Amazon. No company has impacted the internet — and all of modern life — more than this one. We’ve waited seven years to do this episode, and are so, so excited to finally dive into every nook and cranny of this legendary company. And of course because we’re Acquired and this is Amazon, we couldn’t contain it all to just one episode… even a 4+ hour one! So today we focus on Amazon.com the retail business, and we’ll have another full episode on AWS coming soon. And because all great series are trilogies, to fully understand Amazon we highly recommend starting first with our previous episode on Walmart, which truly is the giant’s shoulder that Jeff Bezos stood upon. Let’s go!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSEdnld6i9A **Big News** We've got merch! Check it out at https://www.acquired.fm/store ! If you want more Acquired, you can follow our newly public LP Show feed here in the podcast player of your choice (including Spotify!): http://pod.link/acquiredlp Sponsors: Thank you to our presenting sponsor for all of Season 11, Fundrise! If you’re considering raising a growth round of capital in the next year, you should definitely explore raising some of it with the Fundrise Innovation Fund. Just email notvc@fundrise.com, and tell them Ben & David sent you. And if you’re an individual looking for exposure to private growth-stage technology companies, you can invest in the Innovation Fund here: https://bit.ly/acquiredfundriseinnovation Thank you as well to Pilot and NZS Capital: https://bit.ly/acquiredpilot22 https://bit.ly/acquirednzscomplexity You can register for the NZS Talkback here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctce6przwsG926Qzk8fvyO896thNHtyvZo Links: Jeff’s first public Amazon interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM Our early-Acquired-days interview with Tom Alberg https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/episode-28-the-amazon-ipo-with-original-amazon-board-member-tom-alberg Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12j-kx24Oc7O7puW523RbofM_CNxRBDpbmfkp38g7OVE/edit?usp=sharing Carve Outs: Rick Rubin on the Lex Fridman Podcast https://lexfridman.com/rick-rubin/ Ursula Le Guin https://www.amazon.com/Ursula-K.-Le-Guin/e/B000AQ2M2S%3F Dissect Season 2 on *My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy* https://dissectpodcast.com/2017/08/01/dissect-is-back-with-season-2/ Elden Ring https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/elden-ring/elden-ring (again) Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.