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Tony Hsieh

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This article is about the Internet entrepreneur. For the Taiwanese professional golfer, see Hsieh Min-Nan.
Tony Hsieh
Hsieh's Zappos identity badge in 2009
Hsieh in 2009
Born(1973-12-12)December 12, 1973
Illinois, U.S.
DiedNovember 27, 2020(2020-11-27) (aged 46)
Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (BS)
OccupationBusinessman
Years active1996–2020
Known forCEO of Zappos

Tony Hsieh (/ˈʃeɪ/ shay; December 12, 1973 – November 27, 2020)[2][3] was an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years.[4] Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded the Internet advertising network LinkExchange, which he sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million.[5]

Early life and education

Tony Hsieh was born in Illinois to Richard Hsieh and Judy, who were from Taiwan. Hsieh grew up in the San Francisco Bay area of California[6] and had two younger brothers, Andy Hsieh and Dave Hsieh.

In 1995, he graduated from Harvard University with a degree in computer science.[7] While at Harvard, he managed the Quincy House Grille selling pizza to the students in his dorm; his best customer, Alfred Lin, would later be Zappos's CFO and COO.[8] After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle Corporation.[9] After five months, he left to co-found the LinkExchange advertising network.[10]

Career

LinkExchange

In 1996, Hsieh started developing the idea for an advertising network called LinkExchange.[11] Members were allowed to advertise their site over LinkExchange's network by displaying banner ads on their website. They launched in March 1996, with Hsieh as CEO, and found their first 30 clients by direct emailing webmasters.[12] The site grew, and within 90 days LinkExchange had over 20,000 participating web pages and had its banner ads displayed over 10 million times.[13] By 1998, the site had over 400,000 members and 5 million ads rotated daily.[14] In November 1998, LinkExchange sold to Microsoft for $265 million.[15][16]

Venture Frogs

After LinkExchange sold to Microsoft, Hsieh co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubator and investment firm, with his business partner, Alfred Lin.[17][18] The name originated from a dare. One of Hsieh's friends said she would invest everything if they chose "Venture Frogs" as the name, and the pair took her up on the bet (although they have yet to see any money).[19] They invested in a variety of tech and Internet startups, including Ask Jeeves, OpenTable and Zappos.[19]

Zappos

In 1999, Nick Swinmurn approached Hsieh and Lin with the idea of selling shoes online.[8] Hsieh was initially skeptical and almost deleted Swinmurn's initial voice mail. After Swinmurn mentioned that "footwear in the US is a $40 billion market, and 5% of that was already being sold by paper mail order catalogs," Hsieh and Lin decided to invest through Venture Frogs. Two months later, Hsieh joined Zappos as the CEO, starting with $1.6 million in 2000.[8] By 2009, revenues reached $1 billion.[20][21]

Without precedent, Hsieh learned how to make customers feel comfortable and secure with shopping online. Zappos offered free shipping and free returns, sometimes of several pairs. Hsieh rethought Zappos structure and in 2013 it became a holocracy without job titles and hierarchy, reflecting his belief in employees. The company hired only about 1% of all applicants.[22]

On July 22, 2009, Amazon.com announced the acquisition of Zappos.com in a deal valued at approximately $1.2 billion.[23] Hsieh is said to have made at least $214 million from the sale, not including money made through his former investment firm Venture Frogs.[24] [25]

On August 24, 2020, he retired as the CEO of Zappos after 21 years at the helm.[4]

JetSuite

Hsieh joined JetSuite's board in 2011. He led a $7 million round of investment in the growing private "very light jet" concern. The investment allowed JetSuite to add two new Embraer Phenom 100 jets which have two pilots, two engines and safety features equivalent to large commercial passenger jets but weigh less than 10,000 pounds and are consequently highly fuel-efficient.[26]

Real Estate Rejuvenation Projects

Downtown Project - Las Vegas, NV

From 2009 until his death, Hsieh, who was still running the downtown Las Vegas-based Zappos.com business, organized a major re-development and revitalization project for downtown Las Vegas, which has been for the most part left behind compared to the Las Vegas Strip's growth. Hsieh originally planned the Downtown Project as a place where Zappos.com employees could live and work, but the project grew beyond that to a vision where thousands of local tech and other entrepreneurs could live and work.[27][28] Projects funded include The Writer's Block, the first independent bookseller in Las Vegas.[29]

Park City, Utah

After stepping down as CEO of Zappos in August 2020, Hsieh bought multiple properties in Park City, Utah, with a total market value around $56 million.[30]

Awards

Hsieh received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award for the Northern California region in 2007.[31]

Hsieh was a member of the Harvard University team that won the 1993 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest in Indianapolis, coming top of 31 entrants.[32]

Book(s)

  • Hsieh, Tony. (2010). Delivering happiness : a path to profits, passion, and purpose (1st ed ed.). New York: Business Plus. ISBN 978-0-446-57631-4. OCLC 668227794. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness, focused on his entrepreneurial endeavors. It was profiled in many world publications, including The Washington Post, CNBC, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal.[33][34][35][36][37] It debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List and stayed on the list for 27 consecutive weeks.[38][39]

Personal life

Hsieh resided primarily in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada; he also owned a home in Southern Highlands.[40][41][42]

On the morning of November 18, 2020, Hsieh was injured in a house fire in New London, Connecticut, while visiting family. He was reported to have been suffering from numerous burns and smoke inhalation.[43][44] He died on November 27, 2020 at age 46.[45]

References

  1. ^ "10 Money Lessons from Billionaires". Ca.finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  2. ^ Hsieh, Tony. Delivering Happiness. The first official party of 810 would be on Saturday, December 11, 1999. At midnight, I would turn twenty-six.
  3. ^ Able, Kate. "Tony Hsieh, Zappos Luminary Who Revolutionized the Shoe Business, Dies at 46" Footwear News, November 27, 2020
  4. ^ a b Abel, Katie; Abel, Katie (August 24, 2020). "Exclusive: Visionary Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh Is Stepping Down After 21 Years". Footwear News. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  5. ^ Cf. Delivering Happiness book by Hsieh. "In 1996, I co-founded LinkExchange, which was sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million."
  6. ^ "Tony Hsieh, The Billion Dollar Interview", Entrepreneur Interviews
  7. ^ "Tony Hsieh". Seas.harvard.edu. March 22, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c I Am CNBC Tony Hsieh Transcript Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine CNBC. August 15, 2007.
  9. ^ Wei, William Tony Hsieh: Here’s Why I Quit My Corporate Job At Oracle With No Real Plan (October 28, 2010), Business Insider.
  10. ^ Kim, Eugene (August 28, 2014). "23 Tech Rock Stars Who Went To Harvard". Business Insider. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  11. ^ BEato, Greg. Scans: Barter for Banners. September 29, 1997.
  12. ^ Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh Talks Shoes on Bloomberg TV BNet. July 16, 2010.
  13. ^ Internet Link Exchange: 3rd month of operation celebrated. M2 Newswire via LexisNexis. June 17, 1996.
  14. ^ Frierman, Shelly. An Internet company with little freebies that could gain a place in the sun The New York Times. December 2, 1998.
  15. ^ Wei, William. Tony Hsieh: Here's Why I Quit My Corporate Job At Oracle With No Real Plan. Business Insider. October 28, 2010.
  16. ^ Tony Hsieh - Author Of “Delivering Happiness” And CEO Of Zappos Zappos.com.
  17. ^ Venture Frogs Launches New Incubator For Net Startups URLwire. September 19, 1999.
  18. ^ Lee, Tom. Venture Frogs Internet Restaurant Logs on to the San Francisco Scene Archived March 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Asian Week. August 17, 2000.
  19. ^ a b Nelson, Erik. Venture Frogs in a Cyber-Marsh Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Profit Magazine. January 2000.
  20. ^ Hsieh, Tony. Why I Sold Zappos. Inc. Magazine. June 1, 2010.
  21. ^ Kee, Tameka. Amazon Buying Out Zappos.com For About $850 Million. Washington Post. July 23, 2009.
  22. ^ Rifkin, Glenn (November 28, 2020). "Tony Hsieh, Longtime Chief of Zappos, Is Dead at 46". The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  23. ^ Amazon Closes Zappos Deal, Ends Up Paying $1.2 Billion TechCrunch. November 2, 2009.
  24. ^ "What Everyone Made from the Zappos Sale". July 27, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2009.
  25. ^ Jacobs, Alexandra (September 14, 2009). "Happy Feet". The New Yorker: 66–71.
  26. ^ "Zappos shoe mogul invests in O.C. company". Ocregister.com. September 19, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  27. ^ Pratt, Timothy. "What Happens in Brooklyn Moves to Vegas". Nytimes.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  28. ^ "Downtown Project - Downtown Project Las Vegas". Downtownproject.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  29. ^ Semuels, Alana (March 2, 2015). "Zappos' CEO Has Poured $350 Million into Revitalizing Downtown Vegas, Is It Enough?". Theatlantic.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  30. ^ Barber, Megan. "Why is Ex-Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh Buying Houses En Masse in Utah?". Curbed. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  31. ^ Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award, 2007 Archived September 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ "ICPC World Champion Hall of Fame". Icpc.baylor.edu. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  33. ^ McDonough-Taub, Gloria Top Books: Delivering Happiness CNBC. August 19, 2010.
  34. ^ Spreading WOW The Washington Post August 27, 2010.
  35. ^ Delivering Happiness: A Movement TechCrunch. May 1, 2010.
  36. ^ ‘Delivering Happiness’: What Poker Taught Me About Business The Huffington Post. May 26, 2010.
  37. ^ Carrol, Paul Getting a Foothold Online The Wall Street Journal. June 7, 2010.
  38. ^ Hardcover Advice 06-27-2010 The New York Times.
  39. ^ Hardcover Advice 12-26-2010 The New York Times.
  40. ^ "At Zappos, Pushing Shoes and a Vision". Nytimes.com. July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  41. ^ "LIVING SMALL: AT DOWNTOWN'S AIRSTREAM PARK, HOME IS WHERE THE EXPERIMENT IS". Lasvegasweekly.com. February 5, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  42. ^ Rich, Motoko. "Why Is the Head of Zappos Smiling?". Nytimes.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  43. ^ "Tony Hsieh, retired Zappos CEO, dies at 46". CTPost. November 28, 2020.
  44. ^ Rifkin, Glenn (November 28, 2020). "Tony Hsieh, Longtime Chief of Zappos, Dies at 46". The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  45. ^ "Tony Hsieh dead at the age of 46 after being injured in house fire". Las Vegas Review-Journal. November 28, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2020.

Further reading

External links

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