Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has posted his annual letter to shareholders, following in a tradition begun by founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos in 1997. (As usual, Amazon also posts the original 1997 message after the new missive, which is one way to indicate that as much as the business has evolved and grown, its core values have remained intact.)
You can read the entire message here, but there some sections that we’d like to highlight here – they have little to do specifically with financial results, but rather are about attitude, approach and, in its own way, alchemy.
* Business – and life – are not a straight line. “When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a sportscaster. After sending my resume reel to many small markets around the U.S., and only getting two nibbles, I settled on doing sports production at a major network. To make extra money, I also coached my former high school soccer team, and worked at a retail golf store. Six months later, a college classmate convinced me to interview at the consumer products company where he worked, and I spent three years as a Product Manager there. I left that job to try some of my own businesses. After deciding these businesses weren’t my calling, I tried short stints in sales and investment banking, before going back to graduate school and ending up at Amazon three days after my last final exam in May 1997.
“Not exactly a straight line.
“AWS followed lots of squiggly lines, too. The original vision included storage, compute, payments, and human intelligence. Some of those (e.g. storage and compute) became lynchpins in AWS. Others didn’t succeed. We didn’t initially plan a database service; and when we built one, our first attempt failed to get traction … AWS has worked out well for Amazon, but a straight line? Not really.
“There’s a band I like from New Zealand called “The Beths,” who’ve written several excellent records, with thought-provoking lyrics. I eagerly await their new releases, and when their latest album dropped last summer titled “Straight Line Was a Lie,” it made me think about how prescient that expression is. Most long-term endeavors do not follow a linear straight line, up and to the right. Progress jumps around; it’ll zig up, then sometimes stall, or zag down, or force you back to the starting line. Sometimes, it feels like you’re running in circles. But, the path is rarely straight.
“That’s because the world is complex, and new technology, business model invention, competitors, global issues, or people and cultural shifts can come into play. We’re in the middle of some of the biggest inflections of our lifetime (e.g. AI, robotics, space industrialization, geopolitical and military conflict). And, just as proficient golfers need to be skilled across driving, approach shots, chipping, and putting, durable companies must be adept at managing different elements of inflections … Wherever possible, invent the next inflections. We try to anticipate what will make customers’ lives easier and better every day, and invent the next inflection. Historically, we’ve successfully done so in areas like Retail, Logistics, AWS, Ads, Kindle, Alexa, and Pharmacy.”
• Grocery. We started 20 years ago by adding non-perishables (items you’d find in the middle aisles of grocery stores like consumables, canned goods, beauty, etc.). Customers loved the convenience of buying these items online and having them delivered quickly. Unsurprisingly, they asked for broader grocery coverage, with perishables high on their list. We embarked on several bets to try to find the right economic solution for customers and Amazon. We bought Whole Foods Market (“WFM”) in 2017, the leader in organic grocery. We’ve since launched mainstream physical grocery stores (Amazon Fresh), grocery subscriptions for Prime members, and store-within-a-store concepts (with Amazon offering mainstream brands alongside WFM organic brands). Not all of these experiments have worked, but each one has taught us something important.
“What’s emerged is a clearer picture of what customers want. Our non-perishables grocery business continues to grow quickly. WFM continues to accelerate, with over 550 stores, 100 more coming in the next few years, and an additional smaller format (Daily Shop) serving quick, frequent grocery missions in city neighborhoods that’s off to a great start. And, a big breakthrough has been adding perishables into our Same-Day Delivery network. Bringing fresh groceries (e.g. produce, dairy, meat) together with millions of everyday items in a single, fast order is resonating with customers for the value and convenience it provides.
“Since introducing perishables into Same-Day Delivery in early 2025, perishables sales have grown by over 40 times, and now make up nine of the top ten most-ordered items for Same-Day Delivery where they’re available. We have Same-Day fresh food delivery in over 2,300 towns and cities across the country. Our grocery business has grown to over $150 billion in gross sales in 2025, making Amazon the second-largest grocer in the U.S.
“If there’s an obvious path to changing your trajectory, take it and run. But, most new jumps forward aren’t like that. There’s invention and experimentation required, and pursuing multiple paths gives you the best chance to find it.”
• AI. “AI is not a standalone initiative—it’s a multiplier. It will reshape every customer experience we offer and unlock entirely new ones. We will build many of these ourselves, and continue making AWS the best place for others to do the same.
“Progress will not be linear. There will be moments of acceleration and moments where we adjust course. We will experiment, invest disproportionately behind what matters, and pull back when something isn’t working.
“This is the environment where Amazon does its best work. We’ve built a culture that thrives in constantly changing circumstances by being inventive, comfortable operating along multiple paths, revisiting first principles, and committing fully to the ideas that can meaningfully improve customers’ lives. As always, we’ll optimize for what matters most to customers and shareholders over the long term.”
• Bet big. “When you identify disproportionate inflections, bet big. Choosing which inflections are truly seminal versus ‘just interesting’ requires judgment. Reasonable people can disagree. But, if you believe you’ve found one of these disproportionate shifts, you want to invest as aggressively as you responsibly can. This will create investment spikes that will invite scrutiny, but the game-changers don’t typically accommodate smoother investment horizons.”
• Learning. “Here’s some of what I’ve learned over the past 28 years at Amazon.
“You need to have the right data, mechanisms, and truth-tellers to deeply question what’s changed and should therefore be done.
“You have to have people and a culture that are comfortable operating with ambiguity as you sort through the new normal.
“You need to invent and experiment like crazy. Many of these experiments will fail, and it might feel like you’re getting nowhere. But, your culture must possess the tenacity to keep at it.
“You need to learn constantly. Each attempt you (and others) make provides insight on what customers really want.
“You need to move fast, have teammates that act like true owners, and be scrappy. At Amazon, we talk a lot about operating like the world’s biggest startup. It’s the primary reason we’ve worked to flatten our organization the last year, and we’re pleased with the improved speed of decision-making and delivery.
“You have to be comfortable potentially over-rotating when pursuing one of these big needle-movers. You may end up investing a little more than needed, but it’s better to capture most of the transformational upside than to miss much of it by cutting it too fine. And then, if you learn something new that requires course correcting, do it quickly. Inflections aren’t usually smooth or calm. They favor the bold and adaptable.
“You have to be adept at both inventing the inflections and recognizing when others have started ones that you should pursue as well. We tend to be first-movers, but have had several big successes where we didn’t enter first. In each of these cases, we haven’t just duplicated what others have done (when we’ve done that, we haven’t succeeded). Rather, we’ve been inspired by new ideas, and invented unique experiences that appeal to our customers. It takes a different type of grit and resolve than when you’re first to an idea.
“You have to be willing to reimagine not only every customer experience, but also how you organize and get work done. Challenging conventions that have existed a long time (and worked) is difficult. People sometimes call these “change management” obstacles. That’s true, but in times of transformational tumult, they’re almost like reexamining your faith.
“And, you have to be able to withstand criticism as you’re making your way through an inflection. We have historically shared that we’re ‘comfortable being misunderstood for long periods of time.’ This resolve is required when you’re inventing in general, but particularly when you’re in the middle of a meaningful change where there’s uncertainty and conflicting opinions.”
KC’s View:
Whatever its faults and missteps, Amazon continues to be a company that challenges convention and embraces innovation. In fact, Jassy basically suggests that the faults and missteps are a feature, not a bug – and that is highly unusual for any company or CEO.
I think it is fair to say that today is Day Two for Amazon, that its size and the stakes of its bets make it impossible to still be a “Today is Day One” company. But whatever day it is, it is a day in which more than almost any other company, the pursuit of new possibilities and opportunities and the rejection of complacency remain core values.
One other thing. I was curious about Andy Jassy’s musical tastes – I’d never heard of The Beths, the New Zealand indie rock band to which he referred in his letter.
In a profile of Jassy by GeekWire about five years ago, right after he’d been named Bezos’ successor as CEO, the magazine referred to him as passionate about music and cited a time he’d interviewed singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile on stage and demonstrated all the expertise of a veteran music journalist. “Without any notes, he recalled insightful nuances from Carlile’s life and music, and framed one question in the context of a Foo Fighters lyric: ‘You need blind faith, but not false hope’.”
Jassy said, “I’ve always thought that line was applicable to businesses and any new endeavor, which is, when you’re trying to do something really different, and new, that not everyone else is doing, you kind of have to have that blind faith, and not everyone believes it. But you can’t have false hope — you’ve got to kind of check in with people just to make sure you’re not being delusional.”
Which sounds exactly like how does his job as Amazon CEO.
Here, for your edification, is The Beths’ music video, “Straight Line Was A Lie.” (They should do a follow up: “Today Is Always Day One.”)
The post Andy Jassy On Grocery, Squiggly Lines, Betting Big, & Music Lessons appeared first on MNB.
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