Build. Ship! Repeat? 9 characteristics of a $1B culture

A journey through the launch of the ground-breaking Kindle Fire tablet and the accompanying lessons around creating sustainable success. Learn how to craft a company culture that builds and ships The Next Big Thing, again and again.

Transcript

1. build. ship! repeat?
   9 characteristics of a $1B culture
   @ibscribe
   #WorldWebForum15
   

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2. “We just launched a $1B
   business.”
   - Kindle VP
   

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3. build.
   

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4. think long
   write short
   

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5. pounce on
   opportunities
   

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6. building is also
   re-packaging in new ways
   

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7. your team
   needs to absorb your ambition
   

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8. your team
   needs to be diverse
   

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9. “A lot of people haven’t
   had diverse experiences;
   they don’t have enough
   dots to connect.”
   - Steve Jobs
   

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10. find owners
    who blur organizational boundaries
    

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11. look for multipliers
    and make exponential hires
    

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12. failure is learning
    that you haven’t absorbed yet
    

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13. small failures
    are just that: small
    

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14. but big failures
    include small successes
    

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15. and small successes
    you can ship
    

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16. ship!
    

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17. get something…anything
    out the door
    

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18. make it cheap
    to experiment broadly
    

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19. feedback is valuable
    no matter the source
    

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20. usable
    doesn’t mean perfect
    

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21. perfect
    doesn’t mean usable
    

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22. what you don’t ship
    defines your product too
    

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23. measure twice cut once
    and cut decisively when you do
    

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24. users don’t care about
    organizational hierarchy
    

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25. “You can’t see the
    Amazon org chart when
    you look at the Kindle.”
    - Jonathan Rosenberg
    

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26. solve the end-to-end
    versus slices of a customer problem
    

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27. there are customers
    you know
    and many you don’t
    

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29. you are not your
    customer
    neither is your competitor
    

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30. customer zero
    is a frame of mind
    

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31. repeat?
    

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32. the common thread
    is people, not process or technology
    

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33. internally
    people are your identity
    

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34. externally
    people are your brand
    

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35. “The traits that make
    Amazon unusual are now
    in the culture. If I
    wanted to change them,
    I couldn’t.”
    - Jeff Bezos
    

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36. design platforms
    and avoid one-offs
    

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37. give others
    the ability to build and ship
    

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38. give yourself
    the ability to pivot
    

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39. “Look at a stonecutter
    hammering away a hundred
    times without a crack;
    yet at the hundred and
    first blow, it will.”
    - Jacob Riis
    

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40. your mindset
    is users first
    

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41. your thinking
    is long term
    

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42. your hiring
    is diverse
    

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43. your experimentation
    is easy
    

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44. your failure
    is learning
    

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45. your repeat
    is already in progress
    

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46. “We just launched a $1B
    business.”
    - Kindle VP
    

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47. “We just launched a $1B
    business.”
    “Let’s do it again
    tomorrow.”
    - Kindle VP
    - Kindle team
    

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48. build.
    

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49. build. ship!
    

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50. build. ship! repeat?
    

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51. build!
    

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52. build! ship?
    

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53. build! ship? repeat.
    

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54. build! ship? repeat.
    9 characteristics of a $1B culture
    @ibscribe
    #WorldWebForum15
    

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