The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 30 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Hsieh: Zappos could expand into airlines and hotels within 10–20 years
“We're hoping, 1020 years from now, people won't even realize we started selling shoes online, and I can imagine one day there could be a Zappos Airlines or Zappos Hotel that, Is really just about the very best customer service and customer experience.”
Tony Hsieh Envisions Future Zappos Airlines and Hotels Within 20 Years
“We're hoping, 1020 years from now, people won't even realize we started selling shoes online. And I can imagine one day there could be a Zappos Airlines or Zappos Hotel that Is really just about the very best customer service and customer experience.”
Tony Hsieh: A CEO should architect the greenhouse, not be the plant
“And for me, I really think of my role as more about being the architect of the greenhouse, and then the, all the plants inside will flourish and thrive on their own.”
Tony Hsieh: CEOs should be greenhouse architects, not the tallest plants
“I'm probably different from a lot of typical CEOs where I like to use the analogy of imagine a greenhouse where maybe at a typical company, the CEO might be the strongest and tallest and Most charismatic plant that all the other plants strive to One day become…”
Otis Chandler: Amazon promised to run Goodreads as an independent brand
“Amazon made it a little easy in that they told us they would want to run us as an independent subsidiary and an independent brand, just like they run Audible and IMDB and Zappos and now Twitch, and they have a long list of track record of doing this.”
Hsieh: Investors refused to fund online shoe companies after dot-com crash
“No, and also there were huge companies like pets.com that were e-commerce that were kind of imploding at the time, and so even if someone wanted to invest in an internet company, the last thing they wanted to do was invest in an online shoe company, because no…”
Hsieh: Maximizing short-term profit would have prevented Zappos from building its brand
“You know, if we were just around trying to say maximize the profit margins, then we never would have gone down that path. And yes, we would have made more money in the short term during those days, but then we wouldn't have built our brand and reputation and s…”
Hsieh: Zappos originally validated demand by manually buying retail store shoes
“In order to test out the whole concept for real, Nick would actually just go down to the local shoe store, take pictures of all the shoes that were on the wall, and then put it on the website, and if someone bought something, then go down to the local shoe sto…”
Hsieh: Amazon preserved Zappos' independent culture seven years post-acquisition
“They approached us again and said, okay, we will let you guys be your own separate subsidiary with your own separate culture and own separate way of doing business. And happy to report seven years later, they've remained totally true to their word. And we've b…”
Hsieh Liquidated San Francisco Apartments at a Loss to Fund Zappos
“And basically as Zappos was growing, it was also losing more money and we also need more money for inventory. And so I ended up one by one selling off the apartments and it's kind of like when in Monopoly, when you buy a hotel or houses and then you have to se…”
Siminoff: Amazon is the only tech giant that elevates acquired companies
“Amazon was the only large company that I saw or felt
When they bought companies truly like brought it to the next level. Like I, you know, with audible and IMDB and Zappos and I mean, you look at Twitch, like you look at all the, they've just kept founders and…”
Amazon kept its promise to let Zappos operate autonomously post-acquisition
“They approached us again and said, okay, we will let you guys be your own separate subsidiary with your own separate culture and own separate way of doing business. And happy to report seven years later, they've remained totally true to their word. And we've b…”
Following the dot-com crash, investors refused to fund online shoe startups
“No, and also there were huge companies like pets.com that were e-commerce that were kind of imploding at the time, and so even if someone wanted to invest in an internet company, the last thing they wanted to do was invest in an online shoe company, because no…”
Purpose-driven brands make nonsensical moves that competitors will not copy
“When you actually want your brand to stand for something or to have some sort of purpose, and in our case, it's about to be about the very best customer service and customer experience. You do things that are kind of nonsensical in some ways and that your comp…”
Hsieh: Post-Crash Investors Believed No One Would Buy Shoes Online
“No, and also there were huge companies like pets.com that were e-commerce that were kind of imploding at the time, and so even if someone wanted to invest in an internet company, the last thing they wanted to do was invest in an online shoe company, because no…”
Hsieh: Purpose-Driven Customer Service Requires Decisions Competitors Would Never Make
“And so I think, you know, when you actually want your brand to stand for something or to have some sort of purpose, and in our case, it's about to be about the very best customer service and customer experience. You do things that are kind of nonsensical in so…”
Amazon Kept Its Promise of Autonomy Seven Years After Acquiring Zappos
“Happy to report seven years later, they've remained totally true to their word. And we've been able to continue doing our own thing and our culture is very different and distinct from Amazon's”
Hsieh: I Am Passionate About Culture and Customer Service, Not Shoes
“I'm actually not passionate about shoes at all. I'm passionate about customer service and company culture, so I can talk forever about those two things, but I can't say anything about shoes.”
Hsieh: Zappos rejected an early Amazon acquisition before Amazon launched Endless
“Amazon had actually approached us several years before 2009. They just wanted to acquire us, and then basically the company being acquired ends up joining the mothership, and kind of loses its original identity, and so we said, Know very quickly. And then they…”
Tony Hsieh: I only own two pairs of shoes
“Right now I'm wearing black Asics, and then I have a pair of flip-flops that I wear, and those are the only two pairs.”
Tony Hsieh was passionate about customer service and culture, not shoes
“I'm actually not passionate about shoes at all. I'm passionate about customer service and company culture, so I can talk forever about those two things, but I can't say anything about shoes.”
Mail-order catalogs proved a $2 billion footwear market existed before Zappos
“And then the other interesting fact was that at the time, mail order catalogs, those paper catalogs, that was actually the fastest growing segment of the footwear industry in the U.S., and that represented five percent, so two billion dollars a year and growin…”
Hsieh sold his personal real estate at a loss to fund Zappos
“And basically, as Zappos was growing, it was also losing more money, and we also need more money for inventory, and so I ended up, one by one, selling off the apartments, and it's kind of like when in Monopoly, when you buy a hotel or houses, and then you have…”
Zappos tested demand by photographing local shoe store inventory for its website
“Yeah, I mean, so, in order to test out the whole concept for real, Nick would actually just go down to the local shoe store, take pictures of all the shoes that were on the wall, and then put it on the website, and if someone bought something, then go down to …”
Zappos initially rejected Amazon's acquisition offer to protect its company culture
“Amazon had actually approached us several years before 2009. They just wanted to acquire us and then basically the company being acquired ends up joining the mothership and kind of loses its original identity. And so we said no very quickly.”
Zappos Tested Demand by Fulfilling Orders From a Local Brick-and-Mortar Store
“So in order to test out the whole concept for real, Nick would actually just go down to the local shoe store, take pictures of all the shoes that were on the wall, and then put it on the website. And if someone bought something, then go down to the local shoe …”
Tony Hsieh Sold His San Francisco Apartments at a Loss for Zappos
“And so I ended up, one by one, selling off the apartments, and it's kind of like when in Monopoly, when you buy a hotel or houses, and then you have to sell them, but you lose money on the sale.”
Tony Hsieh Owns Two Pairs of Shoes and Dislikes Footwear
“Right now I'm wearing black Asics, and then I have a pair of flip-flops that I wear, and those are the only two pairs. I'm actually not passionate about shoes at all. I'm passionate about customer service and company culture, so I can talk forever about those …”
Zappos Rejected Amazon's First Buyout Offer to Protect Its Corporate Identity
“Amazon had actually approached us several years before 2009. They just wanted to acquire us, and then basically the company being acquired ends up joining the mothership, and kind of loses its original identity, and so we said, Know very quickly.”
The US Footwear Market Was $40 Billion Annually When Zappos Pitched
“One was that footwear at the time was a forty billion dollar a year industry in the US. Yeah. And I'm not into shoes at all, so that was News to me. And then the other interesting fact was that at the time, mail order catalogs, those paper catalogs, that was a…”