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Jeff Bezos E a Era Da Amazon Brad Stone

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Jeff Bezos E a Era Da Amazon Brad Stone ioneira no comércio de livros pela in- ternet, a Amazon esteve à frente da Pprimeira grande febre das pontocom. Mas Jeff Bezos, seu visionário criador, não © Cynthia E. Wood © Cynthia E. se contentaria com uma livraria virtual descolada: ele queria que a Amazon dispu- sesse de uma seleção ilimitada de produtos a preços radicalmente baixos — e se tor- nasse “a loja de tudo”. Para pôr em prática “É uma grande aula de administração de essa visão, Bezos desenvolveu uma cultura empresas e a biografi a de um visionário. corporativa de ambição implacável e alto BRAD STONE cobre a Amazon e a área sigilo que poucos conheciam de verdade. da tecnologia no Vale do Silício há quin- Conta como Bezos construiu a maior loja ze anos para publicações como Newsweek O jornalista Brad Stone obteve acesso iné- virtual do mundo, quantas besteiras fez e E A ERA DA AMAZON e Th e New York Times. Ele escreve para a dito a funcionários e executivos da Amazon, Bloomberg Businessweek e mora em São como virou um ícone perseguindo uma só além de familiares e amigos de Bezos. O JEFF BEZOS JEFF BEZOS Francisco. ideia: o poder da rede.” resultado é uma análise de como é a vida na ELEITO O LIVRO DE gigante do comércio on-line, com detalhes ELIO GASPARI, COLUNISTA DE FOLHA DE NEGÓCIOS DO ANO PELO que expõem um mundo de competitividade S.PAULO E O GLOBO FINANCIAL TIMES/ sem limites. A exemplo de outros precur- GOLDMAN SACHS sores da tecnologia, como Steve Jobs, Bill Gates e Mark Zuckerberg, Bezos não cede “Jeff Bezos é um dos empreendedores mais JEFF BEZOS em sua incansável busca por novos merca- visionários e determinados da nossa era, dos, levando a Amazon a lançar empreendi- que, assim como Steve Jobs, transforma e mentos como o Kindle e a computação em nuvem e transformando o varejo da mesma inventa os mercados. Brad Stone captura BRAD STONE E A ERA forma como Henry Ford revolucionou a sua paixão e genialidade nessa narrativa indústria — com uma impiedade tamanha arrebatadora e bem embasada.” que só se iguala à sua vontade de oferecer STEVE JOBS — DA AMAZON a melhor experiência possível ao cliente. WALTER ISAACSON, AUTOR DE Escolhido como o melhor livro de negó- A BIOGRAFIA cios de 2013 pelo Financial Times e pelo Goldman Sachs, o aclamado A loja de tudo é a biografi a defi nitiva da start-up que fez uma das primeiras e maiores apostas na in- ternet e mudou para sempre a nossa forma de ler e de comprar. É um relato honesto Arte de capa: Ben Wiseman BRAD STONE sobre uma das empresas mais emblemáti- Foto de capa: Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg cas da nossa era, bem como um olhar pro- via Getty Images www.intrinseca.com.br fundamente pessoal sobre o icônico perso- Adaptação: Julio Moreira nagem que a criou. A loja de tudo capa_FINAL_corrigido.indd 1 3/13/14 11:48 AM Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 2 2/28/14 5:18 PM a loja de tudo Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 1 2/28/14 5:18 PM Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 2 2/28/14 5:18 PM a loja de tudo JEFF BEZOS E A ERA DA AMAZON BRAD STONE TRADUÇÃO DE ANDREA GOTTLIEB Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 3 2/28/14 5:18 PM Copyright © 2013 by Brad Stone Esta edição foi publicada mediante acordo com Little, Brown, and Company, Nova York, EUA. Todos os direitos reservados. título original The Everything Store preparação Fernanda Machtyngier revisão Carolina Rodrigues Marcela Lima diagramação de miolo Ilustrarte Design e Produção Editorial cip-brasil. catalogação na publicação sindicato nacional dos editores de livros, rj S885L Stone, Brad A loja de tudo: Jeff Bezos e a era da Amazon / Brad Stone; tra- dução Andrea Gottlieb. – 1. ed. – Rio de Janeiro: Intrínseca, 2014. 400 p.: il.; 23 cm. Tradução de: The everything store ISBN 978-85-8057-489-0 1. Bezos, Jeffrey. 2. Amazon.com (Firma) - História. 3. Li- vreiros e livrarias – Estados Unidos – Biografi a. 4. Homens de negócios – Estados Unidos – Biografi a. 5. Livrarias on- line – Es- tados Unidos – História. 6. Comércio eletrônico - Estados Uni- dos - História. I. Título. 14-08636 cdd: 381.4500202854678 cdu: 655.421.1 [2014] Todos os direitos desta edição reservados à Editora Intrínseca Ltda. Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 99, 3o andar 22451-041 – Gávea Rio de Janeiro – RJ Tel./Fax: (21) 3206-7400 www.intrinseca.com.br Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 4 2/28/14 5:18 PM Para Isabella e Calista Stone Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 5 2/28/14 5:18 PM Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 6 2/28/14 5:18 PM Quando você tiver oitenta anos, num momento tranqui- lo de refl exão e narrando para você mesmo a versão mais particular da sua história de vida, a parte mais compacta e signifi cativa será a série de escolhas que você fez. No fi m das contas, nós somos as nossas escolhas. — Jeff Bezos, discurso feito durante cerimônia de formatura na Universidade de Princeton, 30 de maio de 2010 Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 7 2/28/14 5:18 PM Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 8 2/28/14 5:18 PM SUMÁRIO Prólogo 11 Parte I — Fé // Capítulo 1: A casa dos analistas 25 // Capítulo 2: O livro de Bezos 39 // Capítulo 3: Delírios 77 // Capítulo 4: Milliravi 115 Parte II — Infl uências literárias // Capítulo 5: Meni- no foguete 155 // Capítulo 6: Teoria do caos 177 // Capítulo 7: Uma empresa de tecnologia, não uma varejista 211 // Capítulo 8: Fiona 243 Parte III — Missionário ou mercenário? // Capítulo 9: Decolar! 281 // Capítulo 10: Convicções convenientes 307 // Capítulo 11: O reino do ponto de interrogação 343 Agradecimentos 365 // Apêndice: Lista de leitura de Jeff 369 // Notas 373 // Índice remissivo 383 Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 9 2/28/14 5:18 PM Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 10 2/28/14 5:18 PM PRÓLOGO No início da década de 1970, uma dedicada publicitária chamada Julie Ray fi cou fascinada por um programa pouco convencional para crianças superdotadas em escolas públicas na cidade de Houston, no Texas. Seu fi lho estava entre os primeiros alunos do que mais tarde seria chamado de programa Vanguard, que incentivava a criatividade e a independência nos alunos e estimulava o pensamento inovador. Ray fi cou tão apaixonada pelo currículo e pelo entusiasmo dos professores e pais que começou a pesquisar escolas semelhantes na região, com o objetivo de escrever um livro sobre o movimento de educação para superdotados que nascia no Texas. Passados alguns anos, depois de seu fi lho entrar no ensino médio, Ray voltou a visitar o programa, sediado em uma ala da River Oaks Elementary School, a oeste do centro de Houston. Para acompanhá-la na visita, o diretor da escola escolheu um aluno do sexto ano, um meni- no articulado e com cabelos louro-escuros, e seus pais pediram apenas que ele permanecesse no anonimato. Assim, Ray o chamou de Tim. De acordo com o que ela escreveu em seu livro, Turning On Bright Minds: A Parent Looks at Gifted Education in Texas, Tim era “um aluno de uma excelência intelectual geral, de corpo franzino, simpático, porém sé- rio”. Ele não era “exatamente um líder nato”, segundo seus professores, mas se mostrava confi ante entre os colegas e exaltava de forma eloquente as virtudes do romance que estava lendo na época, O hobbit, de J.R.R. Tolkien. Everything Store_diagramacao_4a prova_400p.indd 11 2/28/14 5:18 PM A loja de tudo Aos doze anos, Tim já era competitivo. Ele disse a Ray que estava lendo vários livros para conseguir um certifi cado de leitor especial na biblioteca, mas afi rmou estar em desvantagem em relação a uma colega de classe que alegava estar lendo improváveis doze livros por semana. Tim também mostrou a Ray um projeto de ciências no qual estava tra- balhando chamado cubo do infi nito — uma engenhoca movida a pilha com espelhos giratórios que criavam a ilusão ótica de um túnel infi nito. Tim desenhara o aparelho após ter visto um exemplar semelhante em uma loja. O da loja custava 22 dólares, mas “o meu era mais barato”, contou a Ray. Os professores disseram que três dos projetos de Tim se- riam inscritos em uma competição de ciências local, cujos participantes eram, em sua maioria, do ensino médio. O corpo docente da escola elogiava a inventividade de Tim, mas po- demos supor que estivessem cautelosos em relação ao seu intelecto. A fi m de praticar tabulação de estatísticas para a aula de matemática, Tim havia desenvolvido uma pesquisa para avaliar os professores da sexta série. O objetivo, segundo ele, era avaliar os instrutores quanto à “forma como en- sinam, e não um concurso de popularidade”. Ele aplicou a pesquisa entre os colegas de classe e, na época da visita de Ray, estava calculando os re- sultados e fazendo os gráfi cos de desempenho relativo de cada professor. Os dias de Tim, como ela descreveu, eram cheios. Ele acordava cedo e pegava o ônibus das sete da manhã, a um quarteirão de sua casa. Che- gava à escola depois de uma viagem de 32 quilômetros e iniciava uma série de aulas dedicadas à matemática, à leitura, à educação física, às ciências, à língua espanhola e à arte. Havia tempo reservado para pro- jetos individuais e discussões em pequenos grupos. Segundo Julie Ray, em uma aula, sete alunos, entre eles Tim, se sentaram em um peque- no círculo na sala do diretor para um exercício chamado pensamento produtivo. Eles receberam histórias curtas para ler em silêncio e depois discutir.
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