Gain experience before starting up, says Jeff Bezos: 5 lessons for young entrepreneurs from the Amazon chairman

In a recent interview at Italian Tech Week, Jeff Bezos shared insights that challenge the popular myth that college dropouts are the ultimate entrepreneurs. He called tech icons like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates “the exception,” emphasising that most successful founders benefit from real-world experience before starting their own companies. Bezos advised young people to work at a best-practices company to learn key skills such as hiring, interviewing, and team management. “There’s still lots of time to start a company after you have absorbed it,” he said, stressing that this preparation “increases your odds” of success.

Here are five key lessons from the Amazon chairman for aspiring entrepreneurs:
Gain experience firstBezos strongly believes that working in established, high-performing companies teaches fundamental business skills that are difficult to acquire independently. Exposure to real-world business challenges—whether managing budgets, handling customer relations, or navigating corporate politics—helps build judgment, resilience, and confidence.

By the time Bezos launched Amazon, he had worked at Wall Street firms such as Fitel, Bankers Trust, and D. E. Shaw & Co., where he learned about technology, finance, and operations. These experiences shaped his ability to make informed decisions, anticipate risks, and scale a business effectively.
Education mattersUnlike Gates and Zuckerberg, Bezos completed his college degree, graduating summa cum laude from Princeton University with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and computer science. He was elected to honour societies Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, and led student initiatives such as the Princeton chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, reflecting his interest in aerospace.

This combination of academic rigour and extracurricular engagement helped him develop critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and leadership skills, all of which played a pivotal role in both Amazon and his space venture, Blue Origin , founded in 2000. Bezos has described Blue Origin as “the most important work I do,” showing how a strong educational foundation can enable ambitious, long-term projects beyond your first business.
Focus on the long termBezos often contrasts short-term thinking with strategic patience. Experience teaches entrepreneurs that building a successful company rarely happens overnight. By taking the time to learn before launching a startup, founders can make better-informed decisions and design sustainable business models. Amazon’s meteoric growth—from an online bookstore in a Seattle garage to a $2.33 trillion global company—demonstrates the power of long-term planning, continuous innovation, and customer obsession. Young entrepreneurs should prioritise learning, refining ideas, and understanding market dynamics over chasing instant success.
Learn from established companiesBezos emphasises that aspiring founders can learn a tremendous amount from existing companies. Working at a high-performing organisation exposes you to best practices, innovation processes, and management techniques that are difficult to replicate without experience. Observing how leaders make decisions, handle crises, and execute strategy provides insights that can be directly applied when starting a new venture. Bezos notes that absorbing these lessons first allows entrepreneurs to minimise mistakes and avoid costly trial-and-error in their own startups.
Timing is importantWhile Gates and Zuckerberg launched Microsoft and Facebook at 19, Bezos’s decade of experience before founding Amazon gave him strategic perspective, technical know-how, and business judgment that contributed to his company’s success. Timing your venture matters: starting too early without preparation increases the risk of failure, while waiting to gain knowledge, build networks, and refine your ideas improves the likelihood of lasting success.
The takeawayJeff Bezos’s advice underscores that ambition alone isn’t enough. Young entrepreneurs gain an advantage by combining education, work experience , and strategic preparation. While early dropouts occasionally succeed, the majority increase their odds of building lasting businesses by learning first and starting later.