I remember growing up reading Peter Lynch’s “Learn to Earn.” A central tenant is that you should buy stocks in companies with products you use…because if you’re using it, most likely, others are too.

A lot of the investing press revolves around FAANGs, but once, I asked my team, “of all the Tech companies that there are, which ones can you not live without?” My answer was Google and Amazon. Google, because it’s the fastest way to be productive as a coder. And Amazon, because it does two things: 1) provides the platform that allows small dev teams to punch above their weight, and 2) the retail side of the house, all things being equal, saves me time – a resource that all of us have a finite amount of.

I read this today, and despite all the negative things you can say about Amazon, the final statement is very true.

What is somewhat ironic, though, is that while the Internet is unquestionably a critical component of what makes Amazon Amazon, what makes the company so valuable and seemingly impregnable is the way it has integrated backwards into the world of atoms. Real moats are built with real dollars, and Bezos has been relentless in pushing the company to continually invest in solving problems with real world costs, from delivery trucks to data centers and everything in-between. This application of tech economics to the real world is what sets Bezos apart.

The world, particularly the United States, has been a massive beneficiary, especially in 2020: when people were stuck at home, what was the company they depended on more than any other to deliver supplies? When companies had to go remote overnight, what was the infrastructure that made that possible? When time needed to be filled with entertainment, games, or video calls, where did those services run? The answer in all cases was Amazon, and the companies that rose up to compete with it. That is one heck of a crowning achievement for a career that changed the industry and the world.