As a Junior at Harvard, Tony Hsieh decided to take over the student grill, but instead of selling burgers and fries like it used to, Tony would sell pizza which yielded higher margins.

Further, while most other students were only interested in running this grill in their Senior year, by taking over the operations as a Junior, Tony was able to amortize his costs over two years and to make more money.

Knowing he was the only Junior bidding on this grill, Tony was willing to be the highest bidder. He submitted his bid as "Highest bid +1 dollar," and naturally ended up winning.