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Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

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Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#71

Post by blnqr »

geophile wrote: post #32
ipsum2 wrote: post #6

Does anyone know how his "The Downtown Project" (aka Vegas revitalization) is going?

I visited maybe 4-5 years ago. I had just read about Hsieh, and his business philosophy, and his attempt to revitalize downtown Las Vegas. It was ... odd. My immediate impression was favorable. A very quirky looking area -- a small outdoor mall, with the buildings framing a little courtyard area. Built out of shipping containers, or something that looked like that. But the businesses. Each one was quirky in the extre…

BLUF: it takes more than one man with a vision to create a tech ecosystem. It takes rich nerds who want to invest locally and stick around. Las Vegas will never have that.

I have lived in Las Vegas for 24 years. We moved here to raise a family because it is my wife's home town. (Her father was a scientist and manager with the federal government.)

I was and am in tech, working from home except for two years with one of the very few successful tech startups in Las Vegas from 2000-2001.

I wanted the tech-oriented revitalization to succeed, but it it hasn't and we are moving to Utah ("Silicon Slopes").

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#72

Post by blnqr »

reaperducer wrote: post #11
ipsum2 wrote: post #6

Does anyone know how his "The Downtown Project" (aka Vegas revitalization) is going?

According to the newspapers, poorly. Very little to show for it.

That's exactly right. The best bookstore in town shut down. The best coffee shop is still there, a wonderful place, but not much else, sadly. (Disclosure: I am a 24-year local in tech who really wanted it to work.)

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#73

Post by ryandrake »

ghaff wrote: post #43
realbarack wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, the redeeming feature of Vegas as a conference destination is that there are great long weekend or week trips to have from there. Also Death Valley. (Grand Canyon is >2 hrs though.) Utah NPs beyond Zion. Etc. Don't like Vegas itself but lots to like about the general region.

Yea, you guys are right--the region really has it all.

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#74

Post by rurp »

rconti wrote: post #61
realbarack wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Outdoor activities are available , and the seasonality is probably no worse than other parts of the country with inclement weather, but it's pretty shocking to see hiking trails closed from May 15-Sept 30, for example. Not a mundane detail. https://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/summer-hiking.htm

Vegas summers are brutal no doubt. There is a fair amount of hiking and climbing in the Spring Mountains though, that's generally nice in the summer. But in town the heat just never lets up for several months. It's not uncommon for it to be 95+ degrees hours after sunset.

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#75

Post by blnqr »

realbarack wrote: post #31
ryandrake wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Las Vegas is great for outdoor activities. I've lived here for 24 years, out west toward Red Rock, and we do a lot of hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, camping, skiing/boarding is close at Mt Charleston. Soccer teams, excellent parks. Even Pickle Ball LOL

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#76

Post by fatbird »

switch11 wrote: post #49
seibelj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

the radical transparency thing is very interesting 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 wi…

Here's another problem with radical honesty: You think you're right, and say something that's going to be a painful but beneficial truth. But you might simply be wrong: you don't have all the facts, you're missing some context, your interpretation is hampered by your own issues, whatever. Now you've caused someone pain and haven't helped them, and maybe further contributed to their problems.

Radical honesty works great with I-statements (e.g., "I stopped listening to you a couple minutes ago because you're boring me") in terms of communicating effectively without the baggage of courtesy. But radical honesty for criticism rarely works as well as propenents think.

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#77

Post by ghaff »

rconti wrote: post #61
realbarack wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Outdoor activities are available , and the seasonality is probably no worse than other parts of the country with inclement weather, but it's pretty shocking to see hiking trails closed from May 15-Sept 30, for example. Not a mundane detail. https://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/summer-hiking.htm

Personally, I probably wouldn't live in Vegas. I'd live somewhere at a higher altitude in that area of the country. But a lot of people equate Vegas with The Strip which isn't really fair.

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#78

Post by qppo »

marcinzm wrote: post #46
ryandrake wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Nevada lacks the three laws/regulations which make California, imho, popular for entrepreneurs: * 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.

I'd add that those are more significant to create a liquid labor market than to empower founders. The other missing component to a startup scene is reckless venture capital. Even if you found in another city you'll probably need to travel to California to get funding.

Where I come from, the business culture can be described as somewhere between complacent and cautious that borders on cowardice. There's really no other choice but to bootstrap or relocate to California.

Re: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years

#79

Post by all_blue_chucks »

betocmn wrote: post #44

I grew up in Brazil, where customer service was bad-to-terrible in 90% of the companies I had to deal with. 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…

How do you measure your customer support staff performance? Many companies fire employees for having "low numbers" but since they can't measure tone, they end up driving their reps to optimize for other factors.
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