I used to work for Groupon as Business Development Manager. It failed because they were greedy and did not put the vendor's interest first. It was profit before anyone's well being, and I say this as an insider that negotiated deals with vendors first hand that worked for Groupon for 4 years
Hey Nazeem. Are you available to chat on fb messenger? I am currently working on a similar project but this video just got me to step on my emergency breaks and reasses things.
I'm not into business but I watch these videos because they are interesting. They also teach lessons on how things can go wrong/right, and you can apply them to other kinds of situations, not just in business.
i m a merchant and i own a restaurant. groupon had approached me multiple times try to set me for some deals. after talking to them i decided not to go forward. first and the most important issue is the cost. groupon ONLY allow me to do a 50% off deal, and they will take 25% cut and only leave me with 25%. which mean if i sold 100 on groupon, i only get to keep 25bucks. that mean i will lose 60buck everytime i sold 100 because my profit margin is only 15%. as a smart business owner that is a NONO. groupon will ONLY work for new business that need to build up their customer base FAST. and merchant will only do it 1-2 times at the MOST, its because what merchant want is to have customer to come to your door. yes you will pay someone to bring customer to your door, but only for the FIRST TIME. this is why all the business owner i know will only run groupon 2-3time at the most. because groupon have the same customer base there is NO POINT to pay someone to bring in the same customers who already know your business. anyway i just want to share my story, and i m not sure if groupon had changed since then. i just never bother to talk to them again.
Love these videos, great information, really focused investors on looking deep into the financials and past they hype. Also no 2minute long in video sponsorships that are just unskipable ads !! Thank God. Keep up the amazing work
Interesting food for thought. So investors saw this as an existing business model and didn't realize that it wasn't on the marketing/behavior side. Fascinating how VC's can make decisions and don't ask "who is adding value to who".
A bad business model can sink the ship.....I love your case studies and book recommendation. I have been trying to adjust my business model and I found golden nuggets to be applied. Thank you, Tom
I have a very small Limo company here in SF Bay, Ca. Groupon contacted, out of the blue, to join up. I would double my sales-volume, they said. Now, I normally charge about $55.00 from SFO to Downtown SF........Groupon offers the rider, 50% off, that leaves $27.50. Groupon gets about 55% of the $27.50, that's leaves me a net of $12.37. At that rate, it won't even cover the gas for my Chevy Suburban. So, after about 4 phone calls and emails of hard sell, I told her, look, I simply can't afford to work with Groupon. No amount of volume would make it palatable.
Not sure if this should even be considered a failure, a company that started off small and ended up stabilizing at 2 billion valuation. That is really not bad at all
I think Groupon does work well for athletic classes and groups, so long as the price jump isn't too high and you get a bonus for continuing. It has to be the kind of business that gets you "hooked" and requires a long term commitment to be of benefit.
Looking back I agree with you, the decision not to sell was a huge mistake. But at the time I don't think the choice was as simple as it appears now, remember Yahoo offered Mark $1bn for Facebook? at that time Mark faced huge pressure from the board and his team to take it, but he refused. Had Facebook flopped, we would probably be studying his case study today lol. So while it looks obvious when hindsight is 20/20, at the actual moment it's very easy to see an alternative to the obvious choice. PS an infamous brothers from Germany called Samwer brother created a clone of Groupon called CityDeal and sold it back to Groupon for $170m I believe in 2010. Great presentation as always thank you.
+STIKKAR I love the comment and the extra detail that you've provided for everyone to read. These case studies cause us to think deeply and bring up details that we saw and know from other companies such as Facebook. I appreciate the point that you brought up. I still think that Mark was far more structured and in control of a good enterprise versus Groupon. But you are correct if things were different, we could be doing the Facebook case study! Thanks again see you next Friday with a new case study - Tom
i think theres a difference between 1 billion and 6 billion. not sure how long facebook was around when the deal was presented, but to be honest 6 billion for less than 2 years work? that to me seems like a no brainer, especially in IT world where someone else will come up with something cooler and more clever than yours. why risk it ?
Me and the misses both stopped using Groupon after being bitten multiple times. For example I bought 5 carwashes at a local carwash place (not my normal place so that business got my custom). However turning up at that place and not being able to put money in the barrier, had to get the attention of the staff who weren't there, did not try again 3rd time. Similar experiences with restaurants and others, they just didn't treat groupon customers as well as regular customers.
lol, this is my first viewing of Valuetainment's case studies - I love this guy! And wow @ groupon... how does one turn down a deal from Google - 6 billion dollar deal? Hurts my brain trying to wrap my mind around it. Thanks for the book reference, I'm definitely going to read it and study more about various business models and stories like these!
Tom this business model generation book is really great and they study how companies are creating innovative business models and create better businesses. Thank you for recommending it .
Digital coupons is a thing even today but the difference is, they do not need any mediator now. They themselves send coupons to their existing database and things spread with word of mouth. Ex - Food delivery apps offer coupons via their apps and mail and everytime I get a coupon it tempts me to order via them. So all and all digital coupons still works but not the groupon way.
People say many things that if you succeed you could have sold yourself short or maybe you should have taken the deal. Honestly, nobody knows what is the best option. For me, it is better to have a big bag of money in hand now than to anticipate a bigger truckload of money in the future. Nobody wants to fail but very few succeed. Better to be a short success than to be a big failure.
You're so wrong. Their problem was they moved on from having the groupon unlock and only activate if they sold a certain amount of groupons. Once they made it so all groupons were live all the time they lost the proprietary "social" aspect and made it something that anyone with internet email, app or website can replicate. How is this so hard to understand?
This is a great case study about the failure of Groupon. However there's a key point here about the 6 billion offer that wasn't discussed: venture capital terms. Venture capital terms are often terrible for the people who own stock (i.e. people who built the company). Even if Groupon had sold to Google there's a good chance most of the stock holders would've received very little. In that case it's not so much the board turned down 6 billion but that they may have turned down something much less to aim for a lot more from an IPO. Framed like that it's not such a silly decision.
the fact is, digital coupons have been most successful in house, meaning the companies selling the products themselves offer digital coupons, create the coupon apps and offer the deals themselves or under an umbrella company. This lets them control their offerings and market share and cut out middlemen coupon sites like Groupon.
Groupon ads is a great way to cheapen your business' image and have increased sales at negative margins. It gets customers used to ridiculously cheap restaurant meals, only for them to never come back when prices revert to normal. They also take 50% of the advertiser's revenue after the discount has been applied. Once you analyse Groupon from the perspective of it's customers, it's not hard to tell if it's stock is worth buying.
I always thought that Groupon business model was not that great. Especially the way they treated their vendors. Last month they close Groupon South Africa and they selling it to another company. Thank you again for this awesome case study.
Hi Tom. This is the second video of yours that I am watching and would like to thank you for the time taken to make this informative video. Really insightfull and well illustrated!!! I don't usually comment on videos, but this is worth it. Looking foward to more
Merchants don't like promoting their businesses with deep discounts, which is how Groupon sells their model to merchs. Most merchs that have been burned by Groupon have figured out by now that they aren't winning new customers who are going to come in and pay full price, but people who are only going to come in when they get a 50% off Groupon. And since Groupon takes a cut of the sale, the merch isn't taking a 50% hit, but up to a 75% hit on their retail price. In the restaurant biz, where you're doing well to take home 10% of full price, Groupons are a killer.
Tom, great job! loving the case studies. So many great lessons, and you've only just started. looking forward to many more to come. Thanks for helping us entrepreneurs find our way in the business world that is peppered with land mines.
The thing is after 8 years Groupon is still worth 2 billion; or more than 99 percent of companies. So even if they didn't get to the very top they are still a profitable business - a success. The trouble with this synopsis it might put people off doing anything unless they get to the very top. Anyway, good point - take the 6 billion
Knew Andrew Mason and his wife, Jenny Gillespie (mostly knew her), just before and a little after Groupon went public. They were into music and poetry, and Jenny had a wicked sense of humor and played us some of her naughty songs; both wife and husband were highly idealistic and rather magical in their thinking, so it seemed. I didn't know at that time Andrew was in business, much less he was a CEO who turned down 6B. They aren't billionaires now, but I believe that they are still rich. And now parents. Love these case studies!
Around 2014, my family was offered a chance to be a merchant on Groupon what really stuck out was that Groupon (Singapore) kept all the money from people who bought our coupons and we only got the money IF and when someone redeems the coupon. Groupon got to keep the unclaimed coupon fees.
11:18 "There is a special technical word when your stock drops 85% in one year, from your IPO....that word is DAAAAAAMN!!!!!" looooool THAT WAS FUNNY!! I really was waiting for that technical word....lol Biz Doc, got jokes....!!!
11:22 someone doing a case study on Elons buy of twitter needs to use this clip as a meme. lmao I spilled my tea hearing this. A burst of unexpected humor, I love it!
One thing I noticed was when Groupon first started in my area you could get some great deals. I used it for a vacation at the beach and was only paying $40-50 a night for a great room. Now when I check it it is the same price as any other site
So glad I watched this video today. By tomorrow afternoon I'll have this book or at least on its way. A lot of my model I know is in the right space, but specifically pricing, that's been a little difficult, but it's getting there.
Excellent video, Tom! Love the whole series. Some of these case studies have basic lessons to learn and some more advanced. Being arrogant is more basic, everyone knows it. Business model lesson is more advanced. If you make more case studies would be cool to include some of the more advanced business lessons if you know what I mean.
Wow... i didnt know that such company exist.. company for coupons.. i think when you are a new company.. being with groupon can help tremendouslly when it comes to making your product and services known to market.. i see alot of possibilities..
Hey Tom, super interesting! This series becomes more compelling each week. I like the mix of successful and failing companies you have been giving. My only comment would be to try to give a short glimpse of the future for these companies based on your extensive knowledge.
The knee jerk reaction is to think that the six billion offer was cash right now. I suspect it had many strings attached. Your point to highlight the business model is well taken. Thank you for this video. Actually, Thank you twice for this video...You make a good point
I'm 22 and when I was 19 I bought a business that was doing 11,000$ a month and increased it to 17,000$ a month in 15months. I've never found a channel that every video I watch, I like, not only like, I feel compelled to like and share the videos. Great, great content. I know you will reach 1million subs by 2017
My company used Groupon, and it was highly controversial. Our company would have to lose money on every job with a Groupon coupon, and we didn't have a single repeat customer from it. Its great for consumers, but they decieve the businesses in to thinking they will get consistent repeat business. May not apply to every industry, but it did to ours.
That $6 bn deal was crap and they proved it with a massive IPO. Only thing entrepreneurs must learn is, being entrepreneur does not mean being a CEO, hire someone else if you can't handle it.
Great content! Just to say, in June 2006, two years since Facebook started, Yahoo offered them 1 billion dollars to buy the company and most of Facebook's executives wanted to sell, but Mark refused it.. What would happened if Facebook just said "yes"? Saying "yes" to a billion/s dollar offer is not always the correct decision. In the case of Groupon, accepting would have been the right choice, of course.
Interesting analysis. We should not forget the importance of cultural habits, neither: your grandma used to get little sticky stamps and she put them in a little booklet, and once it was full, she got to choose some goodies at the supermarket . A zero sum game called "customer engagement". Groupon is no different. Of course it is nice to get a pizza for half the price - but you have to spend time and effort in order to get it: again, a zero sum game. Those are not even business models - the sum of all that activity is not any value whatsoever being created - the sum of all the flurry is zero.
+karttick rajan - thank you for that comment. Yes, I think I could do a case study on failed business models and cover more than one company in that case study. The business model is so important. Go pick up that book and add it to your library. (FYI - I didn't write the book and I don't have a deal with the author it's just a great book for startups). - Tom
+joshuaogaldez thank you for that comment, that's an important lesson that was inside this case study: "Vanity stats" are ALL SHOW and don't reflect a real business model! - Tom
[Warning : I know nothing about this but I have a good imagination] It's dumb from our nowadays perspective. If someone serioulsy offers me 1 million € for my car I'll first stop and think "hey, why would he ? where's the trick ?" Plus if you are in your 20s and really believe in your idea, and think that your sudden fame is right, then why sell it so fast ? COO may just leave because the Google deal was missed. And last but not least the company was worth $12 billion after this, and investors were not all stupid.
Great video, however, I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding. Groupons aren't coupons, they are paid for vouchers. While they have changed the model slightly to include cashback with a kickback today, originally it was all paid for vouchers. Ergo you pay $10 for a voucher worth 2 medium pizzas at X pizza shop. They don't just blast coupons, there was an exchange of funds in obtaining the said voucher. While the margins I'm sure are top secret, I would presume the merchant would receive a fraction of the sale to fulfill the voucher and Groupon would take their cut at the time of the sale of the voucher itself.
Do coupons and companies ike Groupon not dilute a brand by offering perpetual discounts on the product or service? Csutomers then will unlikely be prepared to ever pay for the product or service offered by the merchant which puts merchants into reduced profit margins. No way back syndrome?
VALUETAINMENT As a future entrepreneur, It would be cool to understand how to still remain one of the richest organizations in the world with no marketing or advertisement.
Cameron Perry - Hi- that's because Investment Houses are mainly Business to Business institutions, rather than Business to Consumer. Hence, why spend millions advertising to the masses?
informative and eye-opening case study, I'm now searching the BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION Book this case study and the NOKIA one are eye-opening to X-Y Generation my generation it's all about what to do when to do and who to turn down wish that you would have been doing 2 case study per week! see you soon
They got very greedy not only with Google deal, but with the business itself. They had to lower their margin and adapt to the clients needs. It's doing better now
+léo Castel - yes; my top three books for entrepreneurs are: The Lean Startup, Zero to 1, and The Business Model book from this case study. There are many more that I like, but those three are the basics I recommend for any entrepreneur.- Tom
u have to have a right business model dont copy a failed business model (have a business model that they keep on coming back) dont be greedy investments are called series starts with a then b c d e and so on sometimes in business its best to play it safe it the offer you a rediculous amount of money ■TAKE IT when u just start off■
Tom, once you hit 50-100 case studies here (It will happen!) Valuetainment needs to put out a book with all of them - The Biz Doc's Case Studies.
+Anuroop Kumar I love that idea! - Thanks - Tom
I'm secretly listening to your videos while I'm sitting in a boring production meeting. Watching your videos is much more productive. Great job!
I used to work for Groupon as Business Development Manager. It failed because they were greedy and did not put the vendor's interest first. It was profit before anyone's well being, and I say this as an insider that negotiated deals with vendors first hand that worked for Groupon for 4 years
Hey Nazeem. Are you available to chat on fb messenger? I am currently working on a similar project but this video just got me to step on my emergency breaks and reasses things.
@@TheAvira123 what's your idea? im also working on something similar.
I'm not into business but I watch these videos because they are interesting. They also teach lessons on how things can go wrong/right, and you can apply them to other kinds of situations, not just in business.
when someone asks me what you study, I say I do my MBA from VALUETAINMENT
+Urvish Bhatt - that is our goal and I appreciate you said it. - Tom
if you guys do offer an MBA I'm game
Splendid and insightful. Truly the best content on the internet for entrepreneurs. Many thanks Valuetainment!
I absolutely love this guy, usually I hate lectures / long talks but this guy I happily listen to. absolute talent! Keep it up :)
+skateboardervans thank you so much - Tom
i m a merchant and i own a restaurant. groupon had approached me multiple times try to set me for some deals. after talking to them i decided not to go forward.
first and the most important issue is the cost.
groupon ONLY allow me to do a 50% off deal, and they will take 25% cut and only leave me with 25%.
which mean if i sold 100 on groupon, i only get to keep 25bucks. that mean i will lose 60buck everytime i sold 100 because my profit margin is only 15%. as a smart business owner that is a NONO.
groupon will ONLY work for new business that need to build up their customer base FAST. and merchant will only do it 1-2 times at the MOST, its because what merchant want is to have customer to come to your door. yes you will pay someone to bring customer to your door, but only for the FIRST TIME. this is why all the business owner i know will only run groupon 2-3time at the most. because groupon have the same customer base there is NO POINT to pay someone to bring in the same customers who already know your business.
anyway i just want to share my story, and i m not sure if groupon had changed since then. i just never bother to talk to them again.
I hope you'll reach the one million subscription one day cause your videos and program are really worth watching.Good luck
+koreishite - thanks for the kind words. - Tom
Young entrepreneur here. I just discovered this video series and they are very informative. Thank you!
Love these videos, great information, really focused investors on looking deep into the financials and past they hype. Also no 2minute long in video sponsorships that are just unskipable ads !! Thank God. Keep up the amazing work
I hope everyone realizes how valuable these case studies are. Thanks Tom!
+Cami Forgiven - I appreciate your comment. Have a happy new year. - Tom
Interesting food for thought. So investors saw this as an existing business model and didn't realize that it wasn't on the marketing/behavior side. Fascinating how VC's can make decisions and don't ask "who is adding value to who".
I think you are doing a fantastic job with these videos. All the very best and thank you!
Awesome case study, crazy how someone can turn down 6B...
+The eCom Project - A painful lesson for sure. - Tom
Urjit Bhosale haha thanks man :)
They just may not have wanted to sell the whole company
I could see that with a business that is scalable, which a digital coupon business is arguably not.
You can't knock them for not taking 6 billion dollars, they had faith in their company. Imagine if a social media giant sold themselves short.
This Case Study is absolutely GOLD , BEST youtube channel! Thank you guys ,
+Salman Ali Thank You!! That's our goal!! - Tom
These are awesome, and very informative, please keep doing them.
+Kirk K absolutely. See you every Friday. - Tom
Thanks for the awesome case study!!
A bad business model can sink the ship.....I love your case studies and book recommendation. I have been trying to adjust my business model and I found golden nuggets to be applied. Thank you, Tom
I have a very small Limo company here in SF Bay, Ca. Groupon contacted, out of the blue, to join up. I would double my sales-volume, they said. Now, I normally charge about $55.00 from SFO to Downtown SF........Groupon offers the rider, 50% off, that leaves $27.50. Groupon gets about 55% of the $27.50, that's leaves me a net of $12.37. At that rate, it won't even cover the gas for my Chevy Suburban. So, after about 4 phone calls and emails of hard sell, I told her, look, I simply can't afford to work with Groupon. No amount of volume would make it palatable.
Thank you so much Mr. Ellsworth, for providing us all the insights.
Not sure if this should even be considered a failure, a company that started off small and ended up stabilizing at 2 billion valuation. That is really not bad at all
Kev.CKL Revenue: US$2.84 billion (2017)
Net income: US$14.04 million (2017) , that is not a successful business, that’s a crime.
I think Groupon does work well for athletic classes and groups, so long as the price jump isn't too high and you get a bonus for continuing. It has to be the kind of business that gets you "hooked" and requires a long term commitment to be of benefit.
Awesome. Was not aware about the Google takeover bid. Can you do a video about Kodak and why they disappeared from the photography industry?
+Diogène Ntirandekura -Yes, Kodak would be a great case study. - Tom
Yeah let's see that one
Peter Diamantis in his book "Bold" does a nice case study on Kodak and how hubris stopped them from seeing the future in pixels.
Hi TOM, I don't remember how i end up here. But your stuff is very educative and enjoyable. I watch it till the end. Good job tom. Succes.
I can't imagine that I lived a life without the Biz Doc.
Man i love these case studies, thank you Mr.Ellsworth
+Aztec Lordu - thank you for watching. - Tom
Looking back I agree with you, the decision not to sell was a huge mistake. But at the time I don't think the choice was as simple as it appears now, remember Yahoo offered Mark $1bn for Facebook? at that time Mark faced huge pressure from the board and his team to take it, but he refused. Had Facebook flopped, we would probably be studying his case study today lol. So while it looks obvious when hindsight is 20/20, at the actual moment it's very easy to see an alternative to the obvious choice. PS an infamous brothers from Germany called Samwer brother created a clone of Groupon called CityDeal and sold it back to Groupon for $170m I believe in 2010. Great presentation as always thank you.
+STIKKAR I love the comment and the extra detail that you've provided for everyone to read. These case studies cause us to think deeply and bring up details that we saw and know from other companies such as Facebook. I appreciate the point that you brought up. I still think that Mark was far more structured and in control of a good enterprise versus Groupon. But you are correct if things were different, we could be doing the Facebook case study! Thanks again see you next Friday with a new case study - Tom
i think theres a difference between 1 billion and 6 billion. not sure how long facebook was around when the deal was presented, but to be honest 6 billion for less than 2 years work? that to me seems like a no brainer, especially in IT world where someone else will come up with something cooler and more clever than yours. why risk it ?
Me and the misses both stopped using Groupon after being bitten multiple times. For example I bought 5 carwashes at a local carwash place (not my normal place so that business got my custom). However turning up at that place and not being able to put money in the barrier, had to get the attention of the staff who weren't there, did not try again 3rd time. Similar experiences with restaurants and others, they just didn't treat groupon customers as well as regular customers.
lol, this is my first viewing of Valuetainment's case studies - I love this guy! And wow @ groupon... how does one turn down a deal from Google - 6 billion dollar deal? Hurts my brain trying to wrap my mind around it. Thanks for the book reference, I'm definitely going to read it and study more about various business models and stories like these!
+Dreighen Thanks! Glad the book is helpful! - Tom
Watched this twice because I never knew this about Groupon, but it also taught me about growing with the times.
+UNASHAMEDIMAGING - there you go, that's exactly the attitude to have. - Tom
Tom this business model generation book is really great and they study how companies are creating innovative business models and create better businesses. Thank you for recommending it .
Digital coupons is a thing even today but the difference is, they do not need any mediator now. They themselves send coupons to their existing database and things spread with word of mouth.
Ex - Food delivery apps offer coupons via their apps and mail and everytime I get a coupon it tempts me to order via them.
So all and all digital coupons still works but not the groupon way.
People say many things that if you succeed you could have sold yourself short or maybe you should have taken the deal. Honestly, nobody knows what is the best option.
For me, it is better to have a big bag of money in hand now than to anticipate a bigger truckload of money in the future.
Nobody wants to fail but very few succeed. Better to be a short success than to be a big failure.
You're so wrong. Their problem was they moved on from having the groupon unlock and only activate if they sold a certain amount of groupons. Once they made it so all groupons were live all the time they lost the proprietary "social" aspect and made it something that anyone with internet email, app or website can replicate. How is this so hard to understand?
This is a great case study about the failure of Groupon. However there's a key point here about the 6 billion offer that wasn't discussed: venture capital terms. Venture capital terms are often terrible for the people who own stock (i.e. people who built the company). Even if Groupon had sold to Google there's a good chance most of the stock holders would've received very little. In that case it's not so much the board turned down 6 billion but that they may have turned down something much less to aim for a lot more from an IPO. Framed like that it's not such a silly decision.
the fact is, digital coupons have been most successful in house, meaning the companies selling the products themselves offer digital coupons, create the coupon apps and offer the deals themselves or under an umbrella company. This lets them control their offerings and market share and cut out middlemen coupon sites like Groupon.
Excellent education on being aware of the central importance of verifying RECURRING revenues.
Groupon ads is a great way to cheapen your business' image and have increased sales at negative margins. It gets customers used to ridiculously cheap restaurant meals, only for them to never come back when prices revert to normal. They also take 50% of the advertiser's revenue after the discount has been applied.
Once you analyse Groupon from the perspective of it's customers, it's not hard to tell if it's stock is worth buying.
Entirely not my field, but your videos are still very entertaining and educational to me. Well done!
Amazing case study! One of my favourites! Up late Saturday night studying business case studies 💪🏽
I always thought that Groupon business model was not that great. Especially the way they treated their vendors. Last month they close Groupon South Africa and they selling it to another company. Thank you again for this awesome case study.
+Kizito Nantcha thank you for adding that, you were absolutely correct. - Tom
Hi Tom. This is the second video of yours that I am watching and would like to thank you for the time taken to make this informative video. Really insightfull and well illustrated!!! I don't usually comment on videos, but this is worth it. Looking foward to more
great stuff man. this kind of content separates the entrepreneurs from people who just like the IDEA of it. This is REAL!
+Rafi - awesome comment! "REAL" is where profitable businesses live! - Tom
Omg 😱😱😱 imagine being offered 6 billion only 2 years in 😭😭😭
+Just Jimmy yes indeed, now imagine not taking it. - Tom
VALUETAINMENT I know it's a tragedy
Merchants don't like promoting their businesses with deep discounts, which is how Groupon sells their model to merchs. Most merchs that have been burned by Groupon have figured out by now that they aren't winning new customers who are going to come in and pay full price, but people who are only going to come in when they get a 50% off Groupon. And since Groupon takes a cut of the sale, the merch isn't taking a 50% hit, but up to a 75% hit on their retail price. In the restaurant biz, where you're doing well to take home 10% of full price, Groupons are a killer.
Tom, great job! loving the case studies. So many great lessons, and you've only just started. looking forward to many more to come. Thanks for helping us entrepreneurs find our way in the business world that is peppered with land mines.
+Christian R. You are welcome! - Tom
The thing is after 8 years Groupon is still worth 2 billion; or more than 99 percent of companies. So even if they didn't get to the very top they are still a profitable business - a success. The trouble with this synopsis it might put people off doing anything unless they get to the very top. Anyway, good point - take the 6 billion
You should start your own separate channel for the biz doc case studies. I would definitely subscribe!
Knew Andrew Mason and his wife, Jenny Gillespie (mostly knew her), just before and a little after Groupon went public. They were into music and poetry, and Jenny had a wicked sense of humor and played us some of her naughty songs; both wife and husband were highly idealistic and rather magical in their thinking, so it seemed. I didn't know at that time Andrew was in business, much less he was a CEO who turned down 6B. They aren't billionaires now, but I believe that they are still rich. And now parents. Love these case studies!
Around 2014, my family was offered a chance to be a merchant on Groupon what really stuck out was that Groupon (Singapore) kept all the money from people who bought our coupons and we only got the money IF and when someone redeems the coupon. Groupon got to keep the unclaimed coupon fees.
These video are great man! Love them!
11:18 "There is a special technical word when your stock drops 85% in one year, from your IPO....that word is DAAAAAAMN!!!!!" looooool THAT WAS FUNNY!! I really was waiting for that technical word....lol Biz Doc, got jokes....!!!
11:22 someone doing a case study on Elons buy of twitter needs to use this clip as a meme. lmao I spilled my tea hearing this. A burst of unexpected humor, I love it!
You saved my life and my assignment right noww!!!
Hai Tom, this is really mind-opening for me. I totally agreed with your opinion on the business model for both Groupon and Living Social.
One thing I noticed was when Groupon first started in my area you could get some great deals. I used it for a vacation at the beach and was only paying $40-50 a night for a great room. Now when I check it it is the same price as any other site
Friday ☑
Tom in F1 shirt ☑
Great case study ☑
Book recomendation ☑
I SAY YES!
+jab0lpunk -
☑️Great Viewers
☑️ Great Comments
Yes!!
- Tom
That was a very pleasant material to watch and I'll definitely be staying for more, Tom. I have subscribed to this channel.
The main idea.... Always take Google's money
So glad I watched this video today. By tomorrow afternoon I'll have this book or at least on its way. A lot of my model I know is in the right space, but specifically pricing, that's been a little difficult, but it's getting there.
Nice video. Just keep them coming. I learn a lot with these videos.
+Stephen John thank you for the nice comment. See you every Friday with the new case study. - Tom
Excellent video, Tom! Love the whole series.
Some of these case studies have basic lessons to learn and some more advanced. Being arrogant is more basic, everyone knows it. Business model lesson is more advanced. If you make more case studies would be cool to include some of the more advanced business lessons if you know what I mean.
+Seera Masters - I think that's a good observation and a good suggestion. Thank you very much for the comment. - Tom
Love these case studies, short + factual + great insights, keep it up!
Wow... i didnt know that such company exist.. company for coupons.. i think when you are a new company.. being with groupon can help tremendouslly when it comes to making your product and services known to market.. i see alot of possibilities..
Hey Tom, super interesting! This series becomes more compelling each week. I like the mix of successful and failing companies you have been giving.
My only comment would be to try to give a short glimpse of the future for these companies based on your extensive knowledge.
+pecenak21 - I think that's a great point. A little glimpse of a future forecast would be interesting to add. I appreciate the comment. - Tom
Hey Tom, you're a fantastic orator and educator! Thanks for the great video brother!
good presentation. I like the way you make your presentation. Great skill of making it interesting.
The knee jerk reaction is to think that the six billion offer was cash right now. I suspect it had many strings attached. Your point to highlight the business model is well taken. Thank you for this video. Actually, Thank you twice for this video...You make a good point
Tom is a GENIUS!! Love these case studies. Keep it up!!
+Javier Martinez - thank you for that see you every Friday with the new case study - Tom
I'm 22 and when I was 19 I bought a business that was doing 11,000$ a month and increased it to 17,000$ a month in 15months. I've never found a channel that every video I watch, I like, not only like, I feel compelled to like and share the videos. Great, great content. I know you will reach 1million subs by 2017
+ylber t - thank you for that vision. I hope you are absolutely correct. - Tom
My company used Groupon, and it was highly controversial. Our company would have to lose money on every job with a Groupon coupon, and we didn't have a single repeat customer from it. Its great for consumers, but they decieve the businesses in to thinking they will get consistent repeat business. May not apply to every industry, but it did to ours.
That $6 bn deal was crap and they proved it with a massive IPO. Only thing entrepreneurs must learn is, being entrepreneur does not mean being a CEO, hire someone else if you can't handle it.
It was interesting to know. Thanks.
Great content! Just to say, in June 2006, two years since Facebook started, Yahoo offered them 1 billion dollars to buy the company and most of Facebook's executives wanted to sell, but Mark refused it.. What would happened if Facebook just said "yes"? Saying "yes" to a billion/s dollar offer is not always the correct decision. In the case of Groupon, accepting would have been the right choice, of course.
Interesting analysis. We should not forget the importance of cultural habits, neither: your grandma used to get little sticky stamps and she put them in a little booklet, and once it was full, she got to choose some goodies at the supermarket . A zero sum game called "customer engagement". Groupon is no different. Of course it is nice to get a pizza for half the price - but you have to spend time and effort in order to get it: again, a zero sum game. Those are not even business models - the sum of all that activity is not any value whatsoever being created - the sum of all the flurry is zero.
It will be more lesson's can be learned from failed business model, so if can talked about failed business, tq Tom
+karttick rajan - thank you for that comment. Yes, I think I could do a case study on failed business models and cover more than one company in that case study. The business model is so important. Go pick up that book and add it to your library. (FYI - I didn't write the book and I don't have a deal with the author it's just a great book for startups). - Tom
Fascinating... That whole convo of "vanity stats" really got my attention. Thank you!
+joshuaogaldez thank you for that comment, that's an important lesson that was inside this case study: "Vanity stats" are ALL
SHOW and don't reflect a real business model! - Tom
i love groupon i use the app all the time
$6billion. ouch
+Elisha Watkins - Yep. A massssive dumb decision. - Tom
[Warning : I know nothing about this but I have a good imagination]
It's dumb from our nowadays perspective. If someone serioulsy offers me 1 million € for my car I'll first stop and think "hey, why would he ? where's the trick ?"
Plus if you are in your 20s and really believe in your idea, and think that your sudden fame is right, then why sell it so fast ? COO may just leave because the Google deal was missed. And last but not least the company was worth $12 billion after this, and investors were not all stupid.
Great video, however, I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding. Groupons aren't coupons, they are paid for vouchers. While they have changed the model slightly to include cashback with a kickback today, originally it was all paid for vouchers. Ergo you pay $10 for a voucher worth 2 medium pizzas at X pizza shop. They don't just blast coupons, there was an exchange of funds in obtaining the said voucher. While the margins I'm sure are top secret, I would presume the merchant would receive a fraction of the sale to fulfill the voucher and Groupon would take their cut at the time of the sale of the voucher itself.
Do coupons and companies ike Groupon not dilute a brand by offering perpetual discounts on the product or service? Csutomers then will unlikely be prepared to ever pay for the product or service offered by the merchant which puts merchants into reduced profit margins. No way back syndrome?
Thank you Tom! Very Interesting case study.
The first Groupon wasn’t pizza, it was sandwiches. Snarfs in Chicago
Awesome one once again. Thank you Tom.
+Allabakash Shaik thank you very much, I appreciate that you're coming back to watch again. - Tom
Goldman Sachs Case study would be great!
+Cameron Perry interesting. Which angle inside Goldman Sachs would you like to look at? - Tom
VALUETAINMENT As a future entrepreneur, It would be cool to understand how to still remain one of the richest organizations in the world with no marketing or advertisement.
Cameron Perry - Hi- that's because Investment Houses are mainly Business to Business institutions, rather than Business to Consumer. Hence, why spend millions advertising to the masses?
wait did u ever do this
Man What a Great And Amusant Video !!!! The moment you've drinked that Glass of Water, Plicelesss !!!! . Much love.
Excellent case study!! waiting this for long time!!
You're AWESOME Tom Ellsworth! :D
+Kamsani Hussein Thank you very much! - Tom
👍🏼 😁 LOVE your channel. Wish it were around when I was getting my MBA. 😜 Thanks!
informative and eye-opening case study,
I'm now searching the BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION Book
this case study and the NOKIA one are eye-opening to X-Y Generation my generation
it's all about what to do when to do and who to turn down
wish that you would have been doing 2 case study per week!
see you soon
+Ali Yasin - Thank you! - Tom
They got very greedy not only with Google deal, but with the business itself. They had to lower their margin and adapt to the clients needs. It's doing better now
Thank you tom for your knowledge! Any chance you have a list of books you recommend? Thanks!
+léo Castel - yes; my top three books for entrepreneurs are:
The Lean Startup,
Zero to 1, and
The Business Model book from this case study.
There are many more that I like, but those three are the basics I recommend for any entrepreneur.- Tom
Can we have a revisit of Groupon's business model now? I would love to hear your opinion Tom
Amazing work! Thanks for this channel!
u have to have a right business model dont copy a failed business model
(have a business model that they keep on coming back)
dont be greedy
investments are called series
starts with a then b c d e and so on
sometimes in business its best to play it safe it the offer you a rediculous amount of money ■TAKE IT when u just start off■
Awesomely presented ❤
I wanted to try groupon, but there were far too many restrictions on the offers, and the offers mostly did not appeal to me. Seemed like wasted money
It’s so much easier to look back and analyze