Zappos.com -- Hsieh's answer to Sand Hill Slave
 |
| Tony Hsieh (CNN) |
1999: Almost nothing
2000: $ 1.6 mm
2001: $ 8.6 mm
2002: $ 32 mm
2003: $ 70 mm
2004: $184 mm
2005: $370 mm
2006: $600 mm (goal)
Sequoia's investment beginning to look smart.
So the other day, we stumbled across the new blog called Sand Hill Slave. It is written by someone who claims to be an...
executive assistant at a firm on Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley's center for venture capital.
The blog writes up something about the worst firms, and mentions Venture Frogs, a firm started by Hsieh years ago, as an example. We think it was referenced for the silly name only, because the firm was never really that big, didn't stick around for very long, and there is no evidence that it really did do so poorly (or at least that we have seen). But it sure looks like Hsieh is redeeming himself, if ever there was question about Venture Frogs. The Venture Frogs site is down, but here is a cache.
http://www.siliconbeat.com/cgi-bin/mt331/mt-tb.cgi/1120
Links to blogs that reference this entry:
Amphibians
Excerpt: Almost all amphibians have thin, moist skin that helps themAmphibiansClose up photos and information about amphibians found in th...
Tracked: July 27, 2006 7:59 PM
Running an online retail business requires strong execution on a number of fronts (marketing, technology, analytics, etc) and far too few firms get an 'A' grade, but IMO Zappos is one of them. You can fault them for the name of their VC Firm (unless you're French in which case you'll like it) but public firms like BlueNile, RedEnvelope and others would do well to emulate Zappos' day-to-day execution.
Chris Zaharias on February 10, 2006 3:21 PMComment link
I tried to hit the Venture Frogs restaurant last week. Turns out it's been gone two years, but the sign (and some presence in online maps) is still there. Felt like stumbling onto a dead .com site.
Nick Douglas on February 10, 2006 3:49 PMComment link
