Delivering

Happiness
 Accolades for Zappos


• Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For”

• #23 (2009) – Highest ranking newcomer to list
• #15 (2010) – Second year in a row to make the list
• Fast Company “50 Most Innovative Companies”
• #20 (2009)
• BusinessWeek Top 25 “Customer Service Champs”
• #7 (2009)
• TV Stories
• Oprah (2008, 2009)
• ABC Nightline (2008)


Slide 2
 Tony’s History
 First business age 9 (worm farm)
 Neighborhood newspaper
 Mail-order magic trick
 Custom buttons
 Pizza business in college (1994)
 Started LinkExchange (online advertising) after
graduating (1996)
• Tony sells LinkExchange to Microsoft less than 2
years later for $265MM. Tony is 24 years old
 Founded Venture Frogs (investment fund) (1999)
 Zappos (then shoesite.com) requests funding (1999)
 Out of money, Tony becomes more involved in
Zappos
 Nov 2009: Amazon acquires Zappos for $1.2B
 June 2010: Publish date for Tony’s book “
Delivering Happiness”
Slide 3

 Inflection points for Tony

 Selling LinkExchange was a low point.
 Zappos can’t afford marketing (2003)
 The company grows rapidly. Tony doesn’t
want a repeat of LinkExchange.
 Zappos Core Values are created. Every
employee participates. (2004)
 Zappos Insights is born. (June, 2009)
 Amazon buys Zappos for $1.2B. (November,
2009)




Slide 4
 Zappos Core Values

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With
Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10.Be Humble



Slide 5 
 Customer Service

Slide 6
 Culture

Slide 7
 Power of repeat customers and word of
mouth...

Slide 8
 Takeaways
 Your culture is your brand. Culture is the
best way to build long-term brand
recognition.
 Culture is scalable and exportable, and it
has a direct effect on both revenues and
earnings.
 The only way to make culture scalable is to
have everyone take responsibility for it.
 What your core values are is not as
important as making sure decisions are
made according to them.
 People may not always remember exactly
what you did or said, but they will always
Slide 9 remember how you made them feel.
 RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

 PEAK
 Chip Conley


 TRIBAL LEADERSHIP
 Dave Logan, John King & Halee Fischer-Wright


 CRUSH IT!
 Gary Vaynerchuk


 HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS
 Jonathan Haidt


Slide 10
 A FEW DIFFERENT FRAMEWORKS ON
HAPPINESS:
 Perceived Control


 Perceived Progress


 Connectedness


 Vision / Meaning
 (Being part of something bigger than yourself)

Slide 11
 GREAT
BUSINESS

Profits

Passion

Purpose

Slide 12
 G R EAT
B U S IN E S
HAPPINE
S SS
P ro fits Pleasure
time

Passion Passion
time

Purpose Purpose
time

Slide 13