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"À mesure qu'une entreprise grandit, tout doit évoluer, y compris la taille de vos expériences ratées. Si la taille de vos échecs ne grandit pas, vous n'allez pas innover à une échelle qui peut réellement faire bouger les choses. Amazon va expérimenter à la"

Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos Entrepreneur
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When a company gets bigger, its experiments—and the failures that come with them—have to get bigger too. Otherwise, the company won't innovate in ways that will truly make an impact. This idea was highlighted by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who knows a thing or two about scaling a business. He was talking about how Amazon keeps pushing the boundaries of what's possible, even if it means some pretty big flops along the way.

Think about it: When you're small, you might test out a new product with a small batch of customers. If it doesn't work out, no biggie, right? But when you're as massive as Amazon, you can't afford to think small. Your experiments need to match the scale of your operations. If they fail, they fail big—think billions-of-dollars big. Yet, this is crucial for true innovation. Because if you're playing it safe, you're not really pushing the boundaries.

Take Amazon Prime, for example. When Amazon first introduced the idea of free two-day shipping for a yearly fee, it was a huge gamble. The logistics alone were mind-boggling. They had to completely overhaul their shipping infrastructure, hire more people, and basically bet that customers wanted fast shipping enough to pay for it upfront. It was a colossal experiment. Had it failed, it would have been a massive loss. But it worked—big time. Amazon Prime has become a cornerstone of their business, driving more sales and customer loyalty.

So, how do you apply this wisdom to your own ventures? Start by embracing the idea that bigger risks can lead to bigger rewards. Maybe you're working on a startup or managing a growing team. Don't be afraid to take on projects that might seem too big or too risky. If you're always playing it safe, you won't make the kind of progress that can change the game.

Imagine you're running a small tech company. You've had some success with a few app launches, and now you're thinking about venturing into hardware—say, creating a smart home device. This is a massive leap from what you've been doing. It's going to require a lot of resources, new hires, and likely, you'll face technical challenges you've never encountered before. It’s risky, and there's a chance it might not pan out. But if it does, it could catapult your company into a whole new market.

Remember, not every experiment will be a win. You'll have setbacks. Maybe the hardware project will have production delays, or the market won't respond as you hoped. That's okay. Each failure is a learning opportunity. And the bigger the failure, the more you learn.

So, don't shy away from those big, bold moves. If you want to innovate on a scale that really makes a difference, you have to be willing to face some big failures. And next time you're considering whether to pursue that ambitious project, ask yourself: Is this an experiment big enough to move the needle? If the answer is yes, then go for it—just like Bezos would.
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Business development Business strategy Company growth Entrepreneurship Experimentation Failure Innovation Risk management Scaling
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