Always Day One

Chapter 1

Inside Jeff Bezos s Culture of Invention

Amazon s Seattle headquarters bear little resemblance to Silicon Valley s sprawling campuses. Rather than tuck itself away in the comfort and anonymity of the suburbs, the company operates in the heart of the still-­developing South Lake Union neighbor­hood. Its buildings ­named after project code names like Doppler (Echo) and Fiona (Kindle) ­line the streets there, holding more than fifty thousand employees, with ongoing construction making room for more. Swarms of Amazonians move through the neighborhood s streets on weekdays, and if you fight your way through them, you can walk right into one of the company s most promising experiments.

A few stories beneath Jeff Bezos s office, on the ground floor of his Day One office tower, Amazon is piloting a new form of grocery store, called Go, that does away with checkout. To buy something from Go, you scan in with an app, take whatever you want, and just . . . leave. Moments later, Amazon pushes a receipt to your phone, accounting for the items you took. Go has no lines, no waiting, and no cashiers. It feels like the future, and it very well might be.

Go is powered by some impressive technology, much of which you can see by looking up. Cameras and sensors line its ceilings, pointing every which way to capture your body and its movements as you walk its aisles. Using computer vision (a subset of machine learning), Go figures out who you are, what you ve taken, and what you ve put back. Then it charges you. The store is almost always accurate, as I ve found in my various attempts to trick it. No matter the method, be it concealing products or running in and out at my top speed (sixteen seconds total visit time), Go has never missed an item.

The story behind Go extends beyond hardware and code, though. It is, more than anything, a product of Amazon s distinct culture, the stuff you can t see. Inside Amazon, Bezos has turned invention into a

Alex Kantrowitz is the founder of Big Technology, a newsletter and podcast about Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. His book Always Day One: How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever debuted in April 2020. His work has been referenced by dozens of major publications, from The New Yorker to The Wall Street Journal to Sports Illustrated. Kantrowitz is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

"The Tech Giants are far from perfect, but Always Day One reveals the inventive elements of their culture that entrepreneurs can and should learn from." Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur, investor, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks
 
Always Day One is the gangster read that provides an inside look at the culture that has allowed the tech titans to perform infanticide on their competition. Alex Kantrowitz is both thorough and critical while reminding us to remain optimistic about our future living alongside big tech. Scott Galloway, author of The Four and The Algebra of Happiness
 
"This book is a must-read for anyone trying to understand how successful companies operate in the age of the tech giants, and anyone hoping to explore the secrets behind those giants dominance. It is a delightful romp through Silicon Valley and beyond." Charles Duhigg, author of bestsellers The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better

"Not your traditional leadership book, Always Day One takes you deep inside the tech giants, revealing the inner workings of the world's most innovative companies." Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable

The world's most successful technology companies have secrets behind why they've thrived. Those secrets are the reason why they are, in equal parts, inspiring and infuriating. Read Always Day One to learn some of the most important ones. Roy Bahat, venture capitalist at Bloomberg Beta