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Jeff Bezos left a well-paid Wall Street job to pursue an idea that would later become Amazon, but one question about his future self helped him make the risky decision.
His ‘regret minimisation framework’ shaped the way he viewed the choice. (News18 File Photo)
Jeff Bezos was working at a Wall Street hedge fund when he came up with the idea of selling books online in the early 1990s. He had a good job and a bright career ahead of him, but he was also interested in the growing internet market. Starting a business meant giving up a steady income and taking a big risk.
To make his choice, Bezos imagined himself at the age of 80 and thought about what he might regret most. He felt that failing at a new business would be easier to accept than looking back and wishing he had tried. That thinking helped him leave his job and start what later became Amazon.
Bezos Used His Future Self To Make The Choice
Before launching Amazon, Bezos worked at D.E. Shaw, a New York-based hedge fund. As internet use began to rise, he saw a chance to build an online bookstore.
But walking away from a well-paid position was not a simple decision. He came up with what he called a ‘regret minimisation framework’. The idea was to think about a decision from the point of view of his older self, rather than focus only on the money and comfort he would lose at that moment.
In a 2001 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Bezos said he pictured himself at 80 and thought about how he would feel about the choices he had made. He believed he would not be upset if his business failed after he had given it a try.
What he might regret was never taking the chance. He also knew that quitting meant losing benefits such as his yearly bonus, but he chose to focus on the bigger picture.
A Long Drive Helped Shape The Amazon Plan
After making up his mind, Bezos began preparing to launch the business. During a drive from New York to Seattle, he wrote a business plan of around 30 pages for an online bookstore. He knew the plan could not predict every problem he would face.
However, he believed that putting the idea on paper helped him think about possible challenges and prepare for them. Amazon was not the company’s first name. Bezos initially registered it as Cadabra, based on the word ‘abracadabra’. He later dropped the name because it sounded too much like ‘cadaver’.
Bezos Says Experience Matters Before Starting A Business
Bezos has also shared advice for people who want to become entrepreneurs.
Speaking at Italian Tech Week in 2025, he said young people should not feel they have to leave college to start a company. He pointed out that people who drop out of college and become successful business leaders are rare.
As reported by Fortune, Bezos believes that gaining work and life experience can help people improve their chances of building a successful business.
Disclaimer: The claims made in the original post have not been independently verified by News18.
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Ask News18The regret minimisation framework is a decision-making model where Jeff Bezos imagined himself at 80 years old to evaluate potential choices. Instead of focusing on short-term monetary loss or comfort, he weighed whether failing at a new business would hurt more than looking back with the lifelong regret of never having tried.
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November 07, 2026, 13:00 IST
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