Zappos Founder "Trades Shoes for Urban Planning"

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh and his team went from designing a new campus to an entirely new collaborative city in downtown Las Vegas for Zappos employees and other emerging members of the creative class.

1 minute read

January 23, 2012, 10:00 AM PST

By Judy Chang


"...for all its zaniness, Zappos is still located in a sprawling suburban office park; the nearest bar where employees can collide after work is almost a half-mile away, next to a big highway. When it came time to think about a new home for the company, Hsieh decided the best way to create those interactions is to drop his employees in the middle of a vibrant downtown and let the surroundings facilitate the interaction. "When you're in a city, the bar or the restaurant becomes an extended conference room," he says. Since downtown Vegas didn't really have that yet, Hsieh says, "The idea went from 'let's build a campus' to 'let's build a city.'"

Monday, January 23, 2012 in CNN Money - Fortune Tech

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