At one of our recent EO New York events, we were privileged to hear from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. He shared with us how he grew the company from zero dollars to US$1 billion in 10 short years. How? By building the Zappos brand through culture and word of mouth, versus traditional advertising and marketing methods.
Hsieh began his career selling pizza from his dorm room in 1994. He realized one of his best customers, Albert, was buying his pizzas and selling them by the slice upstairs. He instantly knew Albert would make the perfect business partner. Tony and Albert went on to found an online advertising company, eventually selling it to Microsoft.
Hsieh and Albert did not sell to the company solely for profit; they did it because of the lack of company culture. When their company had only five to 10 employees, they were having the time of their lives; they stayed up late, slept under desks and worked around the clock. By the time they reached 100 employees, Hsieh and his partner lost sight of the company culture and dreaded waking up, let alone going to the office. Hsieh knew there was something missing.
In 1999, Hsieh began building Zappos, one of the most elite consumer Web sites in the world. In Hsieh’s own words, Zappos is a “service company that just happens to sell shoes.” Zappos has sold to more than 10 million customers, or about three percent of the US population. In this once-in-a-lifetime meeting, I learned a tremendous amount about how to build a brand through company culture and not through the traditional marketing avenues.
To discover the methodology behind Hsieh’s astronomical success in business, read my meeting notes. To view the entire presentation, click here.
Prepare to be inspired.