Source: AMZN Letter to shareholders
Published: April 2012

Empower Others to Unleash Their Creativity

Circulated: January 13, 2020

“The most radical of inventions are often those that empower others to unleash their creativity. With Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment by Amazon, and Kindle Direct Publishing we are creating self-service platforms that allow people to accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible.

These innovative, large-scale platforms are not zero-sum — they create win-win situations and create significant value for developers, entrepreneurs, customers, authors, and readers. I am emphasizing the self-service nature of these platforms because even well-meaning gatekeepers slow innovation. When a platform is self-service there’s no expert gatekeeper ready to say that will never work!”

- Jeff Bezos