Latest Interviews

Alfred Lin with Justin Kan

Alfred Lin, Justin Kan

Lin and Tony Hsieh launched LinkExchange in 1997 to solve traffic acquisition for web hosts, eventually selling the network to Microsoft for $265 million before co-founding an angel fund that pivoted to Telme Networks and Zappos during the dot-com crash. While leading Telme, Lin executed a strategic shift from a failing consumer portal to an enterprise SaaS model that generated $150 million in recurring revenue and an $800 million exit, whereas Zappos survived a liquidity crisis by enforcing profitability on the first order and pioneering rapid overnight fulfillment. This dual success story culminated in Zappos maintaining operational independence before its acquisition by Amazon, illustrating Lin's philosophy of prioritizing long-term cultural partnerships over short-term investor returns.