The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

by Brad Stone

“It’s easier to invent the future than to predict it.” —Alan Kay

“When I read that letter, I thought, we don’t make money when we sell things. We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions.”

This was a key part of Amazon’s early strategy: maximizing the Internet’s ability to provide a superior selection of products as compared to those available at traditional retail stores.