Buried down deep in the post, which also announces the launch of a public API as well as the launch of Zappos iPhone and iPad apps, is this one paragraph blurb detailing the expansion plans:
“We are very excited to be opening up a small San Francisco office. We’re jazzed to go back to the Zappos Family’s Bay Area roots and surround ourselves by the many amazing people and companies who make the world a happier place through technology, arts and culture.The San Francisco office in some ways will be a mini-start-up within the Zappos Family.
Our office is going to focus on experimentation, incubation and off roadmap projects. We will want to try a lot of fun and new zany things that might become the future of how people shop online or may end up in the huge pile of unused ideas “that sounded good at the time”. We’re eager to work and partner with great Bay Area companies to really put out some WOW.”
The company is looking for spaces in the SOMA area (unfortunately they’re not considering our home, here at startup central 410 Townsend). Zappos Product Manager Will Young will be heading up the new office and currently plans on hiring eight senior developers and two senior visual designers.
Zappos was an outgrowth of Venture Frogs, an incubator CEO Tony Hsieh and CFO Alfred Lin started in the Bay Area. The two ended up moving to Nevada to get away from the Valley during the crash and tap into that city’s customer service oriented culture. This move back represents a rekindling of some of that startup energy.
Says Young, “We’re thinking this office will hopefully hit a sweet spot for developers/designers who want to work in an environment that feels like a start-up (10 people) but also want to join an existing company that has a pretty awesome culture and brand.”
The new hires will still have to go through the rigorous four week Zappos customer service training that all potential employees do. “It’s harder to get into Zappos then to Harvard,” Hsieh told me in this pretty infamous interview.
Here’s the company’s dorky “A Few Good Men” inspired recruitment video, below: