Groupon's "flash in the pan" days are behind it. They created a new niche on the Internet and now, a very large number of clones are nipping at their heels. O

Groupon's "flash in the pan" days are behind it. They created a new niche on the Internet and now, a very large number of clones are nipping at their heels. Online, Groupon's business is about leadgen. Offline, Groupon's business is about selling the exposure they can give to a local business. Both their online leads and their access to offline local businesses are quickly being diluted. If Groupon takes funding (for the right reasons), they will have thought up a great new product that contributes to the new vertical they have created in a unique, limited way. Based on their "Groupon Stores" idea, I don't think that they have have this in them. I wrote a blog article a while ago that describes what I think is the only natural course for Groupon: http://robisit.com/idea-of-the-day-saturate-the-groupon-model/ http://robisit.com/idea-of-the-day-saturate-the-groupon-mode... In my mind, Groupon needs to do what they've been doing. They need to move hard and fast as far into every hyper local market that they can. They need to refine their leadgen, their delivery and their formula for local businesses to succeed. As an outsider looking in, I don't think that Groupon has the capability to move hard or fast enough. As a result of these things, I think that Groupon should either sell now or obtain enough funding to hire a significant number of sales people. Personally, I'd sell.