"I don't like mercenaries, and I don't like mercenary cultures. The missionary is building the product, building the service, because they love the customer, because they love the product, because they love the service. The mercenary is building the product or the service so that they can flip the company and make money."
Key highlight
"Don't chase the hot new thing. It's so hard to catch something that everybody already knows is hot. Instead, position yourself and wait for the wave to come to you."
Highlights (4)
One of the great paradoxes of entrepreneurship: the missionaries usually end up making more money than the mercenaries anyway.
The best way to position yourself for an incoming wave is to pursue something that genuinely captures your curiosity — passion is what lets you wait long enough to catch it.
"Start with the customer and work backwards." Combined with picking something you're passionate about, Bezos says those two principles "will take you an awfully long way."
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