good luck, there are like 10 clones out there already
"It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors—so rare that you can almost discount the possibility."
- Paul Graham (http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html)
Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
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Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#12So we can say in retrospect that the biggest bubble in Silicon Valley started in the foam industry.
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#13good luck, there are like 10 clones out there already
"It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors—so rare that you can almost discount the possibility." - Paul Graham ( http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html )
Yes we all remember when Facebook failed to defeat MySpace...
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#14Worth listening to this story from Marketplace: Why are there so many mattress stores?
https://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/02/world/why-are-there-s...
Basically, mattresses in the US are sold at a very high markup (couple hundred times the cost) so it's an easy way to make money.
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
"It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors—so rare that you can almost discount the possibility." - Paul Graham ( http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html )
Yes we all remember when Facebook failed to defeat MySpace...
One example is not indicative of the larger picture
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#16In the UK, Eve, a rival maker also just (around a month ago) IPO'd here in the UK. Their figures are scary at the moment, with a CPA hovering around £250-£300 and returns of 15% on the mattresses with the 100-night trial. All that with an average order value was only £450, on a product people buy every 10 years! They lost £11.3m last year on earnings of £12m, so no wonder their shares have been on the decline since I…
That is a staggering CPA vis a vis product cost. Is that just based on the congestion of keyword bidding? Or does CPA actually mean conversion/sale and the path to close is very difficult? I feel like Amazon could swoop in with a competitive offering and obliterate the competition, if marketing and acquisition were the only barriers to success. They've also got a lot of distribution infrastructure they can leverage,…
Amazon is scary, startups can develop a new product and spend millions on consumer education and establishing a market, working out kinks, etc, and once it's proven Amazon can simply swoop in and dominate the market (almost any market with their breadth and network advantages).
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
"It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors—so rare that you can almost discount the possibility." - Paul Graham ( http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html )
Yes we all remember when Facebook failed to defeat MySpace...
Also how MySpace failed to defeat Friendster.
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#18I got a sour taste in my mouth for Casper when I learned of their Federal lawsuits against affiliate bloggers who reviewed their product. I personally felt like Sleepopolis's review of Casper was as fair and observational as one could get with such a thing.
Lawsuit Details: https://sleepopolis.com/blog/casper-sues-sleepopolis-with-fe...
Casper Mattress Review: https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/casper-mattress-rev...
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#19For those looking for a new mattress, I'd highly recommend Thr Mattress Underground[0]. It's an unbelievably comprehensive resource for mattress reviews and discussion, and goes into great detail about the mattress industry in general (and the "disruptors" including Casper, among others).
Re: Casper, Mattress Maker, Raises $170M and Plans I.P.O
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes we all remember when Facebook failed to defeat MySpace...
One example is not indicative of the larger picture
App.net lost to Twitter. Netscape lost to Microsoft. Yahoo lost to Google. Ouya lost to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Coin lost to existing payment cards...