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Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

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Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#41

Post by larrys »

tptacek wrote: post #24
phillco wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has to be one of the most honest dismissal statements I've ever read. Major props to him.

Same. Wow. That guy sounds like someone I'd want to work with in the future.

Agree that the letter is good. But I'm puzzled by your reaction to it. Seems more of a populist "touchy feely aw shucks nice guy". How does that make you want to work for him? He wrote a good letter. What about the things he sucked at? What about the immaturity? The bad business decision. So what he is humble.

Some of the business people who are viewed as the most heartless and absolute assholes (by outsiders) can be incredibly loyal if you are on the inner circle and can provide you with opportunity. The nice guys can be swayed by others and give you the axe.

Business is business. Being a nice guy doesn't equate to winning in many cases.

Your comments sometimes come off as abrasive. That has no impact on whether I would recommend you or your company for security work (which I have done btw). My wife choose a doctor with a great bedside manner for a difficult operation our daughter needed.[1] I found a world class person who specialized in the exact problem who was almost impossible to deal with and very dismissive. He handled a difficult operation brilliantly. That's what I want the personality is secondary.

[1] Risk of facial paralysis a possibility with bad outcome.

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#42

Post by tptacek »

larrys wrote: post #41
tptacek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Wow. That guy sounds like someone I'd want to work with in the future.

Agree that the letter is good. But I'm puzzled by your reaction to it. Seems more of a populist "touchy feely aw shucks nice guy". How does that make you want to work for him? He wrote a good letter. What about the things he sucked at? What about the immaturity? The bad business decision. So what he is humble. Some of the business people who are viewed as the most heartless and absolute assholes (by outsiders) can be…

The letter opens with the things he sucked at.

I don't care that he's nice. I care that he cut through the crap.

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#44

Post by sideproject »

an honest post. I haven't really followed what's going on with Groupon or the whole daily deal space, but good on him for driving the whole world insane with the daily deal craze. Seriously, two years ago, finding daily deals online was EVERYWHERE - it's not easy to start something like that.

It's like... Gangnam style for startups!!!

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#45

Post by scott_s »

tptacek wrote: post #42
larrys wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree that the letter is good. But I'm puzzled by your reaction to it. Seems more of a populist "touchy feely aw shucks nice guy". How does that make you want to work for him? He wrote a good letter. What about the things he sucked at? What about the immaturity? The bad business decision. So what he is humble. Some of the business people who are viewed as the most heartless and absolute assholes (by outsiders) can be…

The letter opens with the things he sucked at. I don't care that he's nice. I care that he cut through the crap.

Agreed - but I also suspect he's been writing this letter in his head for quite some time.

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#46

Post by pchristensen »

raylu wrote: post #23
bigiain wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed - that's a really well written letter. (Though cynical-me wonders how much of it is heartfelt and honest, and how much of it is carefully engineered spin - crafted and chosen by a team of psychologists/marketers. About the only admirable thing about Groupon, at least to me, is their magnificent use of language to persuade and influence both buyers and sellers of Groupon deals.)

I felt it was dishonest when I got to "good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40." It seems he tried really hard to inject humor and trivialities into the letter.

More than once at company meetings, when he turned around and looked at the video projection, he'd mention being startled at how fat he looked from behind.

This is what Andrew Mason was like. He was one of the high points of working at Groupon.

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#47

Post by mattjaynes »

phillco wrote: post #17
sethbannon wrote: post #4

Full text of his statement: (This is for Groupon employees, but I’m posting it publicly since it will leak anyway) People of Groupon, After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. If you’re wondering why… you haven’t been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness…

This has to be one of the most honest dismissal statements I've ever read. Major props to him.

Agreed.

My only previous exposure to him was the awkward/creepy death stare he gave in an earlier interview:

http://allthingsd.com/20110601/see-andrew-masons-amazing-dea... [video]

This letter greatly improves my impression of him. Well done.

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#48

Post by chollida1 »

koenigdavidmj wrote: post #29
kurtvarner wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's being replaced by Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonisis. They will serve as co-CEOs until they find a permanent replacement. Here is Lefkofsky's statment: On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon. As a founder, Andrew helped invent the daily deals space, leading Groupon to become one of the fastest…

Since having two CEO:s worked so well for RIM^H^H^HBlackBerry.

To be fair, it worked extremely well for many years. Admittedly when the wheels fell off, they really fell off.

I'm not sure you can make a judgement about 2 CEO systems from BBRY.

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#49

Post by newman314 »

jedc wrote: post #33
kurtvarner wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's being replaced by Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonisis. They will serve as co-CEOs until they find a permanent replacement. Here is Lefkofsky's statment: On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon. As a founder, Andrew helped invent the daily deals space, leading Groupon to become one of the fastest…

And if I remember correctly, Eric Lefkofsky was one of the investors who cashed out ~$1billion (!) of his Groupon shares during one of their last VC rounds. I'm surprised they were able to do that, but so many people were killing themselves to be a part of the deal that Eric was able to push this slimy deal through. How any rational VC allows early investors to do that is beyond me... Nothing against the guy (I have…

He's done this rinse and repeat thing several times.

See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lefkofsky

Also,

* http://www.businessinsider.com/insider-selling-groupon-2011-...

* http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/10/groupon-eric-lefkofsk...

Re: Andrew Mason's statement about being fired as Groupon CEO

#50

Post by Cherian »

“My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers.”

Are there more insights in this? What do you think are the intuition decisions Groupon took (that’s public) that probably wasn’t against data?

It might seem obvious in retrospect, but as a startup founder I’d love to learn in context.

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