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I think this is incorrect. Before Groupon was Groupon, they were The Point. A company that applied the same social tipping-point approach to consumer and politi
by spanktheuser 15y ago
I think this is incorrect. Before Groupon was Groupon, they were The Point. A company that applied the same social tipping-point approach to consumer and political organizing. Think "if 2,000 people all agree, we'll donate $10 each to the WWF." Or march on city hall. This was powered by a RoR app that Ken Pelletier and a small team built. I'm fairly certain that the early tests of Groupon leveraged this app. If so, the early version of Groupon was powered by tech far more substantial and purpose-built than Wordpress.
- stevenj 15y agohttp://mixergy.com/andrew-mason-groupon-interview/ http://mixergy.com/andrew-mason-groupon-interview/ Search: "WordPress Blog"
- spanktheuser 15y agoInteresting. Although I understand this to mean that Wordpress hosted some of the deal copy. The group buying logic would have been served up by those embedded widgets talking to The Point's server logic. My understanding is still: early Groupon = hacked together front end (Wordpress I guess) + slightly modified group buying system from The Point + hacked together fulfillment system. But I'm not 100% certain I'm right about this. It's based on old bar conversations with a few early Grouponers, and given the quality and quantity of beer consumed I could certainly be misremembering.
- brandnewlow 15y agoI saw the earliest Groupon deals. I am almost 100% positive they consisted of a Wordpress install as the base with an embedded js/flash box powered by The Point tech that had all the deal stuff in it. So yes, they did use WP. And yes, they did use The Point. I figure they created a Point project that happened to be a group coupon, and then embedded the widget on a wordpress blog.