Groupon (GRPN) Gets Ringing Endorsement from LinkedIn (LNKD) Founder
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Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is mildly higher early Thursday after the company's mobile push and its co-founder Andrew Mason was given a glowing endorsement from LinkedIn (NASDAQ: LNKD) Chairman and co-founder Reid Hoffman in a recent post.
An excerpt from Hoffman's post:
"Look at Groupon. For the first year or so of its existence it hobbled along as a site you’ve probably never heard of called The Point, which organized groups of people who wanted to pledge unified support for social and civic causes. Andrew Mason, the site’s proprietor, noticed the site’s users were most engaged when they banded together to increase their buying power. He saw this as an opportunity to break into a different niche. So he pivoted to a new plan and built a site (in a matter of weeks) that exclusively offered group discounts to consumers. Thanks to his fast action and superb execution, this move massively accelerated the growth trajectory of the company, eventually transforming The Point into Groupon and the 10,000+ person company it is today. But no start-up enjoys astronomical growth forever—at least not without continuing to find new breakthrough opportunities. As Groupon’s growth has been challenged by competition, Andrew and his teammates are looking for new opportunities. A promising one is mobile, location-based deals for consumers on the go. This venture, Groupon Now, allows retailers with perishable inventory (such as restaurants) to bring customers into their stores at otherwise unpopular hours. If it succeeds, it will set in motion another huge acceleration in growth. Groupon’s trajectory, in other words, looks more like the “reality” graph above."
Shares of Groupon are up 2 percent to $5.15 in early action Thursday.
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An excerpt from Hoffman's post:
"Look at Groupon. For the first year or so of its existence it hobbled along as a site you’ve probably never heard of called The Point, which organized groups of people who wanted to pledge unified support for social and civic causes. Andrew Mason, the site’s proprietor, noticed the site’s users were most engaged when they banded together to increase their buying power. He saw this as an opportunity to break into a different niche. So he pivoted to a new plan and built a site (in a matter of weeks) that exclusively offered group discounts to consumers. Thanks to his fast action and superb execution, this move massively accelerated the growth trajectory of the company, eventually transforming The Point into Groupon and the 10,000+ person company it is today. But no start-up enjoys astronomical growth forever—at least not without continuing to find new breakthrough opportunities. As Groupon’s growth has been challenged by competition, Andrew and his teammates are looking for new opportunities. A promising one is mobile, location-based deals for consumers on the go. This venture, Groupon Now, allows retailers with perishable inventory (such as restaurants) to bring customers into their stores at otherwise unpopular hours. If it succeeds, it will set in motion another huge acceleration in growth. Groupon’s trajectory, in other words, looks more like the “reality” graph above."
Shares of Groupon are up 2 percent to $5.15 in early action Thursday.
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