【4/27/2021】CAPA-NoVA Distinguished Chinese American Project
谢家华(Tony Hsieh) (1973 – 2020) was an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
He was born in Urbana, Illinois, to Richard and Judy Hsieh, immigrants from Taiwan. In 1995, Hsieh graduated from Harvard University with a degree in computer science. While at Harvard, he managed the Quincy House Grille selling pizza to the students in his dorm. After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle Corporation for five months. Then, he co-found the LinkExchange advertising network. After LinkExchange sold to Microsoft, Hsieh co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubator and investment firm.
In 1999, Hsieh joined Zappos as the CEO, starting with $1.6 million of total sales in 2000. By 2009, revenues reached $1 billion. Without a precedent to guide him, Hsieh learned how to make customers feel comfortable shopping for shoes online. Zappos offered free shipping and free returns, sometimes of several pairs. Hsieh rethought Zappos structure, and in 2013 it became for a time a holacracy without job titles, reflecting his belief in employees and their ability to self-organize.
Tony Hsieh wrote a book, Delivering Happiness, focused on his entrepreneurial endeavors.
For additional reading:
English Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hsieh
Chinese Article:
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%B0%A2%E5%AE%B6%E5%8D%8E/1043273
【Not only do we live among the stars, the stars live within us!】