We are really excited to have caught up with Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com
Tony Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos.com under his leadership, Zappos has grown gross merchandize sales from $1.6M in 2000 to over $1 billion in 2008 by focusing relentlessly on customer service.
Adam: You have had a stellar career so far, what was the motivation that drove you to achieve so much so early?
Tony: I guess I’ve never really thought of it as a “career”. I love the creativity that comes with being an entrepreneur and the challenge of building and doing things that haven’t been done before.
Adam: Harvard must have been a really cool experience, is going to university something you would recommend?
Tony: I don’t think it really matters what college you go to… what’s important is being exposed to a diverse group of people and perspectives, which you can get from almost any college.
Adam: Your Degree is in Computer Science, are computers still a passion for you?
Tony: Yes, I’ve always enjoyed computer programming.
Adam: What was your first business, before LinkExchange, and what were the lessons that you took away from that venture?
Tony: I ran a pizza business in college with a college room mate. I learned that it was a lot of work and how easily a business can scale is an important thing to always keep in mind.
Adam: Getting that approach from Microsoft, when they wanted to purchase LinkExchange, must have felt unreal. How did you cope with the changes in your life that came along with the sale?
Tony: For me, my life actually didn’t really change that much. I really didn’t go out and buy anything that I wouldn’t have bought before the sale, and I continued to hang out with the same friends I had always hung out with. So there wasn’t really much of a lifestyle change for me.
Adam: Was moving from the pure internet marketing world of LinkExchange to Zappos as daring a move as it seemed at the time?
Tony: I think every business has its own advantages and disadvantages. I just viewed Zappos as a new challenge. Because we started with a really passionate team, I felt confident that as a team we would figure out how to grow the company and get through all the challenges.
Adam: You run a very interesting business from a culture perspective, what shared beliefs did you have that underpinned Zappos 10 Core Values and how do you get the staff to buy into the culture?
Tony: I sent an email out to the company and asked everyone what the Zappos core values should be. I received a lot of suggestions, and over the period of a year, we came up with our list of 10 core values, which you can view here:
http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values
Adam: You have achieved so much with the Zappos Brand over the last 10 years, what is next for the business?
Tony: Most customers know that we sell shoes, but this year we are making a big push into clothing. We actually have a fairly large selection of clothes, which you can see here:
http://www.zappos.com/clothing
Adam: Who are the people and trends to watch for in the online retail market at the moment?
Tony: I actually don’t personally know too much about trends — that’s something that our merchandising team is responsible for!
Adam: Tell us about Zappos insights, do you believe that this type of programme as well as mentoring young people is the way forward?
Tony: We built Zappos Insights in response to suggestions from a lot of other businesses and entrepreneurs. We haven’t really promoted it much, as it’s still in its early stages, but there is already a lot of really useful content on the site which we’ve received great feedback on.
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Adam Toren
