Why Amazon Stands On The House That FedEx Built

This morning, while I was hiking with my dog Sky, an Amazon truck passed us in mid route.

Amazon truck? No that's not a typo. It's just that I was thinking how interconnected business innovation and disruption really is. While Isaac Newton and Einstein famously declared that they stood on the giants who came before them, today we tend to view great entrepreneurs as one-off miracle workers, who created their magic in silos.

So let's return to Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Fred Smith and FedEx. We all know that Amazon's business model (and, in turn, its exceptional competitive advantage) is built on speed. As the company evolved from an online bookseller to a retail tsunami, how convenient it was to have a delivery system built by a total stranger a generation before, ready and waiting to whisk Amazon's products to a zillion front doors in a day or so.

As Sky and I left the road and entered the woods, it struck me further just how tightly Amazon and FedEx (plus UPS, which was radically changed to keep pace with Smith's innovation) are tightly wound.

What if FedEx and UPS decided tomorrow to refuse all Amazon business? Yes, of course, they would be damaging themselves badly, but Amazon would face a potentially life threatening disaster.

Could Bezos create a air/ground system of his own! Sure, but in how many years? And in the time he was busy trying to save Amazon, wouldn't wannabe competitors race in to cut deals with FedEx and UPS? Of course they would.

The point that I am making is the fascinating fact that we often overlook today: that innovation is built on innovation and that iconic entrepreneurs and those seeking to be so in the future, need to look both backwards and forward.

Bill Gates once told me that he owed a debt to Alexander Graham Bell (network extranality).

Snapchat should get on its knees and pay homage to Edwin Land.