Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, who agreed in July to sell his business to Amazon.com for $900 million, was the first speaker on the program at the 2009 Inc. 500 conference in National Harbor, Maryland. In a wide-ranging talk, he covered topics as broad as achieving happiness and as specific as customer service. Memorably, he told the story of a Zappos call-center operator who helped a drunk customer identify pizza-delivery services in San Diego in the middle of the night. The goal, he says, or all phone interactions at Zappos is to be as helpful as possible, regardless of whether a sale is on the line. "As unsexy as it might sound, the telephone is one of the best branding devices out there," Hsieh said.
Good to Great author Jim Collins spoke about why some companies become powerhouses while others fall into decline. Typically, overreaching is to blame, Collins said. With that in mind, he advised the assembled entrepreneurs to take a series of overreaching-avoidance steps. Among them: Create a "stop doing" list (Collins's includes being online while he's doing important work and sending all-staff e-mails, especially when he is annoyed); building "white time" into his schedule so that he can think about the big picture; and limiting the number of priorities he focuses on at any given time. "If you have more than three priorities, than you have no priorities," Collins said.
BET founder Robert L. Johnson took the audience on a tour of his sprawling business empire, which includes media properties, hotels and resorts (including a new property in Liberia), and service companies. He got his start by making a deal with cable mogul John Malone, who funded BET in exchange for 20 percent of the equity. "I didn't tell John until much later that if he had wanted 80 percent, I would have gladly taken 20 percent," Johnson said.
Zipcar founder Scott Griffith says his company, which operates a car-sharing service in urban areas, has grown to $130 million in revenue in part because it embraces new technology. Zipcar's next new feature? An iPhone app that drivers can use to beep their car horn, so that they can identify their ride in a crowded parking lot.
Tastefully Simple founder Jill Blashack Strahan, whose life has been marked by tragedy several times, underscored the importance of perseverance when it comes to building a business. "Just start, know where you're going, and don't stop," she told people. Of course, one doesn't build a company with $93.9 million in sales by being inflexible. Blashack Strahan says she keeps an open mind when it comes to making decisions: "I reserve the right," she joked, "to get smarter."
