Holacracy at Zappos (B): From Experiment to Exodus

In 1999, Nick Swinmurn (Swinmurn) who was working as a webmaster for Silicon Graphics, was disappointed when he could not find a pair of Airwalk desert boots in the style, color, and size he was looking for, while shopping at a mall in San Francisco. When trying to buy the shoes online, he discovered that although there were a number of small retailers selling shoes online, there were no major online shoe retailers. Swinmurn immediately saw a business opportunity in this. In 1999, the footwear industry was worth around US$ 40 billion, and about 5% of the sales were through mail order catalogs. Swinmurn estimated that the online shoe business would be worth more than US$ 2 billion. He decided to start an online shoe retailing business....