How Does Andy Jassy Lead Amazon's Startup Culture?

Can a business with the heft of Amazon really work like a startup? Absolutely. At least, that’s CEO Andy Jassy’s plan for the company.

In late 2024 Jassy issued a memo to employees at the ecommerce giant setting out plans to end its previous hybrid work policy and require corporate staff to return to the office five days a week. 

The note also revealed plans to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers, improve innovation and deepen collaboration – all part of a wider mandate to flatten the organisation, remove layers of management and empower faster decision making. 

Jassy said in the briefing: “We want to work like the world’s largest startup”, an ambition he explained would involve a mix of constant invention, high ownership, strong urgency and shared commitment. 

Efficiency is another key area of focus. Jassy touched on the subject recently at Amazon's annual conference for third-party sellers, where he outlined the importance of streaming processes and administration.

Growing like a startup

At the event in Seattle on 16 September, Jassy explained how he and the team are working to remove bureaucracy from the business – a step he cited as key to rapid innovation. 

“I would say bureaucracy is really anathema to startups and to entrepreneurial organisations,” he told attendees. “As you get larger, it’s really easy to accumulate bureaucracy, a lot of  bureaucracy that you may not see.”

It’s not the first time Jassy has discussed red tape. In the same 2024 memo, he highlighted the creation of a ‘ Bureaucracy Mailbox’, where staff can send examples of  “bureaucracy or unnecessary process”.

“To be clear, companies need process to run effectively, and process does not equal bureaucracy, but unnecessary and excessive process or rules should be called out and extinguished,” he said, adding “I will read these emails and action them accordingly.”

Long-term thinking and innovation

Jassy took the helm at Amazon in 2021, focusing on cost discipline and efficiency, long-term thinking and invention, and ensuring the brand stays agile while delivering on its customer obsession. 

Driving a startup mentality underpins these ambitions, with Jassy previously pushing for teams to embrace agility and scrappiness in how they work.

In a 2024 letter to shareholders he built on this theme, drilling down on one thing that ‘disproportionately matters’ for every business: speed.

“Speed is a leadership decision,” he wrote. “The leadership team has to believe it’s a priority, reinforce it constantly, organise and remove structural barriers and build in modular ways that enable pace. 

“But speed does not happen unless the entire company and culture embrace it,” he stressed. 

Jassy told shareholders that, to succeed, Amazon must “constantly question” everything, before setting out the key leadership principles at the heart of the business. 

These include never losing the desire to learn and be curious, not being afraid to disagree or challenge, and supporting strong judgement and instinct with a collaborative mindset. 

“We operate like the world’s largest startup in large part because of our culture of Why. We don’t always get everything right, and we learn and iterate like crazy,” he said.  

“But, we’re constantly choosing to prioritise customers, delivery, invention, ownership, speed, scrappiness, curiosity and building a company that outlasts us all. It remains Day One.”

Seven steps to startup culture

Jassy shared seven ways Amazon is working like a startup. 

A crucial first step is always building to solve real customer problems which, he says, is supported by a quest to find builders and inventors capable of dissecting customer experience. 

He also stressed the need for ‘owners’ who feel accountable for key business decisions and product development, noting: “They care deeply about the quality and effectiveness of what they own, and view the company’s mission as their mission.”

Other key startup attributes are speed, the ability to be scrappy and “get the most done with the least number of resources required to do the job”, and a willingness to take risks. 

“Finally, you have to care about delivering compelling results for customers,” said Jassy. “It’s not how charismatic you are. It’s not whether you’re really good at managing up or sideways. What matters is what we actually get done for customers.”