????1994年，西雅圖一家“資金雄厚的初創(chuàng)公司”通過一則網(wǎng)絡(luò)招聘廣告尋找“極有才華的開發(fā)人員，以共創(chuàng)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)商務(wù)的先河?！笔煜ぞW(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)器、網(wǎng)站和HTML語言“更佳，但并非必要條件?！背晒Φ暮蜻x者將得到“有才華、有干勁、熱情、有趣的同事”。薪酬包括“有意義的股權(quán)”。

????有興趣的求職者可以將簡歷和求職信直接發(fā)送給CEO兼創(chuàng)始人杰夫·貝佐斯。

????過去二十年，亞馬遜徹底顛覆了商業(yè)世界，成為電子商務(wù)巨頭，年收入超過880億美元。而在1995年7月15日，貝佐斯創(chuàng)建的只是一家在線書店，辦公地便是他的車庫。當(dāng)時網(wǎng)站幾乎沒有任何庫存；根據(jù)客戶需求向經(jīng)銷商購買圖書。網(wǎng)站賣出的第一本書是：《流體概念與創(chuàng)造性類比：計算機思維機制模型》。

????公司第一位員工謝爾·卡普漢在接受GeekWire采訪時表示，即便貝佐斯也沒有想到公司會發(fā)展到如此大的規(guī)模。亞馬遜早期員工喬納森·柯契摩爾對《財富》雜志表示：“初期團隊的唯一使命是，讓全世界每一個人都能買到想要的圖書?！彪S著公司開始出售女性時裝、Kindle和其他電子產(chǎn)品，公司的使命也發(fā)生了變化。如今，公司投資電視劇和電影，是云計算領(lǐng)域的重要力量，計劃提供本地服務(wù)的在線市場，并且率先嘗試用無人機配送商品。

????亞馬遜的野心或許是其他任何公司都難以企及的。亞馬遜提交上市文件時，其1995年的銷售額為51.1萬美元。1996年便達到了1570萬美元。在截至2015年3月31日的季度中，公司的銷售額達到227億美元，凈損失5700萬美元，這相當(dāng)于1996年總收入的四倍。

????如今，亞馬遜已經(jīng)成為一個龐然大物，它是美國最受尊敬的公司之一，但與此同時也備受批評。有人將亞馬遜形容為不遵守規(guī)則的競爭對手，并且有相當(dāng)繁重的工作環(huán)境。

????但20年前，亞馬遜剛剛起步，正在努力站穩(wěn)腳跟。以下是早期加入（和退出）的員工對當(dāng)時工作情景的一些回憶。

????經(jīng)過其他人的勸說，杰夫·貝佐斯才最終放棄將公司命名為“Relentless”。

????貝佐斯為公司選用的第一個名稱是Cadabra，即Abracadabra（魔咒）一詞的縮寫。卡普漢對GeekWire表示，有一個問題：人們常常將這個詞聽成“cadaver”（尸體），這至少會令人感到不愉快。后來貝佐斯打算重新命名為“Relentless”，意指一心一意滿足客戶的期望?？ㄆ諠h表示：“經(jīng)過一番說服他才相信，不見得每個人都會正確理解這個詞的含義?！?/p>

????有無家可歸者睡在公司門口。

????隨著公司的發(fā)展，貝佐斯的車庫已經(jīng)無法容納，因此公司多次更換辦公地點。其中之一是位于第二大道1516號的哥倫比亞大廈，周邊的治安很糟糕。瑞貝卡·艾倫說道：“許多游客會經(jīng)過這里，那里是西雅圖市犯罪率最高的地方之一，盜竊和持刀傷人等事件經(jīng)常發(fā)生。如果網(wǎng)站出現(xiàn)了嚴重的錯誤，而且你在家無法解決，你必須在深夜進入大樓，比如凌晨3點，有時候你可能得跨過或繞過睡在門口的人?！痹?996年至1998年，艾倫曾在亞馬遜擔(dān)任軟件工程師。

????有一次，她吃過午飯走回辦公樓時，發(fā)現(xiàn)“大樓周邊的整片區(qū)域都有警察在警戒，因為在十字路口站著一個人手里拿著一把大刀，警察將他圍了起來，試圖說服他放下武器?！彼撕荛L時間才讓警察同意她越過警戒線，回到辦公室。

????有人非常熱愛他們的工作，甚至從來不回家。

????即使在最初的時候，亞馬遜也以對員工要求苛刻而著稱。（哪一家初創(chuàng)公司不是如此？）但有時候，工作意味著從來不用回家?？缕跄枌σ淮伍L時間加班的記憶尤為深刻。他說道：“我有一個月沒有回過家。這并非迫于外界壓力，而是因為我非常熱愛自己所做的事情。從我家到公司乘坐公交車只需要15分鐘。幸運的是，樓內(nèi)設(shè)有淋浴，附近有一家服裝店。而且還有一家自助洗衣店。”

????公司有官方寵物狗。

????緊湊的時間表，一定程度上意味著人們沒有太多時間待在家里。對于埃里克與蘇珊·本森來說，這意味著要么將他們的愛犬魯夫斯留在家里，要么帶著他去公司。本森夫婦在2001年離開了公司，魯夫斯也在2009年去世，但亞馬遜網(wǎng)站依然保留著曾經(jīng)為它設(shè)立的一個網(wǎng)頁。魯夫斯會在走廊徘徊，旁聽會議，員工們對他寵愛有加，他還經(jīng)常收到顧客的禮物。

????網(wǎng)站上有許多錯別字。

????艾倫表示，系統(tǒng)確實有令人印象深刻的地方，但“它也具有當(dāng)時的特色，就像是用泡泡糖和電工膠”粘在一起。公司使用的信息源自經(jīng)銷商的數(shù)據(jù)庫，這些信息并不對消費者公開，因此書名或作者姓名經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)拼寫錯誤。

????艾倫加入公司時，公司僅有一種覆蓋數(shù)據(jù)庫內(nèi)容的“初級”機制。艾倫說道：“我加入亞馬遜的時候，奧普拉的讀書俱樂部幾乎同時成立。營銷部門的某位負責(zé)人與奧普拉的人進行了交流，并說服他們提前告知他們要公布的下一本書?！蹦鞘嵌鹛K拉·海吉的《河中之石》。結(jié)果數(shù)據(jù)庫拼錯了她的名字?！拔覀兊哪繕?biāo)是不能太難看。有幾個人來找我，要求我糾正錯誤。”艾倫問他們是否能絕對保證拼寫正確，因為即使進行一次修改也要承擔(dān)風(fēng)險。他們信誓旦旦；結(jié)果，他們還是錯了。那個問題雖然得到了解決，但為了保持公司運轉(zhuǎn)，我們需要解決的問題總是一個接一個。事實上，在繁忙的圣誕節(jié)期間，除了程序員，其他所有人都要去包裝貨物。就連貝佐斯自己也在倉庫里忙碌。

????貝佐斯打算給員工配備護膝。

????在創(chuàng)新技術(shù)誕生的過程中，有一些簡單的事情有時會被人忽視。亞馬遜的員工在包裝貨物時，一直蹲著或跪在地上。貝佐斯建議為每個人配備護膝。貝佐斯曾經(jīng)的室友、將貝佐斯介紹給柯契摩爾的尼古拉斯·拉夫喬伊指出，在桌子進行包裝會更容易。貝佐斯稱贊這個主意“太棒了”。據(jù)報道，亞馬遜仍在增加桌子腿，在戶外組裝桌子。

????薪酬非?？蓱z。

????忘了現(xiàn)在科技公司的理念吧，比如回報員工，提供各種豐厚的福利等?？缕跄栒f道：“當(dāng)時，我們許多人非常貧窮。工資很低。我經(jīng)常吃面條配冷凍青豆?！钡罱K，我們的付出獲得了回報。艾倫在職場倦怠期之前離開了公司。她說道：“我來自一個工薪家庭。我不需要太多?？粗呀?jīng)得到的，我問自己：‘我為什么在這里？’于是我離開了?！钡琅f持有公司的股份，這是一筆巨大的回報。“我再也不必工作了，”她說道。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????審校：任文科

????In 1994, an online job posting from a “well-capitalized start-up” in Seattle looked for “extremely talented … developers to help pioneer commerce on the Internet.” Familiarity with web servers, websites, and HTML “would be helpful but not necessary.” Successful candidates could expect “talented, motivated, intense, and interesting co-workers.” Compensation included “meaningful equity ownership.”

????Those interested could send a resume and cover letter directly to the CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos.

????In the last two decades, Amazon has completely redefined the world of commerce, becoming an e-commerce giant with $88 billion-plus in revenues. But Bezos launched the company as an online book seller July 15, 1995 and operated it out of his garage. There was virtually no inventory; books were bought from distributors as customers demanded them. The first title sold: Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.

????Not even Bezos realized how big the company would become, according to an interview that Shel Kaphan, the company’s first employee, gave to GeekWire. “The early group came on board with the sole mission of making [books] available to everyone in the world,” Jonathan Kochmer, an early employee, told Fortune. That soon changed, as the company began selling everything from women’s fashion to the Kindle and other electronics. Now the company bankrolls TV shows and movies, is a major force in cloud computing, plans an online marketplace for local services, and is pioneering product delivery by drone.

????The level of ambition may be unmatched by any other company. When Amazon filed its paperwork to go public, its 1995 sales were $511,000. In 1996 they hit $15.7 million. In the quarter that ended March 31, 2015, sales hit $22.7 billion, with a net loss of $57 million, or almost four times the total revenue of 1996.

????Today, Amazon is a behemoth that is one of America’s most admired and much-criticized companies. Some consider it a bare-knuckled figure of a competitor with an equally punishing work environment.

????But 20 years ago, the company was a start-up and trying to get its feet squarely on the ground. Here are some memories of what it was like to work there at the time, from people who got in (and, in some cases, got out) early.

????Jeff Bezos had to be talked out of renaming the company, “Relentless.”

????The first name Bezos chose for the company was Cadabra, as in an abbreviated version of Abracadabra. As Kaphan told GeekWire, there was one problem: People often heard the name as cadaver, which was, to say the least, off-putting. Bezos then wanted to name it “Relentless,” as in intently satisfying customers’ desires. “It took a little convincing that perhaps that was not going to have the right connotations in everybody’s minds,” Kaphan said.

????There were homeless people sleeping in the doorway.

????After getting too big for the Bezos garage, the staff moved into a series of buildings. One of them, the Columbia Building at 1516 Second Avenue, was in what you could call a tough neighborhood. “A lot of tourists go through there, but it’s at the corner of one of the highest crime corners in the city of Seattle, everything from purse snatchings to knifings,” said Rebecca Allen, a software engineer at the company from 1996 to 1998, told Fortune. “If you had to go into the building late at night, like at 3 AM, because something horrible had gone wrong and you couldn’t fix it from home, you sometimes had to step over or around people sleeping in the doorway.”

????Once when she was walking back from having lunch, “a whole chunk of the area around the building was cordoned off by police because there was a guy with a big sword standing in the intersection surrounded by police officers trying to talk him down,” she said. It took her a few minutes to talk her way past a rope so she could reenter the office.

????Some people loved their jobs so much they never went home.

????Even back in the day, Amazon was known as a demanding place to work. (What start-up isn’t?) But sometimes work meant never having to go home. Kochmer remembered a particularly long stretch. “There was a month when I did not go home once,” he said. “It wasn’t because people were breathing down my desk. It was because I was incredibly passionate about what I was doing. I only lived a 15 minute bus ride away. Luckily there was a shower in the building and a clothing store nearby.” And a nearby laundromat.

????The company had an official dog.

????Part of the hectic schedules meant that people didn’t necessarily get much time at home. For Eric and Susan Benson, that meant either leaving their dog, Rufus, at home or taking him with them.” Even though the Bensons left the company in 2001 and Rufus died in 2009, he still has a webpage on Amazon’s site. Rufus would wander the hallways, sit in on meetings, get spoiled by employees, and receive presents from customers.

????The site had lots of misspellings.

????The system did some impressive things, but it was also strung together in the “bubblegum and electrical tape nature of how things worked at the time,” Allen said. The company used information from distributor databases that was never intended to be seen by consumers, so titles or author names were frequently misspelled.

????When Allen joined the company, there was only a “rudimentary” mechanism to override the database contents. “Oprah’s book club started around the same time I started at Amazon,” Allen said. “Somebody at the top at marketing talked to Oprah’s people and convinced them to tell us slightly in advance the next book announcement so we’d know what it would be.” It was Ursula Hegi’s Stones from the River. Her name was spelled incorrectly in the database. “Our goal in this was to not look bad. A couple of people came over to me and asked me to make the correction.” Allen asked if they were absolutely sure of the spelling, because making a change even once was risky. They were sure; they also were wrong. That got fixed, but the need to keep things running never ended. In fact, programmers were the only ones who were exempt from packing boxes at the Christmas rush. Even Bezos was busy in the warehouse.

????Bezos wanted to get the staff knee pads.

????For all the drive to create innovative technology, it was the simple things that sometimes could escape notice. While packing boxes, people had been squatting on the ground or working on their knees. Bezos had suggested getting everyone knee pads. Nicholas Lovejoy, a former housemate and the one who introduced Bezos to Kochmer, pointed out that using tables to pack would be easier. “Brilliant,” Bezos called the idea. The company still reportedly builds tables out of doors by adding legs.

????The pay was terrible.

????Forget the current concept of tech companies feeding employees and offering all manner of luxurious benefits. “At that point, many of us were still very poor,” Kochmer said. “The salaries were kind of low. I ate a lot of ramen with frozen peas.” But eventually the gamble paid off. Allen left before hitting the burn-out stage. “I come from a working class background,” she said. “I don’t necessarily need that much, looked at what I had already, and asked, ‘Why am I here?’ I left.” But she held onto her stock, which was the big payoff. “I’m never going to have to work again,” she said.