Nick Swinmurn is the founder of

Zappos.com Zappos.com is an American online shoe and clothing retailer based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The company was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn and launched under the domain name Shoesite.com. In July 2009, Amazon acquired Zappos in an ...

. He started the company in 1999. He left in 2006, before it reached $1 billion sales in 2008, and was sold to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

in 2009.

Early life and education

Swinmurn was born in England and moved to the United States at the age of seven, growing up in the Bay Area of California. His father was an engineer and his mother was a teacher. He graduated from Los Altos High School and proceeded to earn a degree in Film Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995. After college, Swinmurn initially worked in ticket sales for the San Bernardino Stampede minor-league baseball team and then for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

. He then returned to northern California and worked at Autoweb.com, saying he was inspired by the 'anything is possible' attitude of the founders. He left Autoweb in 1998 and considered other options such as running a portal for students before finally deciding to start

. Swinmurn worked as a contractor for Silicon Graphics in order to raise funds for an online shoe store, initially called Shoesite.com. He started Zappos in 1999. Swinmurn left Zappos in 2006. He has started a number of companies since, some successful and others not. He also founded ''Dethrone Royalty'', which is now owned by his brother Dan and caters to fans of

Mixed Martial Arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

Sports team ownerships

Swinmurn is a member of the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

ownership group. He also owned the

Burlingame Dragons FC Burlingame Dragons FC was an American soccer club based in Burlingame, California. Founded in 2014, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL). The team was owned by Nick Swinmurn, founder of Zappos.com and a minority investor in ...

References

External links

Dethrone Royalty

Zappos.com

BBC interview

IdeaMensch interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swinmurn, Nick Living people American businesspeople University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Year of birth missing (living people)