• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Invent Like An Owner

Hear from the Folks who built Amazon.com

  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Podcast
  • Amazon Launch Timeline
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search

How We Built Amazon | Kim Rachmeler

Dave Schappell · April 14, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Kim Rachmeler discusses How We Built Amazon

In our first ever episode, Dave speaks with Kim Rachmeler, former VP Worldwide Discovery and member of the S-Team at Amazon.com, Inc. She’s a skilled engineer and web developer whose efforts helped build and develop Amazon literally from the ground up. She shares the challenges of working with a small team of engineers when tech engineers were scarce and some of the iconic steps the company has taken to cope with consistent monthly growth.

Episode Resources:

  • Visit Upaya Social Ventures
  • Check out Kim’s LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our Newsletter
  • Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter
Transcript of InterviewDownload


What to Listen For:

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 02:16 How Kim started at Amazon
  • 04:50 What three things do you need to want something?
  • 07:14 Working as a Technical Project Manager for the first time
  • 09:41 Figuring out different process and running experiments
  • 13:39 On the 3rd version release of the Amazon website
  • 15:40 It started with more or less 35 people doing everything
  • 17:20 A 30% monthly growth had created several technical issues 
  • 20:31 Preventing downtime while website maintenance is ongoing
  • 23:13 Adding categories and other big changes
  • 26:15 Engineers are difficult to hire back in the day
  • 28:56 It was mainly an engineering problem for a long while 
  • 29:53 From being an engineer to becoming a TPM
  • 34:20 Nightly builds prompted people to pay more attention
  • 37:16 The service-oriented architecture
  • 40:24 Just Do It Award: how it came to be
  • 41:44 “Bias for Action” as a core value
  • 45:24 Overworking resulted in success, but it’s unhealthy 
  • 47:59 Tips for young entrepreneurs

Podcast Bias for Action, Just Do It Award, Leadership Principles, Service-Oriented Architecture

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2023 · InventLikeAnOwner.com

  • Home
  • Podcast
  • Amazon Launch Timeline
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service