Tony’s passing is a tragic loss to Las Vegas, and I hope he rests in peace. In my Vegas travels, I crossed paths with Tony once. He lived in a hipster trailer park while revamping downtown LV. Spending a few minutes, chatting with him was insightful. The new downtown was one of my favorite destinations. Tony was the antithesis of the traditional entrepreneur.

He connected the dots of capitalism and the do-good enrichment of his employees and the community. I’ll most remember him for holacracy. This blog was named ‘Customer Success for Good,’ and its creation came from various influences, including the book Delivering Happiness.

Tony may have indirectly created the customer success industry when he launched Zappos Insights in 2009, long before anyone had customer success in their job title. Zappos Insights was the consulting arm of Zappos.com and delivered ‘customer service’ thinking to other companies hoping to learn Zappos’ secret sauce.

If anyone is looking for a playbook to re-package Silicon Valley and take it somewhere else, Tony kept it on full display in Las Vegas. In a world full of copycats, Tony remained an original. I hope his mission to make Las Vegas a better place isn’t forgotten.