In 1994, when the internet was still a baby, Jeff Bezos saw a shocking statistic...
At the time, Internet usage was growing 2,300% per year.
It sounds obvious now, but back then the internet was barely a thing. I mean, people were just starting to pay by the minute for early online services like AOL.
That got him thinking… with all these people coming online, what if you could sell things on the world wide web?
I think we all know how that one turned out. Amazon has officially passed $1 trillion (with a T) in valuation.
So...
Why was this one piece of data enough for Jeff to pack up everything he owned, say "see ya" to big fat Wall Street bonuses, and convert a dingy garage in Seattle into the very first Amazon HQ?
His answer:
"The Regret Minimization Framework."
I know it sounds a little weird, maybe even a tiny bit nerdy, but it's actually a simple decision-making process based on asking yourself this ONE question:
Imagine yourself at 80, looking back on the decision you're considering now… would you regret NOT going for it?
For Bezos, the answer was yes.
He knew if he didn't get in on this whole internet "fad" before it busted wide open, he'd regret it for the rest of his life.
Now to me, what's even more interesting than the framework is what made him start thinking this way in the first place.
It was ONE piece of data… and yet it changed the whole entire world as we know it. Amazon has literally changed the course of human history. Think about that. Imagine if he never took the leap.
Inside Trends, we spend every day sifting through data to find statistics like the one that Jeff Bezos used to change the world.
Every week, our team of analysts present them in exclusive reports we call Signals.
But Signals doesn't stop with the data. Our aim is to take that data and give you a dozen ideas that could make you a million dollars or more… and to help you think of ways to execute on them.
Here's a little preview of some of the 100+ Signal reports we've published...
