Tony Hsieh [interview]

Tony Hsieh
Chief Executive Officer - Zappos
Left Field Project is about creativity, life, art, happiness, design and most importantly passion. When our book hits the shelves in 2010, I think most people will be surprised to learn that we have been interviewing people from a variety of industries and backgrounds and from every corner of the planet. We were really excited when Tony Hsieh of Zappos took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some of our questions.

When Tony Hsieh was only 24 years old he sold his company, LinkExchange, to Microsoft for $265 million. The year was 1998. It was only one year later when Hsieh met an entrepreneur named Nick Swinmurn who had an idea: a business that would sell shoes on the Internet. At the time investors scoffed at the idea, but Hsieh saw an opportunity and wisely invested. From the beginning, Hseih was very active in Zappos and his hard work has paid off. In 2008, Zappos hit $1 billion in gross sales and was featured as one of the "100 Best Companies To Work For" in FORTUNE Magazine. There is an obvious correlation between the emphasis on company culture at Zappos and their overwhelming success. The brilliance of the Zappos's culture has been thoughtfully fabricated by their passionate and humble CEO Tony Hsieh, which is why we felt he would be perfect for our project. As much as we'd like to share the entire interview with you, we're saving most of it for the book. Don't worry, we'll give you a sneak peek...

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A robot inventor.
What is something you had to learn the hard way?
Letting the company culture go downhill at LinkExchange. At LinkExchange, I remember when it was a lot of fun when it was just 5-10 of us working around the clock, sleeping under our desks, and having no idea what day of the week it was. But we didn't know any better to pay attention to company culture, so by the time we were 100 people, the culture of the company had gone completely downhill. That was actually one of the main reasons why we decided to sell the company.
I wanted to make sure the same mistake didn't happen at Zappos, so our #1 priority at Zappos is company culture. Our belief is that if we get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like delivering great customer service or building a long term enduring brand, will happen naturally on its own.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find people that are passionate to be really inspiring. It really
doesn't matter what they're actually passionate about, as long as they are truly passionate about it.
What advice could you give to someone coming out of college?
Ask yourself what you would be so passionate about doing that you'd be happy doing it for 10 years even if you didn't make much money from it. Then go do it.
What is one thing most people would be surprised to learn about you?
That I sit in a cubicle.

More about Tony Hsieh:
www.zappos.com
interview by duane fernandez