Special: Amazon Unbound (with Brad Stone)

Brad Stone joins us to discuss the making of the modern Amazon,
and how it's morphed from the "flywheel company" of The
Everything Store into a set of interlocking and self-reinforcing
businesses that extended both wider and deeper into the global
economy than anyone ever imagined. (except perhaps Jeff Bezos) Is
Amazon the Standard Oil of our time, or maybe something much,
much bigger? Tune in as we dive in! 





Sponsors:


WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25

Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry

Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25






More Acquired!


Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups
from recent episodes

Join the Slack

Subscribe to ACQ2

Merch Store!



Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


 Topics covered:


When and why Brad decided The Everything Store needed a
sequel

The process of writing the book and access he got at Amazon,
including S-Team executives like Dave Clark

The evolution of Amazon's core strategy from the flywheel
into a set of "interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses", and
how Brad landed on that as the key theme for the book

Amazon's culture and the evolution from "Jeff-bots", and its
embodiment in S-team members and company leaders beyond

Amazon's investments in Video and why Bezos was ahead of the
pack in realizing its strategic importance (including the rumored
as-of-recording MGM deal)

Amazon's secretive "Campfire" event and why Amazon does it
despite its very un-Amazon price tag

Brad's take on the future of three major Amazon business
lines: Video, International and Marketplace / 3rd Party Sellers

Amazon and Bezos's intense focus on competitors, despite the
"theater" of their mantra to only focus on customers

The Bezos "lapses of judgment" in 2018-19 and what it was
like reporting on all the craziness around it

Tracking down the "voice of Alexa" Nina Rolle, and Bezos's
relationship with Elon!



Links:


Amazon Unbound (on Amazon, natch):
 https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Unbound-Invention-Global-Empire/dp/1982132612/