Understanding Amazon: Secrets of the company’s success, and where it’s headed next

Amazon is one of the most extraordinary business stories of our time. Many people in the tech industry have a general understanding of this story, picking up bits and pieces of its lore and culture over the years.

But what are the real reasons for Amazon’s success? What can today’s entrepreneurs learn from what Jeff Bezos did? And where is Amazon headed next? 

Acquired co-hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal this week released an epic episode of their podcast that spans nearly 4-and-a-half hours — providing a deeper understanding of Amazon and new insights into the company.

Gilbert joins us on this week’s episode of the GeekWire Podcast to discuss key takeaways and highlights from their Amazon deep dive. Listen here and read notes from the conversation.

Inside Seattle’s new video game-themed bar: We got an early look at Till Dawn, a neighborhood bar in West Seattle with 16 stand-up gaming stations and a private Dungeons and Dragons game room. Check it out. 

AI generates images for music video: More than 40 years after video was destined to kill the radio star, what can we expect artificial intelligence to do for the video maker? Seattle’s Jacob Colker is finding out. The managing director of the startup incubator at the Allen Institute for AI is a part-time rocker who put a unique natural language processing tool to use on a new song. Read more.

Amperity layoffs: The customer intelligence startup became the latest Seattle tech company to trim staff amid uncertain economic conditions. Read more.