Warby Parker Sees the Future of Retail
I spent more than three months embedded within Warby Parker to try to understand the making of this made-on-the-Internet brand. Among other things, I watched employees decide on frames for their winter season, wrestle with the nuances of their burgeoning retail strategy, and obsessively plan an employee ping-pong tournament. How, I asked—in meetings and during presentations in New York and over martinis in Los Angeles—have … [ Read more ]
Content: Case Study | Author: Max Chafkin | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Industry Specific | Industry: Retail | Company: Warby Parker
Y Combinator President Sam Altman Is Dreaming Big
The Silicon Valley startup factory that birthed Airbnb and Dropbox has grown even more ambitious under its new leader.
Content: Thought Leader | Authors: Max Chafkin, Sam Altman | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Entrepreneurship
A Broken Place: The Spectacular Failure Of The Startup That Was Going To Change The World
With almost $1 billion in funding and ambitions to replace petroleum-based cars with a network of cheap electrics, Shai Agassi’s Better Place was remarkable even by the standards of world-changing startups. So was its epic failure. A 21st-century cautionary tale.
Content: Case Study | Author: Max Chafkin | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Entrepreneurship | Industry: Automotive | Company: Better Place
Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course
He captivated the world with visions of self-driving cars and Google Glass and has signed up 1.6 million students for online classes. So why is he pivoting away from MOOCs? “We don’t educate people as others wished, or as I wished,” Thrun says.
Content: Case Study | Author: Max Chafkin | Source: Fast Company | Subjects: Education, Industry Specific | Industry: Education / Training
The Start-up Guru
Paul Graham’s business school and investment fund, Y Combinator, has launched 145 companies — for a lot less money than you would think.
Content: Thought Leader | Authors: Max Chafkin, Paul Graham | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Entrepreneurship
The Zappos Way of Managing
How Tony Hsieh uses relentless innovation, stellar customer service, and a staff of believers to make Zappos.com an e-commerce juggernaut — and one of the most blissed-out businesses in America.
Content: Case Study | Authors: Max Chafkin, Tony Hsieh | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Customer Related | Company: Zappos.com