Alfred Lin, COO, CFO and Chairman of Zappos.com spoke Thursday Oct. 16, at Oregon State University. When @brampitoyo and @mulderc and I got there, the entire auditorium was filled to the brim with college student. Everyone in the room was focused and intent on hearing what Alfred had to say. He spoke quietly and calmly, and his words were very engaging.

In less than ten years, Zappos.com has matured from an upstart to the top Internet shoe seller that is forecasted to generate $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2008. The e-tailer stocks 3 million pairs of shoes, handbags, apparel, and accessories, specializing in some 1,000 brands that are difficult to find in mainstream shopping malls.

Using an interactive Q&A format, Alfred discussed the ingredients to building a brand, culture, and company that matters. He shared the lessons he learned while growing the business over the last decade as well as key insights on e-commerce and entrepreneurship.

Transcript:

Consider Yourself Lucky

He talked about a study that was done with a set of people who considered themselves lucky vs. a set of people who considered themselves unlucky. Each set was asked to count the number of images present in a given newspaper. All over

Company Culture

At some point, we had more new people at the company than we had original employees. Our challenge was to train the new employees to understand and become excited about and believe in the corporate culture.

A financial officer in the company must be able to translate what’s happening in the company to other members

Q: Was it difficult to get brands like Versace to sign onto Zappos, and do you find it easier to get brands to sign on as you get more press and success?

Alfred: It’s never easier. It took us three years to get Nike. Once we got them, the CEO’s hands were shaking so much it was difficult for him to write the E-mail to the team about it.

Entrepreneurship

I don’t recommend becoming an entrepreneur. Do not underestimate the work it takes to become one. Your company will go through rough times and good times, but it is becoming harder and harder to be one.

Competitors

90-93% of commerce is done offline, so we do not have a lot of the competition traditional companies have.

On Company Growth

As a company grows, you’re not going to be able to do everything yourself. You have to begin relying on your team.
And a lot of times you have to look at your team and see who does the most and who does the least.

Teams can accomplish a lot more than indivudals. When your team succeeds, you succeed, and when your team fails, you fail. It’s important to create

Retail Stores and Catalog Business

Retail stores are not as scalable as opening up another website. But we have a type of catalog that has fashion advice and other tips.

I think business is why you do it. It’s rewarding and tiring at the same time. I equate the high I get from working on a business to a drug.

He said he wishes he could spend more time with his significant other, but he doesn’t really regret any of the choices he’s made in his life.

The toughest decision he ever had to make is letting his friends go if he’s hired them.

The best day of his career when he joined Zappos on the first day, because he felt very welcomed by the corporate culture.

Tracking and Marketing Tools

We evolved our website over the past 9 years mostly by A/B testing.

We have a new website ( http://zeta.zappos.com ) that we just rolled out, but that website does not convert as well as something that’s evolved for the past 9 years. It’s not that hard to have url A and url B and test the two.

Hiring Zappos Employees

We look for passion and a belief in the company culture over an applicant that has skill but is looking for another job.

The reason we started out training process is that we had to train people because we work and think differently. We had to think about how to not only teach the culture but improve it with each new group that came in.

We think of customers as investments, and that’s why customer

We view our interaction experiences with our customers as a branding experience. We take undivided time to

Recommended Business Books

Peruse growth and learning. We have a library in the lobby and some books are required reading for advancement inside the company.

Good to Great
Peak . Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs.

Management Strategies

I don’t have an overall strategy.I don’t do voice mails. All of them work if you stick to it. Pick a framework and work with it. We’re a very E-mail intensive company. And we expect people to answer an E-mail quickly or in a specific way.

We offer every employee $2000 if they leave. And if it’s not working, they can leave. It’s a good way to test loyalty, and supporting a person if it’s not working out.

Zappos Culture Book

Each employee contributes a paragraph about the culture of Zappos to a book that is added to continually. Except for small grammatical formatting, the book is largely unedited. The bad is left in with the good, and it is an excellent way to introduce others into the culture of the company.

We made money.zappos.com and twitter.zappos.com because of the passions of these different groups.

Zappos.com is one of the few companies who aggregates their Twitter data.

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Alfred Lin is responsible for all financial, administrative, and warehouse operations of Zappos.com. Since 2005, he has brought focus, strategy, and financial discipline to help grow the business efficiently and profitably.

Building a Brand that Matters is part of The Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series at Oregon State University. More information is available on Oregon State University’s Business Website.

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Amber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist and Social Media Consultant from Portland, Oregon. You can follow her on Twitter @caseorganic