a16z Podcast

Innovating While Scaling: Lessons from Amazon

May 18, 2022

Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, former Amazon executives with 27 years of combined experience, dive into the secrets behind Amazon's innovative practices. They discuss the transformative shift from PowerPoint to narrative memos for clearer decision-making. The duo explores the 'invention machine' strategy that fueled Amazon's diverse success and the importance of a customer-centric approach in product development. They also highlight how patience and decentralized decision-making are essential for scaling within complex organizations.

01:04:22

Creator website

Episode guests

Colin Bryar

Bill Carr

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

3min

The Invention Machine: Navigating Amazon's Diverse Success

2min

The Art of Decision-Making in Leadership

3min

Transforming Decision-Making at Amazon

14min

Enhancing Communication and Decision-Making Through Structured Frameworks

3min

Innovating with Customer-Centric Approaches

12min

Navigating MVP Challenges

8min

Balancing Principles in Leadership

18min

In this episode from February 2021, early Amazon execs Colin Bryar and Bill Carr -- in conversation with a16z's Sonal Chokshi -- go beyond the well-known artifacts of Amazon innovation, like the memo and the press release, and share the leadership principles, decision making practices, and operational processes that helped Amazon continue to innovate, invent new products and learn from its mistakes, as it scaled.

It’s all based on their book, Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, drawing from the 27 years combined experience of being in the room where it happened at Amazon.