this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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You're transported back to 1994 with all your current knowledge and $50,000. Your goal is to create the world's biggest online shopping company.

How do you go about it?

As a further thought experiment, if you travelled back to 1960 with all your current knowledge and the goal of becoming the richest person on earth, what businesses would you start?

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[–] Justagoodoleboi@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Amazon had people who were gonna back it while it lost money for years. As far as I know they were a pioneer in this. There is no “out compete” when your competitors are losing money on purpose lol

[–] GuidanceGlittering65@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Why would you start a business when you have the benefit of knowing the future of the stock market? Buy Amazon early and often and live life.

[–] Azrael1981@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

look ,if you go back in time just invest in bitcoin don't bother with anything else.

[–] PabloEstAmor@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Start a Web Services company and get as much market share as possible before AWS is even a thing. Let them sell a bunch of drop shipped crap from China, I’m good on that side of the business.

[–] MeFancyRedditAccount@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

How would you use the 50k to raise the millions needed just to get that started?

[–] PuzzleheadedCap168@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's actually a really good point.

Bezos was brilliant in that he identified a market that was real cheap to break into, and his goal was to expand it from there.

Use the mail system and sell cheap stuff people don't really want to go to the store for.

Most people interested in books don't really care if they're going to Borders or Barnes and Noble, cause they hear of a good book from friends or internet reviews. Books are cheap, and readers just want to buy one that other people with similar interests recommend.

However, he originally intended to stick with retail-type or grocery-type business I personally think.

AWS was created on accident in many ways. They built out their infrastructure internally to support hot times of year, like Christmas, etc.

But then it's all wasted most the year. So someone had a brilliant idea to sell access to that surplus hardware capacity off-season.

Thus the cloud was born.

I don't think it was Andy Jassy exclusively responsible for that idea, more likely it came from a few folks at once. Bezos is also credited. But that's why Mr. Jassy is Amazon CEO today.

[–] thisdesignup@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

AWS was created on accident in many ways. They built out their infrastructure internally to support hot times of year, like Christmas, etc.

Now imagine going back knowing this. What if you could create a service where you sell your own server hosting services too them. Stop AWS from ever happening. Can't compete if that side of their business doesn't exist. Can't guarantee that they'd actually buy from you but... still it's an interesting thought. You know ahead of time that all these business will need that service. So start selling it to them.

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[–] Henrik-Powers@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I would have just befriended Bezos and become an early investor, then invest into bitcoin at inception and help the world convert to bitcoin and get off the inferior fiat currencies.

[–] thatgeekinit@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

If you went back with tens of millions, you could buy a board seat with Sears and not let their management loot the place.

[–] Kevinclimbstrees@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Well, he go a loan from his parents for $250,000, so it would be hard to compete with him.

[–] TravisLedo@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Why do all that work? $50,000 even at $1 a Bitcoin. You would be close to 2 billion right now. 3 Billion if you sold at the last peak.

[–] titanicx@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Easy I would shoot Jeff bezos and take over the company.

[–] Flow_n__tall@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Move to Seattle and beat up bezzos every time I see him. Get progressively more brutal and tell him I'll stop if he gets out of business and gives all his money to charity. Follow up every 5 years or so with a beat down for good measure and tell him this is for in case he thinks I've forgotten and thinks he can go back into business. Also make him work at borders.

[–] princess_chef@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (8 children)

I wouldn’t.

If I had that money with that knowledge, I’d find Bezos and invest all of it for as much equity as possible.

Then just sit back and reap the rewards without the work.

Even if I knew what Amazon would become and had some cash to start, I would also know that I’d be going up against one of the most fierce entrepreneurs of this time.

I think even in this situation, almost no one would beat him.

[–] lookmeat@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Eh, investing that much is going to affect the results. With more money (for a lower percentage) Bezos wouldn't get certain people on the board for Amazon, and you wouldn't have the same company. It'd miss connections and guidance that now allows some disaster.

Instead I'd start investing with knowledge of the future. Short Apple then buy when it's lowest before Jobs returns. Invest heavily in web companies, then short them in 1998 for 2002. Invest heavily in the few exceptions at this point, Google, Amazon, etc. In the early 2000s start a mining operation early on. Do not sell all the bitcoin immediately, but do not try to corner the market. Keep selling every so much to keep the market going as much as usual. When it drops buy more, when it goes higher than you bought it start selling until it drops. Short everything in 2007, focus on buying real-estate post-collapse, and keep it going.

Now if you really want to use knowledge you have, get some patents out for some key tech, and offer it at good prices for tech. Invest and gain ownership of the right tech, and then offer it to the right person at the right time almost for free, with the hope that they'll make it more successful. Do small things, invent things that are useful, but really focus on ownership. If you start with sufficient amount of money you should be able to do a very aggressive short for the dot-com bust, and get a lot of money on that.

This has a huge moral cost too. You have to allow 9/11 to happen, otherwise everything could change. So maybe being rich is kind of dumb, given the insane raw power you have. But I guess you could throw it and play enough to be mostly a billionaire by the mid-2000s after having prevented 9/11, this means that the Iraq war would be different and you'd have to plan carefully to survive a changed financial crisis.

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[–] Cody6781@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

~~fierce~~ lucky entrepreneurs

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[–] wnzojkos@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

In 1960, I set out to become the wealthiest person on Earth and I put all my money into AI technology.

[–] worldsinho@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

OP asks how you create the biggest online shopping experience and everyone replies with ‘invest in Bitcoin’.

🤡s

[–] Slobbadobbavich@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Musk rat your way into Amazon and buy 51% of the shares.

[–] Code4Kicks@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Amazon is less a store than it is a marketplace connecting buyers and sellers and taking a piece from everyone than it is a store. What I do is build a platform and service to do the same with Service Merchandise who could have dominated the industry. Business takes 5% of every sale. 50k only works since I’m a dev and could build in India.

[–] Grand_rooster@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Irony. I actually started an online store in 1994, but i sucked at marketing so i shut it down.

Id be better at marketing now.

[–] ComplexOccam@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I’d do everything bezos did, but immediately run a tech route to get ahead of Apples iPhone iPad etc.

[–] JacobStyle@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

If I were transported back to 1960 with all my current knowledge, I wouldn't try to get rich. I'd make sure I was set up reasonably well financially of course, but I wouldn't bother getting rich. Once I knew I was set financially, I'd go all in on playing up the crazed but extremely accurate prophet angle. I do not dream of riches. I dream of acting weird on Ed Sullivan.

[–] Previous_Guitar5027@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Buy the domain name “pornhub.com” and get to work

[–] ImaHalfwit@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

You’re overlooking the fact that a huge component of Amazons profitability is web services.

If your goal was to “beat them”…best bet would be to start something like Walmart of leverage your physical infrastructure to become the biggest online retailer as well as brick and mortar retailer.

[–] Mountain_Discount_94@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Put a hit out on bezos for $40,000. Use the rest to make a worse version of Amazon.

[–] JackRumford@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

You don’t. Money is a tiny factor of success.

[–] beasttyme@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I would allow like a legal bidding kind of like what but more set up and scheduled like a real auction.

Also, one reason Amazon beats its competition is prime and delivery methods.

I would set up my own trucking system that includes drone deliveries and local stations to get items delivered in like 30 minutes.

I would make categories in shopping like little boxes you can shop through for specific items.

Customer service training would be a requirement for my workers.

I would allow for mark down on items for in person shopping days through out the month. These times would vary and it would be like a black Friday situation.

I would add a flipping event. Like how people buy shoes and flip them.

I would add a sports betting branch

[–] Artboutiki@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I would get ahead of the things they did really well early in terms of building a large marketplace with third patty sellers and not waste t8me on an auction site. That and their Advantage program for booksellers, would allow them to invest in the platform and make vendors pay for their warehouses and logistics

[–] xxxxcyberdyn@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't compete. I'd become a drop shipper before its overcrowded, and invest in Amazon with my profits.

[–] jwrig@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Ask Sears how they did it before Amazon.

[–] leesan177@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I would start by sending the T800 after Bezos.

[–] CallMeJimi@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

only better niche i can think of than books is movies. the great part about books and movies is that the catalog is giant. so giant that a bookstore can’t hold all books and a blockbuster can’t hold all movies. I would do basically the same thing that amazon did at the start but with movies because I think I can get a better margin on them.

Once movies takes off I think the best option is to make my own version of prime early. subscriptions were still new and getting people on early is the way. offer free shipping and maybe include a free movie once a month.

use movies to expand into streaming and other goods at the same time.

[–] blingless8@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't try to beat Amazon. I'd simply start building services they would need or acquire (aka the shovels during the gold rush).

  1. Storage/warehouse space close to major commercial transport hubs
  2. Software for logistics, mapping, delivery, inventory management etc
  3. Data centres (for AWS)
  4. Develop relationships with manufacturers to frontrun the drop shipping market
  5. Buy/license content to publish for KDP
[–] BaneWraith@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I'd invest 50,000 into Amazon. Fuck trying to beat bezos, he's got a good idea.

[–] No_Mushroom3078@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Back to 1960 would be easier than 1994 as $50k will go much further in 1960 than 1994. With my current knowledge on metals and alloys I would contract to MIT to build a CNC Mill (as they started working on one in 1952 and patented the design in 1958, I would have them make a set up to make valve keepers (for engines) and sell bulk keepers to Toyota and Honda for much cheaper than they could currently get them for, I would also sell to the USA three (Ford, GM, and Dymler) and have a factory in Germany to supply to the European cars (I would have 5 or 6 different companies under one unrelated umbrella so the US companies would not think they are buying from a Japanese supplier or European supplier (and Germany buying from Japan’s company) but in reality I would get all the work. So if you math out, every engine with valves gets 2 keepers per valve if they are sold in bulk for $0.005 per keeper and they spit out 100,000 cars annually with 6 cylinders (2 valves per cylinder, I’m using 6 to average the v10 and also the single cylinder small engines I feel that this is fair or on the low side especially with the US big V8’s) so that’s about $95,000 annually. Within 3 years I have insane production to meet demand, and I would lock them all in with a 15 year contract or so and then if someone wants to under cut my contract at the end I would reduce the price at a larger volume to $0.002.

The next company in 1965 would be Ethernet cabling for networking, and patent the RJ45 connector, we would work with MIT and CalTec to get computers to talk and listen and communicate. The fax machine was invented in the late 1800’s so that would be the jumping off point.

I would be working with IBM (at this point I would be a big player in their field) and I would hire Bill Gates and contract him to work with IBM on Software for IBM business machines and give resources for personal computers. And at California Tech I would see Steve Jobs and Steve Was with the Apple One and have them work on hardware for computers. I would own both these companies (under different names and umbrellas).

In 1970 I would have a nice war chest of money and technology. I would work on the electrical side of vehicles to eliminate a carburetor and replace with fuel injection, on my new car line (pick a name that’s not important), I would be set up for having a very fuel efficient vehicle just in time for the US oil embargo. And add active fuel management (cylinder delete) so we could even see 55 miles per gallon on highway driving. We would work on hybrid technology and have these cars for the masses.

I feel that I should buy land in current Dubai and start developing.

That’s probably good.

[–] angelsandairwaves93@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

You steal/woo away Jeff's partner.

[–] ExtraordinaryMagic@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Regulatory capture. Once they double down on books you regulate online book sales through government lobby and crush their free market spirit!!! Big book wins, big tech never happens and Barnes and noble rules the future.

[–] JollyGiant573@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Easy I goto a power house retailer like SEARS and explain this is the future to them! They tried but it was too late by the time they got on the online bandwagon.

[–] the_shaman@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Be Sears, but with email and online ordering.

[–] obliqueoccasions@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

just checking to see if this account can post comments

[–] twelve112@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Just buy the stock bro dum ideA

[–] aimal1st@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Dude was a quant. People forget how smart he actually was with numbers and science outside of his work ethic. I wouldn’t want to compete with that

[–] curlvusha@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't do jack squat, I will just wit to link up with Bill gates , Jef Besos, Elon and all the founders of the most valuable tech companies in the world and be an angel investor at the founding of their respective companies, fast forward 2023 I will be among the top 20 richest people in the world.

[–] lmaccaro@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

When I worked at Walmart corporate, I tried to build some momentum around competing with prime circa 2007, by using every store as a distribution hub and by virtue of bein 15 minutes away from 95% of Americans, offer a 2 hr guarenteed delivery.

Now they are trying to do that, but it’s 15 years too late.

[–] thisdesignup@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

All my current knowledge? Do I have time to learn more about Amazon and how they did things? Cause I think I'd aim for exactly what they are doing but with the better understanding I have of the web and how it will work in the future.

[–] aftercla-ss21st@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

By disrupting the market. Also having a limited liability or S Corp! With that 50k I would payback all my loans from banks and 2 days earlier at that! Also I would network and have a targeted audience by location, climate, and cost of living. Also I would have created a brand with new styles.. And yes, lady models mostly. I'd Take the background other than a personal all black brand for the click!

[–] DifferentAddition469@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

You'd need more money, amazon achieved dominance by buying out competitors and supressing prices. They had a long enough runaway to not make profit for years and continue anticompetitive tactics. With 50k, your only bet would be to buy Amazon stock.

[–] Impossible_Fee3886@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I mean you don’t go all in on the online shopping. You patent anything and everything around cloud compute and then when you own the real revenue generator you can buy Amazon. Retail and online shopping is not the reason Jeff Bezos is Jeff Bezos.

[–] mr--godot@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

I leverage my knowledge of the future to get very rich betting on stocks and sports.

Fuck working, easy money is best money.

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