4 ms·

I think a simple and direct "no comment, I can't talk about that right now" would have achieved a better result without all of the awkwardness of the "death sta

I think a simple and direct "no comment, I can't talk about that right now" would have achieved a better result without all of the awkwardness of the "death stare" (and the, IMO, slightly creepy twitching). Andrew is probably an awesome guy, but not knowing him other than as being the CEO of Groupon, those clips certainly don't give me a good first impression of him at all. He comes off a bit like the "quiet guy nobody suspected would be a killer until he murdered 20 people" in that video. Granted, I'm sure that was exactly the impact whoever edited these clips was going for, and thus you can't really blame the subject for it, but I'd advise him in the future to just go with ye olde "no comment".

middayc 15y ago
He was actually one of warmer startup guys a year or so back as a TWIST guest (and groupon started as a http://www.thepoint.com http://www.thepoint.com, service for activists, philantropists..). I imagine thinking about billons and getting to 7000 in workforce in such short time can change people, at least on the outside. http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/twist-52-with-andrew-mason/ http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/twist-52-with-andr...
ericd 15y ago
He's normally very charismatic when speaking/being interviewed, so in that context, it's pretty funny.
BasDirks 15y ago
It's only akward without context. I thought it was hilarious.
- georgemcbay 15y ago
  I figured as much, thus the caveat about the editing, but unfortunately these days if you're the public face of a company|country|state|whatever, it is better to avoid doing things which will make you look bad if you know for sure you're being videotaped and the situation can be edited for maximum out-of-context-ness. From my point of view, I knew who Andrew Mason was, what he did, but had never seen him speak in public. Coming from that starting point, seeing this video gave me a bad personal first impression of him. It is possible (perhaps likely) that whoever edited this clip didn't even mean for it to make Andrew Mason look creepy, but they had more context than the people who saw just the end result, so maybe this is also a warning to video editors as well.. always consider the impact your clips will have if viewed by someone that doesn't have the full context.

middayc 15y ago

He was actually one of warmer startup guys a year or so back as a TWIST guest (and groupon started as a http://www.thepoint.com http://www.thepoint.com, service for activists, philantropists..). I imagine thinking about billons and getting to 7000 in workforce in such short time can change people, at least on the outside. http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/twist-52-with-andrew-mason/ http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/twist-52-with-andr...

ericd 15y ago

He's normally very charismatic when speaking/being interviewed, so in that context, it's pretty funny.

BasDirks 15y ago

It's only akward without context. I thought it was hilarious.

georgemcbay 15y ago
I figured as much, thus the caveat about the editing, but unfortunately these days if you're the public face of a company|country|state|whatever, it is better to avoid doing things which will make you look bad if you know for sure you're being videotaped and the situation can be edited for maximum out-of-context-ness. From my point of view, I knew who Andrew Mason was, what he did, but had never seen him speak in public. Coming from that starting point, seeing this video gave me a bad personal first impression of him. It is possible (perhaps likely) that whoever edited this clip didn't even mean for it to make Andrew Mason look creepy, but they had more context than the people who saw just the end result, so maybe this is also a warning to video editors as well.. always consider the impact your clips will have if viewed by someone that doesn't have the full context.