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Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

wsj.com

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Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#51

Post by buro9 »

forgotmypw wrote: post #39
downandout wrote: post #29

Question: now that the Google workaround no longer works for WSJ links, are they even allowed on HN? @dang has implied that paywalled articles without workarounds aren't allowed.

I mod a large sub-reddit, and I added an automoderator rule that basically tells people to paste the text of the article into the comments or the link is taken down after 2 hours. It is very effective.

This is not a good idea.

There is no fair use for the copying of a whole text, and whilst the person who posts it is the one who has infringed copyright I am not so sure that you could consider yourself to not be involved.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#52

Post by underwater »

hkmurakami wrote: post #40

Their "we will buy your car if it doesn't sell in X months" guarantee was the most egregious unforced adverse selection I've seen.

They would do a full inspection on the car before ever setting a price and were apparently picky about what they accepted. They also offered significantly less than the consignment price if it didn't sell. So it wasn't as bad as it seems on the face of it.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#54

Post by dingaling »

buro9 wrote: post #51
forgotmypw wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mod a large sub-reddit, and I added an automoderator rule that basically tells people to paste the text of the article into the comments or the link is taken down after 2 hours. It is very effective.

This is not a good idea. There is no fair use for the copying of a whole text, and whilst the person who posts it is the one who has infringed copyright I am not so sure that you could consider yourself to not be involved.

I agree and it boggles me when I see entire texts pasted along with the footer of the source page as well! 'Share me on Facebook'.

For fora where the posters aren't inclined to paraphrase the original story, it's usually more than sufficient to paste only the second and perhaps third paragraphs of a news story; those generally contain the actual news.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#55

Post by rockarage »

mathattack wrote: post #20
rockarage wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you do know #2 when you start. If I'm working on a cure for (name your sickness) you know there is a market. You're doing it wrong if you don't know #2 when you start. Don't be a solution looking for problem/market see: Is Your Product a 'Vitamin' or 'Painkiller?' https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230736

Many startups haven't figured out monetization at the beginning, that's why they search for Product Market Fit. If you do MVPs properly, you won't have burned much money on the way.

Not figuring out monetization at the beginning is a problem, typically leads to issues see "Inside Medium's meltdownMedium's meltdown", most smart founders have figured it out they are just being coy. If one of your monetization scheme involves selling your company you're not going to announce that to everyone. Monetization is not hard to figure out if you're solving a problem, having no strategic monetization plan early is poor strategic planning.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#56

Post by aswanson »

edoceo wrote: post #19

I hate seeing things like this. As an entrepreneur it's frustrating that I've built a business, in a growing space, $300k ARR, consistent growth, a few employees, no debt and a well defined path to 10x growth that's not built on any (bulshit) models that VC seems to love. And for some reason it's very hard to find funding that's not from Wall Street guys (who love models that earn). Hey VCs! I can burn less of your m…

I feel you, but what you're saying is the equivalent of asking a major league baseball team to sign you because you can put three more fans in the stands (your immediate family) and wont be a bust that costs them millions, or telling a Hollywood movie exec that your movie will only cost a few hundred thousand and is guaranteed to make him a profit of 200k. It's not appealing to a hits-driven business.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#57

Post by bmm6o »

meddlepal wrote: post #22
btgeekboy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A ton of ads on FM radio would be my guess, based on on how often I heard them.

Interesting... I never heard or saw a single ad for them. Literally the first time I am ever hearing about Beepi.

The industry is pretty geographically fragmented. Beepi was apparently mainly in California, though they didn't seem to have much of a presence here in Socal. The competitors they mention in the article - Vroom and Shift - I've never heard of, so I assume they are centered elsewhere. I know someone who works for Carvana, so I know they are also regional and expanding (ATL and PHX mostly, I think).

The industry is used cars, so it's a product buyers generally want to see in person and it has to be delivered to them. So physical location is more important than many tech startups.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#58

Post by prostoalex »

dirtae wrote: post #42

I bought a car on Beepi, and it was a great experience, much better than buying a used car from a traditional dealership or a private party (e.g., Craigslist). One thing that struck me as particularly crazy, though, is that they allowed you to charge your entire purchase to a credit card! That was great for me, since I got a ton of credit card points out of it, but it didn't seem very sustainable, and I guess it wasn…

I sold my car through Beepi, and I basically pitched them against Shift on pricing.

Both companies were an order of magnitude better than car dealership trade-in experience, Beepi's guaranteed offer just came a few bucks over Shift's guaranteed offer.

It's a bummer if this model is not sustainable, the customer experience alone would definitely drive me towards Beepi (and Shift) next time I need to buy/sell.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#59

Post by prostoalex »

hkmurakami wrote: post #40

Their "we will buy your car if it doesn't sell in X months" guarantee was the most egregious unforced adverse selection I've seen.

The pricing on the guarantee wasn't too generous, it's similar to what a used car dealership would be willing to quote you based on Kelly's Blue Book without seeing the car.

Re: Beepi Winding Down After Burning Through $150M

#60

Post by dang »

killbrad wrote: post #23

Silicon valley mental bubble. I've never heard of this company (not a problem), but there seems to be a SV problem I see constantly repeating: - Some people like this thing. There could be a market. - Investor cash gushes in; fast fellation or get no orgasm! - Startup uses up all of the money somehow on bullshit or self-payment of execs. - turns out a good thing is now shit because VC's jizzed them full of undeserved…

> VC's jizzed them

Please don't. It's kind of gross. Also, please don't post overheated rants to HN. It lowers the signal/noise ratio, which is what we're hoping to optimize for.

Thoughtful critique is welcome. One method for turning overheated rants into thoughtful critiques is to (a) edit out name-calling and pejoratives and (b) add information, such as specific examples.

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