4 ms·

If I were heading Groupon, I'd absolutely sell. They are the market leader by far, their valuation is high right now, but there are some well funded competitor

by DevX101 16y ago

If I were heading Groupon, I'd absolutely sell. They are the market leader by far, their valuation is high right now, but there are some well funded competitors just coming into the space. Most importantly, their customers have low switching costs. What's to stop them from losing 30% of their customers to AOL, Yahoo, or Yelp once these new entrants ramp up their operations? Sell now, while they have the stratospheric valuation and the leverage & profitability to defend that value.

cullenking 16y ago
Or facebook...I still haven't figured out why facebook hasn't stepped into this space yet. They have the distribution, they just need the marketers in select regions.
- qasar 16y ago
  I think at the core, these are different companies. FB is a social network, groupon is a deal site. The skill set to dominate these two spaces is very different. Agreed, they have a huge distribution channel but so does for instance Target or Walmart, but groupon just doesnt align to those companies core competencies. Hence not a great fit.
- jmatt 16y ago
  They are. Though I don't use facebook enough to really know if it makes sense. Facebook Places: http://www.facebook.com/places/ http://www.facebook.com/places/ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1616082 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1616082 Facebook Deals: http://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=446183422130 http://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=446183422130 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1865817 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1865817 EDIT: Updated style.
qasar 16y ago
They are not the market leader by far at least in terms of uniques: http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/19/livingsocial-acquires-urban-escapes-to-take-lead-in-daily-deal-war/ http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/19/livingsocial-acquires-urba... Regardless, that only supports your key point. In terms of the right time to sell, they are peaking and they should. I think the fact they are out there seemingly shopping their company around says to me: "this b model is not defensible, the valuation is not sustainable, let's offload it."

by DevX101 16y ago

cullenking 16y ago

Or facebook...I still haven't figured out why facebook hasn't stepped into this space yet. They have the distribution, they just need the marketers in select regions.

qasar 16y ago
I think at the core, these are different companies. FB is a social network, groupon is a deal site. The skill set to dominate these two spaces is very different. Agreed, they have a huge distribution channel but so does for instance Target or Walmart, but groupon just doesnt align to those companies core competencies. Hence not a great fit.
jmatt 16y ago
They are. Though I don't use facebook enough to really know if it makes sense. Facebook Places: http://www.facebook.com/places/ http://www.facebook.com/places/ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1616082 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1616082 Facebook Deals: http://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=446183422130 http://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=446183422130 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1865817 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1865817 EDIT: Updated style.

qasar 16y ago

They are not the market leader by far at least in terms of uniques: http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/19/livingsocial-acquires-urban-escapes-to-take-lead-in-daily-deal-war/ http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/19/livingsocial-acquires-urba... Regardless, that only supports your key point. In terms of the right time to sell, they are peaking and they should. I think the fact they are out there seemingly shopping their company around says to me: "this b model is not defensible, the valuation is not sustainable, let's offload it."