2010 Pinnacle Awardee
CEO, Zappos
Tony Hsieh, author of “Delivering Happiness” and CEO of Zappos.com, is one of the most widely respected and successful business innovators in the new economy. In 1999, at the age of 24, Mr. Hsieh sold LinkExchange, a company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million.
He then joined Zappos.com as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped Zappos grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune’s annual list of Best Companies to Work For.
In November 2009, Zappos was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing - the biggest acquisition in its history. Mr. Hsieh (pronounced “shay”) joined Zappos because it was the most exciting and promising company his venture capital firm Venture Frogs was investing in. Other Venture Frog investments include Ask Jeeves, MongoMusic, MyAble, and Tellme Networks. What makes Zappos unique is that for marketing, the company relies on return business and word of mouth, pouring the money that would pay for marketing and advertising into customer service instead. Extraordinary customer service drives success at Zappos: free, unlimited returns, surprise shipping upgrades, unlimited time on the phone, and more. But the number one priority is company culture. Get the culture right and success happens on its own.
Mr. Hsieh has a BA in computer science from Harvard University and was a software engineer at Oracle. His first book, “Delivering Happiness”, was published on June 7. You can request a free signed copy by sending an e-mail to Holly McNamara at Hollymac@me.com.