Unpacking Amazon’s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards)
Brought to you by AssemblyAI—Production-ready AI models to transcribe and understand speech | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Wix Studio—The web creation platform built for agencies — Bill Carr is the co-author of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. With a background at Amazon of over 15 years, Bill played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s global digital music and video ventures, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive in Residence with Maveron, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. He later served as the chief operating officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today he’s the co-founder of Working Backwards LLC, where he helps companies implement Amazon’s time-tested management strategies. In this episode, we discuss: Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, and YouTube. Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. Where to find Bill Carr: • X: https://twitter.com/BillCarr89 • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-carr/ • Website: https://www.workingbackwards.com/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Bill’s background (04:26) Amazon’s workplace evolution (09:54) Amazon’s “fitness function” (11:44) Single-threaded leadership (18:07) Implementing a program orientation with single-threaded leadership (20:16) The GM model vs. single-threaded leadership (21:31) Functional countermeasures needed for single-threaded leadership (25:22) Embracing the “disagree and commit” principle (30:22) Understanding disagreements (32:41) Deciphering Amazon’s “Leaders are right, a lot” principle (35:25) An explanation of the working backwards framework (41:16) PR FAQ process: Amazon’s innovation engine (44:47) Deconstructing the PR FAQ structure (43:49) The concentric circle model for sharing PR FAQs (44:55) The customer problem-solution statement (47:52) Create a product funnel, not a product tunnel (51:19) How Amazon promotes action vs. talk (54:35) Amazon’s flywheel and input metrics (1:00:51) Signs you’ve got a good input metric (1:04:23) How mistakes can still be made with working backwards (1:06:54) Why disagreements aren’t necessarily signs products will fail (1:08:02) Examples of failed Amazon projects (1:09:55) Cultivating risk-taking and accepting failure (1:13:57) Amazon’s “bar-raiser” practice for hiring (1:18:21) Selecting Amazon’s bar raisers (1:20:41) Advice on implementing practices from Working Backwards (1:23:10) Bill’s work as an advisor (1:26:05) Lightning round Referenced: • Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595 • Jeff Bezos on X: https://twitter.com/jeffbezos • D.E. Shaw: https://www.deshaw.com/ • Eric Ries’s website: https://theleanstartup.com/ • GM business model: https://fourweekmba.com/general-motors-business-model/ • Rick Dalzell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richarddalzell/ • The Effective Decision by Peter F. Drucker: https://hbr.org/1967/01/the-effective-decision • Template: Working Backwards PR FAQ: https://www.workingbackwards.com/resources/working-backwards-pr-faq • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996 • The Amazon flywheel: https://feedvisor.com/resources/amazon-trends/amazon-flywheel-explained/ • Sixsigma: https://www.6sigma.us/ • Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries: https://www.amazon.com/Loonshots-Nurture-Diseases-Transform-Industries/dp/1250185963 • Andy Jassy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-jassy-8b1615/ • Implementing Amazon’s Bar Raiser Process in Hiring: A Quick Guide: https://www.barraiser.com/blogs/implementing-amazons-bar-raiser-process-in-hiring • Microspeak: The As-Appropriate (AA) interviewer: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20231017-00/?p=108897 • The Practice of Management: https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Management-Peter-F-Drucker/dp/0060878975 • The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done: https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Executive-Definitive-Harperbusiness-Essentials/dp/0060833459 • Steve Jobs: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537 • Seveneves: https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514 • A Gentleman in Moscow: https://www.amazon.com/A-Gentleman-in-Moscow/dp/0143110438 • Dune on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Dune-Timoth%C3%A9e-Chalamet/dp/B09LJXY4PH • A Spy Among Friends: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15565872/ • Zipp 303 Firecrest tubeless disc brake: https://www.sram.com/en/zipp/models/wh-303-ftld-a1 • The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization: https://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Discipline-Practice-Learning-Organization/dp/0385517254 Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. You're currently a free subscriber to Lenny's Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Older messages
Lessons learned from a startup that didn’t make it
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
What not to do when building a B2B startup
Reflections on a movement | Eric Ries (creator of the Lean Startup methodology)
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Listen now (134 mins) | Brought to you by Sanity—The most customizable content layer to power your growth engine | Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian's new prioritization and roadmapping tool built
What AI means for your product strategy | Paul Adams (CPO of Intercom)
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Listen now (83 mins) | Brought to you by Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | Hex—Helping teams ask and answer data questions by working together | HelpBar by Chameleon—The free in-app universal
Scaling your B2B growth engine
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Part seven of my seven-part series on kickstarting and scaling a B2B business
A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pi…
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Listen now (91 mins) | Brought to you by Composer—the AI-powered trading platform | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business —
You Might Also Like
The quantum talent squeeze
Friday, January 10, 2025
+ One of Europe's largest ever Series A rounds; Northvolt sister company Stegra 'fully financed' View in browser Sponsored by Zoom Good morning there, “We're expecting a spectacular
Inside Meta’s dehumanizing new speech policies for trans people
Friday, January 10, 2025
"A trans person isn't a he or she, it's an it," reads a new guideline telling moderators what is now allowed on Facebook and Instagram Platformer Platformer Inside Meta's
🗞 What's New: A casual tweet from Marc Lou turned into a huge meetup
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Also: A $1.4K/night business ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
⏳ 72 HOURS LEFT — Accelerate your ecommerce destiny!
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Learn from world-class mentors and make your first sale in just 5 days. Hi Friend , The countdown is on—less than 72 hours left until the Make Your First Shopify Sale 5-Day Challenge kicks off! If you
SaaSHub Weekly - Jan 9
Thursday, January 9, 2025
SaaSHub Weekly - Jan 9 Featured and useful products JitBit Helpdesk logo JitBit Helpdesk JitBit is a web-based help desk and ticketing software solution #Customer Service #Customer Support #Help Desk
[SaaS Club] Rescuing & Rebuilding an Enterprise SaaS
Thursday, January 9, 2025
The SaaS Club Newsletter Hey Reader Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at SaaS Club: In this week's newsletter: 🎙️ Rescuing and rebuilding a struggling SaaS 🤝 A next-gen CRM
Monk Mode
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Some self-experiments for the start of 2025 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Growth Newsletter #232
Thursday, January 9, 2025
How to choose a topic that makes money ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Behind the founder: Drew Houston (Dropbox)
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Drew Houston opens up about battling against big tech, building and rebuilding culture, finding purpose, and more ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
⏰ 4 days to go...join this 5-day ecommerce challenge
Thursday, January 9, 2025
7+ world-class mentors to help build and validate your ecommerce business. Hi Friend , Just 4 days to go before we start revolutionizing YOUR ECOMMERCE JOURNEY. Are you in? If you feel like you're