Interview with Alfred Lin, Zappos Chairman and COO

Alfred Lin from Zappos is with us for this interview. Alfred is the Zappos Chairman and COO - he's Tony Hsieh, the CEO's right hand man when it comes to handling finance and operations for Zappos. I wanted to interview Alfred to get his perspective as being the key guy working with Tony. I wanted to understand how they met and how they're building Zappos. Most successful technology companies were built by two guys working together (Google, HP, Microsoft, etc) and I thought this would be a good opportunity to understand this kind of relationship better. I didn't expect Alfred to focus so strongly on the importance of the entire team being strong, not just the Tony/Alfred relationship. In his mind they're successful because of the entire team, not just the two guys in the spotlight. On a side note, Alfred talks about how he and Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos started working together. Tony sold pizza by the whole pie. Alfred sold pizza by the slice. Who do you think was the most profitable?