美國 現代美國  (1973年十二月12日～2020年十一月27日)

閱讀謝傢華 Tony Hsieh在小说之家的作品!!!

出生於伊利諾伊州，其父母早年從中國臺灣到美國定居。謝傢華是傢裏的長子，從小就表現出了過人之處，天資聰穎，思維敏捷，這為他締造網絡營銷帝國提供了先天條件：
24歲，微軟以2.65億美元的價格收購他創辦“鏈接交換”公司；
25歲，作為顧問及投資人，成立了賣鞋的美捷步網站Zappos；
26歲，成為美捷步公司的首席執行官；
35歲，以10億美元身價登上《財富》雜志“40歲以下億萬富豪榜”，排名第27位。

謝傢華（英語：Tony Hsieh，1973年12月12日－2020年11月27日），男，生於美國伊利諾伊州，在舊金山長大，美籍臺灣人網絡企業傢與創業投資傢，曾創辦LinkExchange，為綫上成衣與鞋子商店Zappos的首席執行官。

生平

謝傢華父母是均來自臺灣的美國移民。1973年12月12日，謝傢華出生於美國伊利諾伊州，自小於舊金山長大，從哈佛大學資訊工程係畢業後，自行創業。

1996年，謝傢華成立廣告網站Link Exchange，到1998年該網站已有逾40萬名會員、每天有500則廣告輪播，在1998年11月，Link Exchange以2.65億美元（約75.6億元臺幣），出售給微軟。1999年，他接受創業者史文莫恩（Nick Swinmurn）提議，共同投資成立賣鞋網站，隨後更加入Zappos擔任首席執行官。Zappos在2000年營收160萬美元（約4565萬臺幣），到了2009年收益已達到10億美元（約285億元臺幣）。2009年，他把Zappos以12億美元（約342.2億元臺幣）售予美國電子商務巨頭亞馬遜，之後仍續留公司擔任首席執行官，直到2020年8月退休。

謝傢華撰寫暢銷書《DeliveringHappiness》，臺版書名為“想好了就豁出去：人生不能衹做有把握的事，鞋王謝傢華這樣找出勝算”。

一名友人曾以兒童文學作傢希爾弗斯坦謝爾·希爾弗斯坦的圖畫書《The Giving Tree》來形容謝傢華，比喻他把身上每一部分給了自己所愛的小男孩，未取任何回報。退休後，謝傢華致力於振興Zappos總公司所在的拉斯維加斯地區。因COVID-19疫情面臨隔絶狀態後，他原先飲酒問題變得更嚴重，開始嘗試使用迷幻蘑菇和迷幻藥等藥物，嘗試不排尿、降低身體氧氣量，並使用可引發組織缺氧的笑氣，會使用加熱器來降低氧氣量，也計劃入住夏威夷一傢戒毒中心。同年8月，歌手友人珠兒至猶他州進行演出時曾與謝傢華碰面，後寄信給謝佳華，奉勸別陷入毒癮。

2020年11月18日，謝傢華在康乃狄剋州新倫敦一處民宅遭遇火災，27日九天後因吸入濃煙的並發癥而去世。謝傢華是受睏在女友屋外的儲藏室，然而消防員在外呼喊卻沒人應門，推估當時可能因酒精及藥物作用下無法即時回應，友人及同事認為可能是謝傢華為營造氣氛所點燃的蠟燭纔導致火災。內華達州州長史蒂夫·西蘇拉剋（Steve Sisolak）在推特上發文哀悼在：“謝傢華在協助改造拉斯維加斯市中心扮演關鍵角色……在這艱難時刻，我和太太嚮謝傢華的至親好友緻上慰問之意”。

參考文獻

 

Tony Hsieh (/ˈʃeɪ/ shay; December 12, 1973 – November 27, 2020) was an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded the Internet advertising network LinkExchange, which he sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million.

On November 27, 2020, Hsieh died from complications from burns and smoke inhalation sustained in a house fire that had occurred nine days earlier.

Early life and education

Hsieh was born in Urbana, Illinois, to Richard and Judy Hsieh, immigrants from Taiwan who met in graduate school at the University of Illinois. Hsieh's family moved to Lucas Valley area of Marin County, California when he was five. His mother was a social worker, and his father a chemical engineer at Chevron Corp. He had two younger brothers, Andy and Dave. Hsieh attended the Branson School.

In 1995, Hsieh graduated from Harvard University with a degree in computer science. While at Harvard, he managed the Quincy House Grille selling pizza to the students in his dorm; his best customer, Alfred Lin, later was Zappos's chief financial officer and chief operating officer. After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle Corporation. After five months, he left to co-found the LinkExchange advertising network.

Career

LinkExchange

In 1996, Hsieh started developing the idea for an advertising network called LinkExchange. Members were allowed to advertise their site over LinkExchange's network by displaying banner ads on its website. They launched in March 1996, with Hsieh as CEO, and found their first 30 clients by direct emailing webmasters. The site grew, and within 90 days LinkExchange had over 20,000 participating web pages and had its banner ads displayed over 10 million times. By 1998, the site had over 400,000 members and 5 million ads rotated daily. In November 1998, LinkExchange was sold to Microsoft for $265 million.

Venture Frogs

After LinkExchange sold to Microsoft, Hsieh co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubator and investment firm, with his business partner, Alfred Lin. The name originated from a dare. One of Hsieh's friends said she would invest everything if they chose "Venture Frogs" as the name, and the pair took her up on the bet, although they had not seen any money as of 2011. They invested in a variety of tech and Internet startups, including Ask Jeeves, OpenTable and Zappos.

Zappos

In 1999, Nick Swinmurn approached Hsieh and Lin with the idea of selling shoes online. Hsieh was initially skeptical and almost deleted Swinmurn's initial voice mail. After Swinmurn mentioned that "footwear in the US is a $40 billion market, and 5% of that was already being sold by paper mail order catalogs," Hsieh and Lin decided to invest through Venture Frogs. Two months later, Hsieh joined Zappos as the CEO, starting with $1.6 million of total sales in 2000. By 2009, revenues reached $1 billion.

Without a precedent to guide him, Hsieh learned how to make customers feel comfortable and secure with shopping online. Zappos offered free shipping and free returns, sometimes of several pairs. Hsieh rethought Zappos structure and in 2013 it became for a time a holacracy without job titles, reflecting his belief in employees and their ability to self-organize. The company hired only about 1% of all applicants. Named for the Spanish word for shoes, “zapatos,” Zappos was often listed in Fortune as one of the best companies to work for, and beyond lucrative salaries and being an inviting place to work it delivered extraordinary customer service.

Hsieh loved the game of poker and moved Zappos headquarters to Henderson, Nevada, and eventually to downtown Las Vegas.

On July 22, 2009, Amazon announced the acquisition of Zappos.com in a deal valued at approximately $1.2 billion. Hsieh is said to have made at least $214 million from the sale, not including money made through his former investment firm Venture Frogs. 

On August 24, 2020, Hsieh retired as the CEO of Zappos after 21 years at the helm.

JetSuite

Hsieh joined JetSuite's board in 2011. He led a $7 million round of investment in the growing private "very light jet" field with that company. The investment allowed JetSuite to add two new Embraer Phenom 100 jets which have two pilots, two engines and safety features equivalent to large commercial passenger jets but weigh less than 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) and are consequently highly fuel-efficient.

Real estate rejuvenation projects

Downtown Project – Las Vegas

From 2009 until his death, Hsieh, who was still running the downtown Las Vegas-based Zappos.com business, organized a major re-development and revitalization project for downtown Las Vegas, which had been for the most part left behind compared to the Las Vegas Strip's growth. Hsieh originally planned the Downtown Project as a place where Zappos.com employees could live and work, but the project grew beyond that to a vision where thousands of local tech and other entrepreneurs could live and work. Projects funded include The Writer's Block, the first independent bookseller in Las Vegas.

Park City, Utah

After stepping down as CEO of Zappos in August 2020, Hsieh bought multiple properties in Park City, Utah, with a total market value around $56 million.

Awards

Hsieh was a member of the Harvard University team that won the 1993 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest in Indianapolis, ranking first of 31 entrants.

Hsieh received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Northern California region in 2007.

Book

Hsieh's book Delivering Happiness focused on his entrepreneurial endeavors. It was profiled in many world publications, including The Washington Post, CNBC, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal. It debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List and stayed on the list for 27 consecutive weeks.

Personal life

Hsieh resided primarily in Downtown Las Vegas, and also owned a house in Southern Highlands, Nevada. Hsieh was known for taking extreme challenges regarding his body, including starving himself of oxygen to induce hypoxia and using nitrous oxide as well as a fasting to the point where he was under 100 pounds.

Death

On the morning of November 18, 2020, Hsieh was injured in a house fire in New London, Connecticut, although his identity was not revealed at the time. It has been reported that he was visiting family for Thanksgiving, and he either became trapped in the basement during the fire, or barricaded himself inside and would not answer the door. The exact cause of the fire is currently under investigation. He was rescued by firefighters and transported to the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital to undergo treatment for burns and smoke inhalation, where he died on November 27, two weeks before his 47th birthday. The Connecticut medical examiner ruled the death an accident.

According to property records, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hsieh was staying at a house that was possibly owned by a former Zappos employee, Rachael Brown.

References

Further reading

• Hsieh, Tony. Delivering happiness : a path to profits, passion, and purpose, New York : Business Plus, 2010. ISBN 9780446563048
• Grind, Kirsten; Hagerty, James R.; Sayre, Katherine (December 6, 2020). "The Death of Zappos's Tony Hsieh: A Spiral of Alcohol, Drugs and Extreme Behavior". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 6, 2020.