Customer obsession, career advice, and death

Welcome back to the Z Fellows newsletter! Every Monday we share 3 ideas - to help you build companies, ship products, and create your life's work.

1: Jeff Bezos on Having A Customer Obsession

"Focus relentlessly on customers.” — Jeff Bezos (1997 Shareholder Letter)

“I constantly remind our employees to be afraid, to wake up every morning terrified. Not of our competition, but of our customers. Our customers have made our business what it is, they are the ones with whom we have a relationship, and they are the ones to whom we owe a great obligation. And we consider them to be loyal to us—right up until the second that someone else offers them a better service.” — Jeff Bezos (1998 Shareholder Letter)

“Our vision is to build Earth’s most customer-centric company.” — Jeff Bezos 1999 Shareholder Letter)

“The customer experience we create is by far the most important driver of our business.” — Jeff Bezos (2003 Shareholder Letter)

Source: Invent & Wander

2: Charlie Munger’s Career Advice

“What should a young person look for in a career?

I have three basic rules—meeting all three is nearly impossible, but you should try anyway:

• Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself

• Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire

• Work only with people you enjoy

I have been incredibly fortunate in my life: With Warren, I had all three.”

Source: Poor Charlie’s Almanac

3: Steve Jobs on Death

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear.”

Source: Make Something Wonderful

Best of The Week

See you next Monday,

- Jay + The Z Fellows Team

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