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I've always heard mixed feelings about Tony. I wonder if there are any HNers who have a perspective they'd like to share.
built a good company
AMAZING service
Amazon tends to buy up all the companies that could become a threat to them, and then slowly kills them off (Zappos, Quidsi/Diapers.com, etc)
What Tony could have and should have done is
get someone like Marc Lore and have him expand Zappos to the EVERYTHING store
Zappos customer loyalty was insanely high
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It's too bad, because I really wish Vegas could somehow magically turn into a tech jobs hub. It's got a lot going for it: No state income tax. Cheap housing. Minimal regulation. Cheap, relatively private LLCs. World class restaurants. World class entertainment/shows (even if touristy). Casinos, if you're into it. If NorCal is a heaven for people who like outdoor activities, then Vegas is the heaven for people who lik…
Vegas is not bad for outdoor activities either. World-class rock climbing, good hiking and mountain biking, 2 hours to the Grand Canyon, 2.5 to Zion National Park, 5 to Mammoth (not close but no worse than Los Angeles). Alex Honnold owns a house there. If I ever achieve my dream of being a seasonal nomad, Vegas just might make the cut.
When I moved to Australia, I thought it would be a lot better. It wasn't much different.
When I joined a wine subscription startup in 2016 as the technical co-founder, I wasn't just building the recommendation engine. I was also helping to pack the boxes at the warehouse.
We all got fascinated with Tony's book "Delivering Happiness" [1]. As I packed boxes, I listened to the audiobook several times. Then I read it later on again.
I'm still surprised how bad customer service is in most companies. Don't talk to me like a robot. Just pretend you're messaging a co-worker in plain-friendly-English. And be genuinely interested in solving my issues knowing that you will have higher LTV in the long term if you invest the time and resources to make me happy now.
A few years later and our customers are obsessed not just about the wine we recommend. They also write love letters about how happy they are to deal with our customer service team. I'm still writing code on the other side, but it makes my day to see that part of the business working so well.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6828896-delivering-happi...
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Have you driven the blocks around downtown Vegas lately? It's very seedy, full of pawn shops and payday lending stores, liquor stores and closed stores. Streets are dirty, numerous homeless people. I admire his goal of revitalizing it, but it didn't work.
It's too bad, because I really wish Vegas could somehow magically turn into a tech jobs hub. It's got a lot going for it: No state income tax. Cheap housing. Minimal regulation. Cheap, relatively private LLCs. World class restaurants. World class entertainment/shows (even if touristy). Casinos, if you're into it. If NorCal is a heaven for people who like outdoor activities, then Vegas is the heaven for people who lik…
* Limited non-competes
* Limited IP assignment clauses
* Limited anti-moonlighting clauses
It's hard to start a business when your current employer can block you from doing so.
Does anyone know how his "The Downtown Project" (aka Vegas revitalization) is going?
I visited Detroit in May 2016 and was very taken aback by the revitalization. Granted, it was Memorial Day weekend + Movement Festival [0] so the city was certainly not in it's normal day-to-day look, but Dan Gilbert's money [1] appeared well spent to the eyes of a visitor. I learned about it from talking to my Lyft drivers, who all seemed to think positively about the effort. [0] great techno music in the genre's bi…
Does anyone know how his "The Downtown Project" (aka Vegas revitalization) is going?
Have you driven the blocks around downtown Vegas lately? It's very seedy, full of pawn shops and payday lending stores, liquor stores and closed stores. Streets are dirty, numerous homeless people. I admire his goal of revitalizing it, but it didn't work.
I think the revitalization project was at least somewhat successful.
I've always heard mixed feelings about Tony. I wonder if there are any HNers who have a perspective they'd like to share.
I am leery of any company that comes off with culty-vibes and that was the impression I got from various media I read and watched about it. I’m sure it’s great for business but not for me, I am free thinker. Same reason I think Ray Dalio / Bridgewater is an insane asylum. I briefly worked with someone who did a stint there and he embraced the principles / radical transparency thing and it made him extremely hard (eve…
When you embrace it, you will definitely piss off a LOT of people
society is all about 'being polite' and 'wearing a mask'
if you stop being polite and stop wearing masks, while still maintaining common courtesy
life becomes MUCH easier
I'll give you an example
2 of your friends have problems which prevent them from having a good relationship
you have a frank talk with them
Hey, Jack, you need to get over your abandonment issues and commit to a woman and marry her. You've passed on some pretty amazing women just because your father walked away when you were 4
Hi Sophie, perhaps the reason you only date losers is that is your type. Perhaps your type is guys who will cheat on you. Perhaps when your mother divorced your father after he cheated on her with her sister, his secretary, and the school principal, you should have realized that's genetically your type. So you can either accept that you are making this choice and be at peace with it, or you CHANGE your decision making process
*
guess what's going to happen
usually, 1 of them will get mad at you, then realize you are right, and then make a change, and then your friendship will be much stronger
and the other will hate you for life. Well not hate you. Will avoid you forever
So that's what radical honesty and radical transparency does
*
of course you have to be prepared for people to also be radically honest with you
you find out things that are painful. Then you have to decide whether you will embrace the honest feedback you are getting or run away from it
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you driven the blocks around downtown Vegas lately? It's very seedy, full of pawn shops and payday lending stores, liquor stores and closed stores. Streets are dirty, numerous homeless people. I admire his goal of revitalizing it, but it didn't work.
It's too bad, because I really wish Vegas could somehow magically turn into a tech jobs hub. It's got a lot going for it: No state income tax. Cheap housing. Minimal regulation. Cheap, relatively private LLCs. World class restaurants. World class entertainment/shows (even if touristy). Casinos, if you're into it. If NorCal is a heaven for people who like outdoor activities, then Vegas is the heaven for people who lik…