LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
aaronbatalion.com
LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#2Something about rats and sinking ships. Hope all the talent there is planning their exit before the company exits for them. LivingSocial is not long for this world.
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#3Is anything LivingSocial did something to be proud of? It seems like the majority of those who invested in or did business with LivingSocial suffered greatly. That's fine, sometimes things don't work out, but I don't know why you'd brag about it.
"millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products"
Sounds like he is reaching, just a bit...
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#4Is anything LivingSocial did something to be proud of? It seems like the majority of those who invested in or did business with LivingSocial suffered greatly. That's fine, sometimes things don't work out, but I don't know why you'd brag about it. "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products" Sounds like he is reaching, just a bit...
> "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products"
I think its a fair assessment, but not the full story.
Millions of people did do things they wouldn't normally do. No way in hell I'm going to pay $200 for a family "dolpin tour" where you usually don't see dolphins, but when it's on LivingSocial (or similar sites) for $50? Sure, why not.
Now, whether it was a boon or bust for local businesses or not is a debated topic. I'm pretty sure that dolphin tour place actually lost money on my trip, or came close to break-even at most, and we were one time customers.
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#5Is anything LivingSocial did something to be proud of? It seems like the majority of those who invested in or did business with LivingSocial suffered greatly. That's fine, sometimes things don't work out, but I don't know why you'd brag about it. "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products" Sounds like he is reaching, just a bit...
They had revenue, which can't be said about most big startups nowadays.
Profit is another story, though.
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#6Is anything LivingSocial did something to be proud of? It seems like the majority of those who invested in or did business with LivingSocial suffered greatly. That's fine, sometimes things don't work out, but I don't know why you'd brag about it. "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products" Sounds like he is reaching, just a bit...
> "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products" I think its a fair assessment, but not the full story. Millions of people did do things they wouldn't normally do. No way in hell I'm going to pay $200 for a family "dolpin tour" where you usually don't see dolphins, but when it's on LivingSocial (or similar sites) for $50? Sure, why not. Now, whether it was a boon…
Not to mention that a normal, no-dolphins-promised boat ride may be less than $50 undiscounted anyway.
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#7Why are all the comments so negative on this thread? Aaron has personally contributed a ton to the communities he's a part of and I have no doubt the same goes for LivingSocial. It's a company of thousands of employees and one that most definitely has a massive consumer impact. Whether or not the business thrives or fails, few people on this site can say they founded something with anywhere near as much a reach as LS. That's an accomplishment.
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#8Is anything LivingSocial did something to be proud of? It seems like the majority of those who invested in or did business with LivingSocial suffered greatly. That's fine, sometimes things don't work out, but I don't know why you'd brag about it. "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products" Sounds like he is reaching, just a bit...
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Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#9Why are all the comments so negative on this thread? Aaron has personally contributed a ton to the communities he's a part of and I have no doubt the same goes for LivingSocial. It's a company of thousands of employees and one that most definitely has a massive consumer impact. Whether or not the business thrives or fails, few people on this site can say they founded something with anywhere near as much a reach as LS…
I think the comments on this and other LivingSocial threads are negative because many have the perception that LivingSocial was a net negative force on the world. This is a pretty reasonable reaction.
Things like "impact" and "reach" are orthogonal to whether or not something of value was contributed. Let's face it, it was a boiler room with immense reach. Technically I suppose you can call that an "accomplishment", but I wouldn't call it an admirable one.
I'm not saying he's a bad guy (I know nothing about him), but I think that their founders should be doing less boasting and more apologizing. I don't know that the problems they caused were intentional, but I have to think that they must have taken some notice when it was apparent that they were pushing their staff to sell unsustainable products. Sometimes it's hard to notice these things when you're pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars by cashing out early though.
Re: LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits
#10Why are all the comments so negative on this thread? Aaron has personally contributed a ton to the communities he's a part of and I have no doubt the same goes for LivingSocial. It's a company of thousands of employees and one that most definitely has a massive consumer impact. Whether or not the business thrives or fails, few people on this site can say they founded something with anywhere near as much a reach as LS…
I think the comments on this and other LivingSocial threads are negative because many have the perception that LivingSocial was a net negative force on the world. This is a pretty reasonable reaction. Things like "impact" and "reach" are orthogonal to whether or not something of value was contributed. Let's face it, it was a boiler room with immense reach. Technically I suppose you can call that an "accomplishment",…
A net negative force on the world? Seriously? How is that? I got good deals, businesses got to try a new marketing method, many did well, some poorly. No businesses were coerced or forced into offering a coupon on LS. I fail to see how they are a negative force or anything worse than a publisher like Yellow Pages selling ads.