I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast and the idea of building an online bookshop with millions of titles something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don't and I wasn't sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie told me I should go for it.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me and finally said, 'That sounds like a really good idea but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.' That logic made some sense to me and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.

Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice but, ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.