I just feel like watching my toddler learn how to walk.
If I don't pay attention...
It's gonna crack its head open on a chrome coffee table?
Exactly.
That's a feeling I wouldn't trust.
It's just a test.
None of this matters yet,
it's gonna be a few weeks before any orders
even maybe come in, you know--
Is that what I think it is?
Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies.
Paid with a credit card.
We got our first order.