You probably think you know the answer to who founded Amazon. It’s the guy who goes to space now, right? Jeff Bezos. That’s the name on every headline and the face of the billionaire class. But if you think it was just one guy in a garage with a computer and a dream, you’re missing about half the story.
It started in 1994.
The internet was this weird, screeching thing that lived in phone lines. Most people didn't get it. Bezos was working at D.E. Shaw & Co., a quantitative hedge fund in New York. He saw a statistic that the web was growing at 2,300% a year. That’s a "holy crap" moment for any math guy. He didn't want to miss the boat. So, he packed up a Chevy Blazer and drove across the country.
The Garage Myth and the Reality of Who Founded Amazon
Everyone loves the garage story. It’s a classic American trope. While it's true that the first iterations of the site were built in a garage in Bellevue, Washington, the founding of Amazon wasn’t a solo mission.
Jeff Bezos gets the credit, and rightfully so—he was the engine. But we have to talk about MacKenzie Scott (then MacKenzie Bezos). She wasn't just a supportive spouse; she was the company's first accountant. She handled the checks, the logistics, and the early hiring. In those early, frantic days, she was as much a founder as anyone else on the payroll. She negotiated the company's first freight contracts. She was there for the 60-hour weeks in the "office" that smelled like fertilizer because it was next to a garden supply store.
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Then there’s Shel Kaphan.
If you ask the early employees, they’ll tell you Shel was the "most important person in the history of Amazon" after Jeff. He was the first employee. He built the architecture. Without Kaphan’s technical genius, the site probably would have crashed and stayed down the first time a thousand people tried to buy a book at once. Bezos had the vision, but Kaphan had the code.
Why Seattle?
People always ask why he didn't stay in New York or go to Silicon Valley. It was practical. Microsoft was in Washington. That meant there was a massive pool of technical talent. Also, Washington has a relatively small population compared to California or New York, which meant fewer customers to collect sales tax from back then. It was a calculated move.
The Name Game: Cadabra to Amazon
Before it was Amazon, it was Cadabra. Like "Abracadabra."
Bezos’s lawyer told him the name sounded too much like "Cadaver" over the phone. That’s not a great vibe for a bookstore. He almost went with Relentless.com—and honestly, if you type Relentless.com into your browser today, it still redirects to Amazon.
He finally landed on Amazon for two reasons:
- It’s the biggest river in the world. He wanted the biggest store.
- Back then, website directories were alphabetical. Starting with "A" meant he’d be at the top of the list.
Smart. Simple.
The Risk Nobody Remembers
We look at Amazon now as an inevitable titan. It wasn't. Bezos took $245,573 from his parents’ life savings to keep the lights on. He told them there was a 70% chance they would lose every penny. Imagine that Thanksgiving dinner.
The company went public in 1997 at $18 a share. Analysts called it "Amazon.toast." They thought Barnes & Noble would crush them. They thought the "e-tailer" bubble would burst. And it did, in 2000. Amazon’s stock price plummeted from over $100 to less than $10. Most companies died. Amazon survived because Bezos had obsessed over cash flow and "the flywheel."
The flywheel is basically the idea that lower prices lead to more customers, which attracts more sellers, which allows for even lower prices. It feeds itself. It’s why you can buy a single roll of toilet paper and have it show up at your door in four hours today.
The Pivot from Books
Amazon was never meant to just be a bookstore. Books were just the "entry drug." They don't break in the mail. They have a universal SKU system. They’re easy to catalog. Once he mastered books, he moved to CDs, then toys, then electronics. By the time the world realized what was happening, the infrastructure was too big to stop.
The Engineering Behind the Empire
While we’re talking about who founded Amazon, we have to mention the 2002 internal memo. It’s legendary in tech circles. Bezos issued a mandate: every team had to communicate through service interfaces. No more direct data sharing. No more "huddles." Everything had to be a plug-and-play service.
He threatened to fire anyone who didn't follow it.
This mandate is what eventually allowed Amazon to build AWS (Amazon Web Services). They got so good at managing their own servers and data that they started renting that space to other companies. Today, AWS powers half the internet. Netflix, Reddit, and even the CIA use it. It’s the real reason Amazon is a trillion-dollar company. The retail side is the face, but the cloud is the bank.
Key Takeaways for Business Growth
Looking at how Amazon was built gives us some pretty harsh but effective lessons. It’s not about being first; it’s about being the most "relentless."
- Customer Obsession: Bezos famously left an empty chair in meetings to represent the customer. If a decision didn't help the person buying the product, it was a bad decision.
- Long-term Thinking: For years, Amazon didn't make a profit. Every cent went back into warehouses and tech. Wall Street hated it. Bezos didn't care.
- The "Two Pizza" Rule: If a team is too big to be fed by two pizzas, it’s too big. Small teams move fast. Big teams have meetings about having meetings.
- Frugality: In the early days, they used old wooden doors as desks. They weren't being cheap; they were being focused. Every dollar not spent on a fancy desk was a dollar spent on the customer.
What You Should Do Next
If you're looking to apply the "Amazon way" to your own projects or just want to understand the machine better, start with these steps.
First, audit your focus. Are you spending more time on your "brand" or your actual product utility? Amazon succeeded because the website worked, even when it looked like garbage.
Second, read the early Shareholder Letters. Jeff Bezos wrote one every year starting in 1997. They are a masterclass in business strategy. He attaches the 1997 letter to every subsequent year to remind everyone that "It is still Day 1."
Third, look at your "flywheel." What is the one thing in your work or business that, if improved, makes everything else easier and faster? Double down on that. Don't diversify until you've dominated your "books" category.
The story of who founded Amazon isn't just about a billionaire in a flight suit. It's about a relentless, sometimes brutal application of logic and long-term planning. It started with a drive across the country and a very skeptical set of parents. The rest is just scale.