Amazon has internal rules for “doing more with less.”
For example, it is well known that there are rules such as “prioritize a few documents over presentation materials”, “hold meetings with enough people to distribute two pizzas”, and “write a press release before starting product development”. there is
Many Amazon execs-turned-entrepreneurs have adapted these rules to help their startups succeed.
We asked three former Amazon executives who have put their business on track to share their best tactics.
Create a 6-page document from the presentation material
Because it’s faster to “read” presentations than to “hear” them, Amazon emphasizes text over slides. For business planning and meeting agenda setting, leaders are also instructed to create a short six-page internal document.
This document is primarily intended to quickly summarize information and facilitate reader comprehension.One former executive said he applied the technique to pitch his company to customers.
Kosuke Umeno, founder and CEO of Globalive, says he creates Amazon-style documents and pitches to win customers for ad technologies such as ID5, Browsi and Acorn-i.
According to Umeno, the preparation of such documents requires extensive research, and clients say they are filled with unique and useful information.
“Working at Amazon made me really happy because I learned how to write such things.” (Umeno)
In addition, Umeno seems to insert PowerPoint slides as part of the document in order to deepen the customer’s understanding.
Hold meetings in small groups
At Amazon, we have an internal rule that we shouldn’t hold large meetings. Larger meetings consume more employee time and are less productive than smaller meetings. By the way, the “large number” criterion is whether or not you’ll have to serve more than two pizzas to your attendees (commonly known as the “two-pizza rule”).
ProductWind co-founder and CEO Jason Kowalski takes this rule even further.
Before scheduling a meeting, first calculate the cost based on the time spent at similar meetings in the past and the salaries of the members who attended. He then decides who should really attend the meeting.
Write a press release before the product is finished
Amazon is famous for its customer-centricity. To enforce this discipline, Amazon creates press releases before launching new product development.
This process allows employees in charge to anticipate how consumers will use the product, thus avoiding the need to expend extensive resources on trial and error.
The rule also helped former Amazon executive Alex Walker when he founded Expert Edge, an Amazon-focused agency.Walker says he envisioned what challenges his clients might have at Amazon and used that as a guideline for the services the company offers.
“A lot of companies say they’re customer-focused, and Amazon really does,” Walker said.
[Original: How former Amazon execs took a page from the retailer’s unusual business culture to build their own successful startup]
(Edited by Sho Noda)
Source: BusinessInsider
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