India, Nov. 7 -- Jeff Bezos was working at a Wall Street hedge fund when he spotted an opportunity to sell books online in the early 1990s. Turning the idea into a business, however, meant leaving behind a lucrative job and taking a risk on the internet. Before making the move, Bezos imagined himself at 80 and considered what he would regret more: failing at the business or never trying at all.

Before starting Amazon, Bezos worked at D.E. Shaw, a New York-based hedge fund, where he had built a promising career. In the early 1990s, as internet usage began to grow, he saw an opportunity to sell books online and started thinking about setting up a business of his own.

Leaving a well-paying job was not an easy decision. To think it through,...