Big Bob and Big Books

The larger than life CEO of Big Books started his online book retail business in his garage in 1999 with no knowledge of coding, computers, marketing, or business. Just a love of old books and an overabundance of confidence. Although the company was a financial failure, thanks to the dot-com craze, it managed to raise over five million dollars during its IPO. Big Books grew rapidly as a result, adding over 100,000 employees, multiple warehouses, and a substantial delivery fleet almost overnight. Bob’s celebrity also ballooned, in part because of the low-budget, self-produced Super Bowl commercials in which he starred, but also for the lavish A-list parties he threw on a regular basis.

When the dot-com bubble burst, Bob was able to save his company only through the generous gift of an unknown benefactor; however, he was forced to radically alter his business model to comply with the terms of the “donation.” The changes started with an aggressive employee downsizing that reduced the workforce to just over 100 people. This was was coupled with an unprecedented automation effort in nearly every aspect of the business, including a new fleet of advanced delivery drones and an army of warehouse robots. In addition, the Big Books e-commerce website underwent a complete overhaul with the implementation of an advanced algorithm that finely customized the user experience through suggestions based on browsing activity and previous purchases. The company adopted the now famous slogan “We Read Your Mind” during this time and produced a series of highly polished ads to promote the changes. Big Bob increasingly withdrew from the public eye following the overhaul and has only made the occasional appearance to promote a new product or feature at large events. Big Books has gone on to post record profits and is now listed as a Fortune500 company.