When the commercial Internet began accelerating in the mid-1990s, Jeff Bezos was studying a structural shift more than searching for a product. Internet usage was growing at roughly 2,300% annually.

In the global spotlight, Jeff Bezos is known as the visionary behind Amazon, Blue Origin and a series of bold innovations that reshaped the world. But away from the headlines, he is also a devoted ...

In August 1994, a little-known entrepreneur posted a job listing to Usenet, a pre-web message board. He was looking for “extremely talented” software developers to “help pioneer commerce on the ...