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Full text of his statement: (This is for Groupon employees, but I’m posting it publicly since it will leak anyway) People of Groupon, After four and a half i

Full text of his statement: (This is for Groupon employees, but I’m posting it publicly since it will leak anyway) People of Groupon, After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. If you’re wondering why… you haven’t been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable. You are doing amazing things at Groupon, and you deserve the outside world to give you a second chance. I’m getting in the way of that. A fresh CEO earns you that chance. The board is aligned behind the strategy we’ve shared over the last few months, and I’ve never seen you working together more effectively as a global company – it’s time to give Groupon a relief valve from the public noise. For those who are concerned about me, please don’t be – I love Groupon, and I’m terribly proud of what we’ve created. I’m OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company this far with all of you. I’ll now take some time to decompress (FYI I’m looking for a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40, if anyone has a suggestion), and then maybe I’ll figure out how to channel this experience into something productive. If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness – don’t waste the opportunity! I will miss you terribly. Love, Andrew

larrys 14y ago
"My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers." Otoh Meg Whitman has said something like "if you can't measure it you can't manage it".
- VonGuard 14y ago
  "If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through." Wow, that's actually kinda a perfect analogy. I totally understand.
- dopamean 14y ago
  Different strokes for different folks.
- jacques_chester 14y ago
  Peter Drucker, actually. Also incorrectly attributed to Deming (who, um, would disagree).
- jdlshore 14y ago
  "If you can't measure it you can't manage it" is a classic management platitude. I doubt Meg Whitman was the first person to say it. Furthermore, it's completely untrue. Many things that must be managed are incompletely measurable, and almost everything in knowledge work falls into that category. See Robert Austin's excellent "Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations" for a scientific exploration of the topic. (It's a more accessible version of his Ph.D. thesis.) His insights are applicable to more than just performance measurement.
  - mbesto 14y ago
    It was Drucker actually.
socalnate1 14y ago
This is fantastic letter. If we could all get fired so gracefully.
phillco 14y ago
This has to be one of the most honest dismissal statements I've ever read. Major props to him.
- tptacek 14y ago
  Same. Wow. That guy sounds like someone I'd want to work with in the future.
  - larrys 14y ago
    Agree that the letter is good. But I'm puzzled by your reaction to it. Seems more of a populist "touchy feely aw shucks nice guy". How does that make you want to work for him? He wrote a good letter. What about the things he sucked at? What about the immaturity? The bad business decision. So what he is humble. Some of the business people who are viewed as the most heartless and absolute assholes (by outsiders) can be incredibly loyal if you are on the inner circle and can provide you with opportunity. The nice guys can be swayed by others and give you the axe. Business is business. Being a nice guy doesn't equate to winning in many cases. Your comments sometimes come off as abrasive. That has no impact on whether I would recommend you or your company for security work (which I have done btw). My wife choose a doctor with a great bedside manner for a difficult operation our daughter needed.[1] I found a world class person who specialized in the exact problem who was almost impossible to deal with and very dismissive. He handled a difficult operation brilliantly. That's what I want the personality is secondary. [1] Risk of facial paralysis a possibility with bad outcome.
    - tptacek 14y ago
      The letter opens with the things he sucked at. I don't care that he's nice. I care that he cut through the crap.
      - scott_s 14y ago
        Agreed - but I also suspect he's been writing this letter in his head for quite some time.
mnicole 14y ago
Regardless of what he did or didn't do with Groupon, I love this letter; it hit all of the points it should have and didn't say too much or too little. The humor, humility and hope really tie it all together.
kurtvarner 14y ago
He's being replaced by Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonisis. They will serve as co-CEOs until they find a permanent replacement. Here is Lefkofsky's statment: On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon. As a founder, Andrew helped invent the daily deals space, leading Groupon to become one of the fastest growing companies in history. Groupon will continue to invest in growth, and we are confident that with our deep management team and market-leading position, the company is well positioned for the future. Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/ceo-andrew-mason-replaced-by-eric-lefkofsky-and-vice-chairman-ted-leonsis-at-groupon/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/ceo-andrew-mason-replaced-b...
- koenigdavidmj 14y ago
  Since having two CEO:s worked so well for RIM^H^H^HBlackBerry.
  - chollida1 14y ago
    To be fair, it worked extremely well for many years. Admittedly when the wheels fell off, they really fell off. I'm not sure you can make a judgement about 2 CEO systems from BBRY.
    - mbreese 14y ago
      Also, it's not like the dual-CEO thing is supposed to be permanent at Groupon. I think they are just looking for some breathing room right now.
      - linker3000 14y ago
        ...or they had a special deal this week: Appoint one, get one free.
    - richan90 14y ago
      Google had a triumvirate structure for quite some time, though with one "official" CEO.
honestemptor 14y ago
Are you serious? Groupon misled investors for years about its real financial numbers, and Mason (along with the puppetmaster, Lefkofsky) made millions off the fake data. The humor in this letter hides the real damage done to investors.
- sillysaurus 14y ago
  Would you back up your claims? This is interesting.
  - wpietri 14y ago
    A good place to look is Rocky Agrawal's articles on Groupon. Here's his author feed: http://venturebeat.com/author/rockya/ http://venturebeat.com/author/rockya/ just scroll back a bit.
    - dglassan 14y ago
      Rocky Agarwal is far from credible. He made a name for himself by making it his personal goal to bash Groupon as much as possible. Probably because a number of his co-workers at TellMe left to join Groupon and he supposedly wasn't offered a job to join Groupon. His so called reporting wreaks of jealousy as he watched his former co-worker's equity skyrocket with Groupon's growth while he was left out.
      - jyu 14y ago
        ad hominem. http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
      - wpietri 14y ago
        I'm fascinated by the theory that somebody's reporting on a topic is automatically suspect because they have developed a strong opinion on the topic. If you've got issues with what he wrote, I'd be interested to see what specifically you feel he got wrong. But regardless, I think he deserves credit for digging into Groupon financials, and for calling out the lack of substance well before most people did. Jealous or not, the collapse of the daily deals space and Groupon's sickly stock price suggest that he was broadly correct at a time when most financial journalists were hyping Groupon and its stock.
dylangs1030 14y ago
It's refreshing to see an exit memo that is so honest. He even put some humor in there, and personal accountability. Self-deprecating though it may be, I'm sure there are a multitude of factors that he's taking the fall for. CEO's are responsible of course, and he's taking this hit as gracefully as anyone could, but there's no way he could shoulder all of this on his own.
downandout 14y ago
Very classy. Keep in mind, though, that it makes is somewhat easier to take being fired in stride when you have a $200 million cushion. He doesn't have to deal with many of the challenges that most newly-fired people do - like finding a job in the not-too-distant future, etc. To be sure, getting kicked out of the company you founded is an emotionally challenging experience, but he can lick his wounds on board a private jet to a private island.
- hyperbovine 14y ago
  Getting fired from something you poured your heart and soul into for close to five years, sacrificed relationships, health (+40 lbs), etc., must feel awful. I suspect he really does feel love for many of the people who were in the trenches with him during this time, as he avers in the closing line. Staring at your bulging bank account can only do so much to lessen that pain, at least in the short term.
  - calhoun137 14y ago
    This comment is totally unnecessary given all the caveats downandout made, and as someone who has lived through hard times it upset me to read your comment, although I do appreciate the edit that was made.
    - TallGuyShort 14y ago
      Your hard times are only hard relative to that of others, and even then, only in some aspects.
      - batiudrami 14y ago
        But we know the human brain doesn't work like that anyway. My life is, in almost all aspects, better than the vast majority of the people in the world, but that doesn't stop my brain from making me feel completely awful when something bad (relatively) happens. Your brain doesn't say 'well, you've been fired from the company you worked for for 5 years, but hey, at least you have fresh drinking water'.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
I too enjoyed the honesty here, but how much of that is Andrew's personality and how much is facilitated by the fact that by cashing out early [1] on an 'inside' round he doesn't actually have to work if he doesn't want to? What I'm saying is that I have observed that the honesty someone has about how their last job ended is inversely proportional to their need to get another job. If they really need another job, people position their departure in a way that makes them the victim, if they don't care if they get another job, they are more forthcoming. It may be built into the psyche for all I know. That said, given that it doesn't matter at all if he's seen as being fired or choosing to leave, I think it was great that he was as forthright about his tenure as he chose to be. [1] http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-11-03/commentary/30698021_1_eric-lefkofsky-groupon-founders http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-11-03/commentary/306980...
- chc 14y ago
  Really? It seems to me that a lot of well-compensated but unsuccessful CEOs take the route that Mason pretended to in his first sentence — "I wasn't fired and my departure is completely amicable. I'm just leaving because I suddenly want to pursue new opportunities and/or spend more time with my family." It's sort of like getting broken up with and describing it as "a mutual decision."
- dglassan 14y ago
  As a former Groupon employee, that's Andrew's personality.
arizoo 14y ago
"My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers." lack of data that overrides intuition? If it was a pile of data I could understand, but lack? That's when intuition come handy no?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- bcbrown 14y ago
  I'm guessing he had an intuition that X was the right thing to do, but there was no data to support doing X.
- ErikAugust 14y ago
  That also leaves me a bit confused.
- rz2k 14y ago
  I was wondering if it was all the made up numbers he's put out over the years, but that hurt investors rather than customers.
vijayboyapati 14y ago
Honest and funny. So rare in the corporate world.
cgusto 14y ago
+1 for the Battletoads reference. I probably broke a couple NES controllers out of frustration back in the day. As morbid as it sounds, it is refreshing to see such a painfully honest email. I wish Groupon and Andy the best.
BostonCFO2 14y ago
Private companies / IPO research firm PrivCo actually foresaw all this in 2011 pre Groupon IPO. Boy were they right. Just looked up some of the research I read then that made me a believer to avoid Groupon stock and its IPO. A taste, pretty good crystal ball, good solid analysis of the numbers: http://bit.ly/Y3hfft http://bit.ly/Y3hfft But firing Andrew Mason does not fix Groupon's problems, whose business model is fundamentally flawed. And the problem now: Eric Lefkofsky's Super-Voting Stock (many times public shareholders) means he's still the same guy in control, though now has the CEO title too. So nothing will improve at Groupon. Andrew Mason was only a puppet CEO. Lefkosfky called all the major decisions. IPO investors: boycott ALL IPOs with supervoting stock! This is exactly why! Shareholders should be booting Mason AND Lefkofsky. (Zynga has the same problem: Mark Pincus gave himself 70x-to-1 supervoting stock before the Zynga IPO...stock's down 70% from IPO in barely over a year, yet you can't get rid of him). Don't buy these IPOs. (Also some thing PrivCo and others have advised clients, and I'm one of them.) No matter how tempting the IPO sounds, don't do it. Go on to the next IPO...I'm an active IPO investor, and there are always great new ones on the horizon....just wait for the good ones.

larrys 14y ago

"My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers." Otoh Meg Whitman has said something like "if you can't measure it you can't manage it".

VonGuard 14y ago
"If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through." Wow, that's actually kinda a perfect analogy. I totally understand.
dopamean 14y ago
Different strokes for different folks.
jacques_chester 14y ago
Peter Drucker, actually. Also incorrectly attributed to Deming (who, um, would disagree).
jdlshore 14y ago
"If you can't measure it you can't manage it" is a classic management platitude. I doubt Meg Whitman was the first person to say it. Furthermore, it's completely untrue. Many things that must be managed are incompletely measurable, and almost everything in knowledge work falls into that category. See Robert Austin's excellent "Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations" for a scientific exploration of the topic. (It's a more accessible version of his Ph.D. thesis.) His insights are applicable to more than just performance measurement.
- mbesto 14y ago
  It was Drucker actually.

socalnate1 14y ago

This is fantastic letter. If we could all get fired so gracefully.

phillco 14y ago

This has to be one of the most honest dismissal statements I've ever read. Major props to him.

tptacek 14y ago
Same. Wow. That guy sounds like someone I'd want to work with in the future.
- larrys 14y ago
  Agree that the letter is good. But I'm puzzled by your reaction to it. Seems more of a populist "touchy feely aw shucks nice guy". How does that make you want to work for him? He wrote a good letter. What about the things he sucked at? What about the immaturity? The bad business decision. So what he is humble. Some of the business people who are viewed as the most heartless and absolute assholes (by outsiders) can be incredibly loyal if you are on the inner circle and can provide you with opportunity. The nice guys can be swayed by others and give you the axe. Business is business. Being a nice guy doesn't equate to winning in many cases. Your comments sometimes come off as abrasive. That has no impact on whether I would recommend you or your company for security work (which I have done btw). My wife choose a doctor with a great bedside manner for a difficult operation our daughter needed.[1] I found a world class person who specialized in the exact problem who was almost impossible to deal with and very dismissive. He handled a difficult operation brilliantly. That's what I want the personality is secondary. [1] Risk of facial paralysis a possibility with bad outcome.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    The letter opens with the things he sucked at. I don't care that he's nice. I care that he cut through the crap.
    - scott_s 14y ago
      Agreed - but I also suspect he's been writing this letter in his head for quite some time.

mnicole 14y ago

Regardless of what he did or didn't do with Groupon, I love this letter; it hit all of the points it should have and didn't say too much or too little. The humor, humility and hope really tie it all together.

kurtvarner 14y ago

He's being replaced by Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonisis. They will serve as co-CEOs until they find a permanent replacement. Here is Lefkofsky's statment: On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon. As a founder, Andrew helped invent the daily deals space, leading Groupon to become one of the fastest growing companies in history. Groupon will continue to invest in growth, and we are confident that with our deep management team and market-leading position, the company is well positioned for the future. Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/ceo-andrew-mason-replaced-by-eric-lefkofsky-and-vice-chairman-ted-leonsis-at-groupon/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/ceo-andrew-mason-replaced-b...

koenigdavidmj 14y ago
Since having two CEO:s worked so well for RIM^H^H^HBlackBerry.
- chollida1 14y ago
  To be fair, it worked extremely well for many years. Admittedly when the wheels fell off, they really fell off. I'm not sure you can make a judgement about 2 CEO systems from BBRY.
  - mbreese 14y ago
    Also, it's not like the dual-CEO thing is supposed to be permanent at Groupon. I think they are just looking for some breathing room right now.
    - linker3000 14y ago
      ...or they had a special deal this week: Appoint one, get one free.
  - richan90 14y ago
    Google had a triumvirate structure for quite some time, though with one "official" CEO.

honestemptor 14y ago

Are you serious? Groupon misled investors for years about its real financial numbers, and Mason (along with the puppetmaster, Lefkofsky) made millions off the fake data. The humor in this letter hides the real damage done to investors.

sillysaurus 14y ago
Would you back up your claims? This is interesting.
- wpietri 14y ago
  A good place to look is Rocky Agrawal's articles on Groupon. Here's his author feed: http://venturebeat.com/author/rockya/ http://venturebeat.com/author/rockya/ just scroll back a bit.
  - dglassan 14y ago
    Rocky Agarwal is far from credible. He made a name for himself by making it his personal goal to bash Groupon as much as possible. Probably because a number of his co-workers at TellMe left to join Groupon and he supposedly wasn't offered a job to join Groupon. His so called reporting wreaks of jealousy as he watched his former co-worker's equity skyrocket with Groupon's growth while he was left out.
    - jyu 14y ago
      ad hominem. http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
    - wpietri 14y ago
      I'm fascinated by the theory that somebody's reporting on a topic is automatically suspect because they have developed a strong opinion on the topic. If you've got issues with what he wrote, I'd be interested to see what specifically you feel he got wrong. But regardless, I think he deserves credit for digging into Groupon financials, and for calling out the lack of substance well before most people did. Jealous or not, the collapse of the daily deals space and Groupon's sickly stock price suggest that he was broadly correct at a time when most financial journalists were hyping Groupon and its stock.

dylangs1030 14y ago

It's refreshing to see an exit memo that is so honest. He even put some humor in there, and personal accountability. Self-deprecating though it may be, I'm sure there are a multitude of factors that he's taking the fall for. CEO's are responsible of course, and he's taking this hit as gracefully as anyone could, but there's no way he could shoulder all of this on his own.

downandout 14y ago

Very classy. Keep in mind, though, that it makes is somewhat easier to take being fired in stride when you have a $200 million cushion. He doesn't have to deal with many of the challenges that most newly-fired people do - like finding a job in the not-too-distant future, etc. To be sure, getting kicked out of the company you founded is an emotionally challenging experience, but he can lick his wounds on board a private jet to a private island.

hyperbovine 14y ago
Getting fired from something you poured your heart and soul into for close to five years, sacrificed relationships, health (+40 lbs), etc., must feel awful. I suspect he really does feel love for many of the people who were in the trenches with him during this time, as he avers in the closing line. Staring at your bulging bank account can only do so much to lessen that pain, at least in the short term.
- calhoun137 14y ago
  This comment is totally unnecessary given all the caveats downandout made, and as someone who has lived through hard times it upset me to read your comment, although I do appreciate the edit that was made.
  - TallGuyShort 14y ago
    Your hard times are only hard relative to that of others, and even then, only in some aspects.
    - batiudrami 14y ago
      But we know the human brain doesn't work like that anyway. My life is, in almost all aspects, better than the vast majority of the people in the world, but that doesn't stop my brain from making me feel completely awful when something bad (relatively) happens. Your brain doesn't say 'well, you've been fired from the company you worked for for 5 years, but hey, at least you have fresh drinking water'.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I too enjoyed the honesty here, but how much of that is Andrew's personality and how much is facilitated by the fact that by cashing out early [1] on an 'inside' round he doesn't actually have to work if he doesn't want to? What I'm saying is that I have observed that the honesty someone has about how their last job ended is inversely proportional to their need to get another job. If they really need another job, people position their departure in a way that makes them the victim, if they don't care if they get another job, they are more forthcoming. It may be built into the psyche for all I know. That said, given that it doesn't matter at all if he's seen as being fired or choosing to leave, I think it was great that he was as forthright about his tenure as he chose to be. [1] http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-11-03/commentary/30698021_1_eric-lefkofsky-groupon-founders http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-11-03/commentary/306980...

chc 14y ago
Really? It seems to me that a lot of well-compensated but unsuccessful CEOs take the route that Mason pretended to in his first sentence — "I wasn't fired and my departure is completely amicable. I'm just leaving because I suddenly want to pursue new opportunities and/or spend more time with my family." It's sort of like getting broken up with and describing it as "a mutual decision."
dglassan 14y ago
As a former Groupon employee, that's Andrew's personality.

arizoo 14y ago

"My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers." lack of data that overrides intuition? If it was a pile of data I could understand, but lack? That's when intuition come handy no?

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
bcbrown 14y ago
I'm guessing he had an intuition that X was the right thing to do, but there was no data to support doing X.
ErikAugust 14y ago
That also leaves me a bit confused.
rz2k 14y ago
I was wondering if it was all the made up numbers he's put out over the years, but that hurt investors rather than customers.

vijayboyapati 14y ago

Honest and funny. So rare in the corporate world.

cgusto 14y ago

+1 for the Battletoads reference. I probably broke a couple NES controllers out of frustration back in the day. As morbid as it sounds, it is refreshing to see such a painfully honest email. I wish Groupon and Andy the best.

BostonCFO2 14y ago

Private companies / IPO research firm PrivCo actually foresaw all this in 2011 pre Groupon IPO. Boy were they right. Just looked up some of the research I read then that made me a believer to avoid Groupon stock and its IPO. A taste, pretty good crystal ball, good solid analysis of the numbers: http://bit.ly/Y3hfft http://bit.ly/Y3hfft But firing Andrew Mason does not fix Groupon's problems, whose business model is fundamentally flawed. And the problem now: Eric Lefkofsky's Super-Voting Stock (many times public shareholders) means he's still the same guy in control, though now has the CEO title too. So nothing will improve at Groupon. Andrew Mason was only a puppet CEO. Lefkosfky called all the major decisions. IPO investors: boycott ALL IPOs with supervoting stock! This is exactly why! Shareholders should be booting Mason AND Lefkofsky. (Zynga has the same problem: Mark Pincus gave himself 70x-to-1 supervoting stock before the Zynga IPO...stock's down 70% from IPO in barely over a year, yet you can't get rid of him). Don't buy these IPOs. (Also some thing PrivCo and others have advised clients, and I'm one of them.) No matter how tempting the IPO sounds, don't do it. Go on to the next IPO...I'm an active IPO investor, and there are always great new ones on the horizon....just wait for the good ones.