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Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

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Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#31

Post by rhombocombus »

privateSFacct wrote: post #24

One key point in this - long term vs short term thinking. I was a groupon user / and higher value to restaurants I'd like to think (ie, strong income, would go out to eat at a nice place, if I liked a new place I'd go to it more) but also someone who doesn't want a lot of hassle, time is money etc. Groupon went from actually good deals, hassle free, to endless marketing emails / wall to wall shlock deals (50% off sup…

I managed a bikeshop/tavern prior to my transition into tech and we did a lot of groupon promotions. Their sales folks were super greasy and it was almost impossible to opt out once you were in, whether or not it made business sense to continue. It was an effective loss leader at first, but sometimes we would get punished with a throng of grouponers at peak times and we LOST money in a bar. It was a greasy business and I never gave them a dime after I left that job.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#33

Post by robotresearcher »

baud147258 wrote: post #29
bluGill wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fired has legal implications. They will do it, but if they don't get all the paperwork right you can sue for wrongful termination. Thus they would rather not fire you if they can get you to resign. If they are going to fire you and offer your the chance resign. While it means you resigned and thus you can't sue, it also means that when (if...) someone checks references they will say "yes, he/she worked here, and left…

What's the difference between fired and laid off? Fired is for bad performance/professional errors and laid off is because of downsizing, right?

Yes. In many countries being laid off is called being made redundant, which is more descriptive. Redundancy means they are axing your role rather than yourself.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#34

Post by wpietri »

privateSFacct wrote: post #24

One key point in this - long term vs short term thinking. I was a groupon user / and higher value to restaurants I'd like to think (ie, strong income, would go out to eat at a nice place, if I liked a new place I'd go to it more) but also someone who doesn't want a lot of hassle, time is money etc. Groupon went from actually good deals, hassle free, to endless marketing emails / wall to wall shlock deals (50% off sup…

Doesn't that dying-place-pulling-every-trick thing describe Groupon's arc itself?

I think of Groupon itself as one big pump-and-dump. I don't see that there was ever a long term for it, not outside of a niche business. Promotional coupons are not exactly a new idea. If Groupon had stayed small and figured out a way to bring businesses new customers that stuck around, it might have had a future.

But they used the power of the internet in exactly the wrong way. The internet can get you instant volume by getting many people to act in concert. But limited-capacity local businesses don't want a flash mob; it's a bad experience for all concerned. And the internet can collect niche audiences and really serve them. But Groupon's best niche audience is cheapskates who are super focused on going from great deal to great deal. Carefully managed this might have been a decent small business, but I don't think it could ever have been a large one.

And I think they must have known they were fucked from the start. When they IPOed, 86% of the money raised, over $800m, went into the pockets of insiders.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#35

Post by baud147258 »

robotresearcher wrote: post #33
baud147258 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference between fired and laid off? Fired is for bad performance/professional errors and laid off is because of downsizing, right?

Yes. In many countries being laid off is called being made redundant, which is more descriptive. Redundancy means they are axing your role rather than yourself.

Thank you. I'm not a native speaker, so I'm usually mixing close enough expression/words.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#36

Post by monksy »

privateSFacct wrote: post #24

One key point in this - long term vs short term thinking. I was a groupon user / and higher value to restaurants I'd like to think (ie, strong income, would go out to eat at a nice place, if I liked a new place I'd go to it more) but also someone who doesn't want a lot of hassle, time is money etc. Groupon went from actually good deals, hassle free, to endless marketing emails / wall to wall shlock deals (50% off sup…

Honestly, I'm glad to hear this. It means that the older values: Your consideration and treatment of the customer determine your success. Trying to run a business into the ground "for profit" is a dumb thing to do.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#37

Post by romed »

Jsharm wrote: post #6

Is there functionally anything bad about getting fired vs resigning? In this situation or any?

If you get fired you might not qualify for unemployment benefits, depending on jurisdiction. Not applicable to executives I suspect, but there it is.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#38

Post by xigency »

romed wrote: post #37
Jsharm wrote: post #6

Is there functionally anything bad about getting fired vs resigning? In this situation or any?

If you get fired you might not qualify for unemployment benefits, depending on jurisdiction. Not applicable to executives I suspect, but there it is.

It's really the other way around, at least in my state. If you quit or voluntarily leave, then you aren't eligible for unemployment. If you are laid off then you are eligible for unemployment. Whether you can collected unemployment for being "fired" depends on the circumstances of termination. Again, this might vary locally.

I think this is important to clarify because this could affect the people here, not because it affects the subject of the article.

Re: Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason on what the roller-coaster ride felt like

#39

Post by bksenior »

rsp1984 wrote: post #5

Andrew Mason is still worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Sure, he was fired from his job, but I wouldn't exactly call that a "fall". It's not like they took away his equity in the company.

You've clearly missed the point of the story and kind of reaffirmed the pitfalls of being the CEO of a company with any amount of public success.

First, it was a fail if felt your primary responsibility is to the team, shareholders and just general commitment you often set out to as a founder fulfill in building something that people love and use.

Being fired from something you believe you tried your hardest at doing right is brutally painful to self-identity. The quality of the food you eat after word at best distracts you from some of the pain and nagging "what-ifs."

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