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Trigger warning: suicide, drug use, overdose

Tony Hsieh had a life other entrepreneurs dreamed of. He was the wealthy CEO of a wildly successful ecommerce company with a legion of devoted customers and employees, currently on a bus tour to spread the gospel of his unique management style. But under the surface, cracks were starting to show, and Tony was falling into a severe drug and alcohol addiction. Years after his death that bus tour was a clear turning point in Tony's story, but for those around him at the time, it was just Tony being Tony. They had no clue how much darker things could get.

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Timestamps:

2:00 - Intro / show notes

6:00 - Zappos / Tony Hshei story

1:20:00 - Good News & Adam breaks a chair

Links:

Wonderboy (Book)

Internal Memo: Zappos is offering severance to employees who aren't all in with Holacracy

How Tony Hsieh Tried to Single-Handedly Transform Downtown Las Vegas

The Rise and Fall of the Management Visionary Behind Zappos

The Death of Zappos's Tony Hsieh: A Spiral of Alcohol, Drugs and Extreme Behavior

Amazon Changes at Zappos Slowly Dismantle Tony Hsieh's Legacy

'Money's a powerful motivator,' Friends, documents detail Las Vegas entrepreneur Tony Hsieh's final months alive

Spinato's Employees Get a "Slice of the Pie" as Spinato Family Transitions 49% of Company Ownership to Eligible Employees

Iconic Cincinnati company Graeter's to become partially employee-owned

Listen to the full episode on Patreon. Join today at the Murdoch's Mates level and get FOUR bonus epiosdes every month plus the Corporate Gossip Book Club and group chat!

On Monday morning thousands of travelers were locked out of their Sonder hotel rooms and told: Sorry! Our business isn't businessing anymore :) Executives at both Marriott and Sonder turned their phones on Do Not Disturb as frazzled front line employees tried to manage fuming customers.

At first glance, this just seems like a mismanaged PR crisis, but there's SO much more to the story: A bay area unicorn led by a Forbes 30 under 30 wunderkind, co-opted by VC maniacs speeding down the the 2021 SPAC super highway, bailing right before the crash and leaving unwitting investors holding the bag. INTO THE CORPORATE DUMPSTER!!!

Links:

Hospitality Startup Sonder Raises $170 Million At A $1.3 Billion Valuation During Covid-19 Travel Collapse

Gores SPAC's High Redemptions Signal Worsening Sector Sentiment

Sonder faces class action investigation after delaying financial results due to errors in past statements

Sonder Seeks Room in Post-Covid-19 Lodging

San Francisco property-tech company, once worth $1.9B, suddenly goes belly-up

Dear Sonder Guest, Your Hotel Is Closed

This is an updated and unlocked version of an episode that was earlier published exclusively on Patreon. Join now and enjoy FOUR extra episodes a month for as little as $5!

Ty Haney is back at Outdoor voices, the cult athleisure brand she founded. Can she successfully suck us all into her time machine back to 2014? Or will this company's death rattle be loud enough to convince the brand's private equity investors to put OV out of its misery.

Today, Adam and Becca try to figure out how the once beloved brand got so weird and shitty and how Ty Haney fell off the top of the Abby Lee Miller girl boss pyramid.

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Links:

Outdoor Voices Became A Staple For Millennial Cool Girls Thanks To Its Chill Aesthetic. Employees Say They Were Drowning.

Outdoor Voices Founder Ty Haney Has Moved On. Mostly. Three years after her dramatic exit as CEO, she still has some things she'd like to say.

How Outdoor Voices, a Start-Up Darling, Imploded

Ty Haney is Elon Musk's Reply Guy

Outdoor Voices founder Ty Haney accused of defrauding investors in $3M energy drink deal