You are here  CES 2013: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh Explains Why
Company Culture Matters  The startup hero behind the e-commerce
heavyweight explains how he learned that culture comes first.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that takes place in
Las Vegas every year is a gadget wonderland, but it’s also tech-
entrepreneur nirvana. Journalists, experts, veterans and wide-
eyed freshman all flock to the trade show to network and pick up
pearls of wisdom from their entrepreneurial heroes.  With that
in mind, Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, probably qualifies as
the e-commerce version of Superman.  During a talk with Startup
America, Hsieh explained how he came to understand that a
defined, focused and aligned company culture was key to making a
startup successful. He learned this lesson firsthand when he
worked at LinkExchange, an online banner advertising cooperative
that was acquired by Microsoft in 1998.  LinkExchange, which
Hsieh started with his college roommate in 1996, suffered a slow
erosion of company c