Thread: Groupon ... What a mess

Everyone is going to say they saw it happening long before it actually did happen ex post facto, but noone put their money where their mouth is or what?

Originally Posted by DanielGonz

Everyone is going to say they saw it happening long before it actually did happen ex post facto, but noone put their money where their mouth is or what?

Ummmmm....what?

- Think Groupon's Stupid Now? -

Exactly what I was going to post, fusion. All the business experts on L4P saw this coming from a mile away, and that thread is fantastic evidence of that.

-Markus-

Originally Posted by TechArt Dreamer

Exactly what I was going to post, fusion. All the business experts on L4P saw this coming from a mile away, and that thread is fantastic evidence of that.

-Markus-

I think Daniel is referring to when GroupOn launched, was the fastest company I'm history to reach $1 billion and it was in its hayday. The investors and the public at large were extremely impressed with the money it was generating between 2008-2009.

It's easy to say something will collapse when it's on shaky grounds or declining, not so easy to say when it launched and was a massive success.

Originally Posted by IamStephen

I think Daniel is referring to when GroupOn launched, was the fastest company I'm history to reach $1 billion and it was in its hayday. The investors and the public at large were extremely impressed with the money it was generating between 2008-2009.

It's easy to say something will collapse when it's on shaky grounds or declining, not so easy to say when it launched and was a massive success.

How does that make a difference?? The hype as they grew was stoked in part by lack of awareness of how cooked/bad their financials were at the time. I was predicting their decline well before they went public, and I bet accordingly.

A a consumer, I love groupon...I don't see why anyone wouldn't. 50% or more off on something that you want, it would be stupid not to buy it.

Bad deal for the business though because:
A) most these people who buy groupons are NOT converted into returning customers
B) The business only gets about 35% of the revenue the deal generates
C) They dont even get the cash upfront. They have to wait to get their payout from groupon

But this is what really confuses me... The people that tend to buy these groupons are mostly women who make between 60 and 100,000 a year....WHAT?...why is it not the lower income people who, you would think are looking for good deals.

^ bitches be cray!

lol

Originally Posted by fusionstorm

How does that make a difference?? The hype as they grew was stoked in part by lack of awareness of how cooked/bad their financials were at the time. I was predicting their decline well before they went public, and I bet accordingly.

It makes a huge difference. Unless you are apart of a venture firm, you wouldn't have been able to get into GroupOn. They raised a seed of $1mm and a series A of $30mm in 09. That's when they were just starting to grow massively, the general public didn't know what their actual financial situation was like we do now. It's easy to look back and say "yeah it was hype, their financials were bad." I mean, obviously those things are true once you look back on it now. Hindsight is 20/20. You can say you "knew" all you want, but you couldn't have bet at all with the rounds this company was raising in its early days. It's easy to preach in 10-11 when things were going down hill, but in 08-09 GroupOn was in it's hayday.

Originally Posted by IamStephen

It makes a huge difference. Unless you are apart of a venture firm, you wouldn't have been able to get into GroupOn. They raised a seed of $1mm and a series A of $30mm in 09. That's when they were just starting to grow massively, the general public didn't know what their actual financial situation was like we do now. It's easy to look back and say "yeah it was hype, their financials were bad." I mean, obviously those things are true once you look back on it now. Hindsight is 20/20. You can say you "knew" all you want, but you couldn't have bet at all with the rounds this company was raising in its early days. It's easy to preach in 10-11 when things were going down hill, but in 08-09 GroupOn was in it's hayday.

You're focusing on the gains that happened for early stage investors and key employees. For individuals like myself, the gains were in shorting the stock after GRPN had gone public. I made it clear in the other thread that anyone who was going long on GRPN after the IPO was going to be in a world of hurt.