Tony Hsieh
Encyclopedia
Tony Hsieh (ˈʃeɪ "shay", born December 12, 1973) is the CEO of online shoe and clothing shop Zappos.com
. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded and sold the internet advertising network LinkExchange
to Microsoft
in 1999 for $265 million.
with a degree in Computer Science
. 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). After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle. After five months, Hsieh found himself dissatisfied with the corporate environment, and quit to found Link Exchange.
. 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. 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. By 1998, the site had over 400,000 members and 5 million ads rotated daily. In November 1998, LinkExchange sold to Microsoft
for $265 million.
and investment
firm, with his partner, Alfred Lin. 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). They invested in variety of tech and internet startups, including Ask Jeeves, OpenTable
and Zappos.
On July 22, 2009 Amazon.com
announced the acquisition of Zappos.com in a deal valued at approximately 1.2 billion . He is said to have made at least $214 million from the sale not including money made through his former investment firm Venture Frogs.
, a book about his entrepreneur
ial endeavors. It was profiled in many world publications, including The Washington Post
, CNBC
, TechCrunch
, The Huffington Post
, and The Wall Street Journal
It debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List
, and stayed on the list for 27 consecutive weeks.
Hsieh currently lives in Las Vegas
, Nevada
.
Zappos.com
Zappos.com is an online shoe and apparel shop currently based in Henderson, Nevada.In July 2009, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe store.-Inception:Zappos...
. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded and sold the internet advertising network LinkExchange
LinkExchange
LinkExchange was a popular internet advertising cooperative, originally known as Internet Link Exchange or ILE.It was founded in March 1996 by 23-year-old Harvard graduates Tony Hsieh and Sanjay Madan. Ali Partovi later joined them as a third partner...
to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
in 1999 for $265 million.
Early life
In 1995, Hsieh graduated from Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
with a degree in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
. While at Harvard, he managed the Quincy House Grille selling pizza to the students in his dorm (his best customer, Alfred Lin
Alfred Lin
Alfred Lin is a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital and currently sits on the board of Stella & Dot. Alfred focuses on consumer internet, enterprise and mobile companies. He was born in Taiwan and moved to New York City at the age of six or seven....
, would later be Zappos’s CFO and COO). After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle. After five months, Hsieh found himself dissatisfied with the corporate environment, and quit to found Link Exchange.
LinkExchange
In 1996, Hsieh started developing the idea for an advertising network called LinkExchangeLinkExchange
LinkExchange was a popular internet advertising cooperative, originally known as Internet Link Exchange or ILE.It was founded in March 1996 by 23-year-old Harvard graduates Tony Hsieh and Sanjay Madan. Ali Partovi later joined them as a third partner...
. 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. 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. By 1998, the site had over 400,000 members and 5 million ads rotated daily. In November 1998, LinkExchange sold to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for $265 million.
Venture Frogs
After LinkExchange sold to Microsoft, Hsieh co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubatorBusiness incubator
Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
and investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
firm, with his partner, Alfred Lin. 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). They invested in variety of tech and internet startups, including Ask Jeeves, OpenTable
OpenTable
OpenTable is an online real-time restaurant reservation service founded by Chuck Templeton in San Francisco, CA in 1998. Reservations are free to end users; the company charges restaurants monthly and per-reservation fees for their use of the system. In 1999, the website began operations...
and Zappos.
Zappos
In 1999, Nick Swinmurn approached Hsieh and Lin with the idea of selling shoes online. Hsieh was initially skeptical, and almost deleted Swinmurn’s initial voice mail. After Swinmurn mentioned that "footwear in the US is a 40 billion dollar 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 and has since doubled revenues every year, starting with $1.6 million in 2000. By 2009, revenues reached $1 billion.On July 22, 2009 Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
announced the acquisition of Zappos.com in a deal valued at approximately 1.2 billion . He is said to have made at least $214 million from the sale not including money made through his former investment firm Venture Frogs.
Personal life
In June 2010, Hsieh released Delivering HappinessDelivering Happiness
Delivering Happiness is a book by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. It details his life as an entrepreneur, with emphasis on the founding of LinkExchange and Zappos.-Background:In 2009, Hsieh began writing Delivering Happiness over Labor Day in Lake Tahoe...
, a book about his entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
ial endeavors. It was profiled in many world publications, including The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
, The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, and The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
It debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
, and stayed on the list for 27 consecutive weeks.
Hsieh currently lives in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.