It's the people, stupid

Jason Kilar was the first SVP I presented in front of when I joined Amazon back in 2005. I worked with him on Webstore by Amazon's 2006 operating plan, and I loved the perspective he had on the business I owned. I learned to not just gather, analyze, and present data; I learned to ask myself am I doing the right thing, the right way, and follow that immediately up with how are we going to win? That was very refreshing for him to step away from the raw numbers and ensure I understood the big picture and the strategy behind Webstore. My personal and professional growth is a function of a number of experiences in my career, and my interactions with Jason definitely shaped who I am today.

People are the difference in whether innovative concepts succeed or fail. YouTube wasn't the first online video service (Google beat them to it by a long shot), but YouTube had great people - people that founded PayPal and turned it into a success. That was the difference. You might argue that YouTube had a better user experience than anyone else out there, and I would agree. And I think that better experience was a function of the people at YouTube who "got it."

Jason moved on from Amazon, and he now heads up Hulu, which looks to be a promising video content site and I would expect to do very well with Jason running the show. I've signed up for the beta, will see if I am invited.

Oh yeah... good luck Jason! I'm rooting for you.