Andrew Mason
Andrew Mason
Andrew D. Masonis an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Groupon, a Chicago-based website offering users discounts on local businesses...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
almost customers deliver element rendered smallest
The popularity of Groupon has almost rendered the group-buying element of it obsolete, because we're able to deliver so many customers that the merchants are very happy with even the smallest number that we can provide.
businesses experience local
The experience is fundamentally different for buying from local businesses than it is for buying consumer goods.
businesses exist few primarily products stories success
One of the things I realized... is how few success stories there are in websites or products or businesses that exist primarily for an altruistic purpose.
add board continue fit privileged work
I'm going to continue doing my thing and work my butt off to add value for shareholders and as long as they and the board see fit to keep me in this role, I feel enormously privileged to serve.
deal everybody
Everybody loves a deal on a restaurant or skydiving or laser-hair removal.
capitalist riding stop
I look at being a capitalist businessperson like riding a bike - if I go too slowly, I'll fall over. Or it's kind of like a shark: if I stop swimming, I'll just die.
founder useful
Am I as experienced, or mature, or smart as others CEOs? No probably not, but there's something, I think, very useful about having a founder as the CEO.
very-happy commerce ifs
Globally local commerce is a $12 to $14 trillion market. If we get 10 percent of that, we'll be very happy.
selfish world sides
Most of the time, the things that really change the world exist for something fundamentally selfish and then the world-changing ends up being a side-effect of that.
running realizing small-business
I didn't realize how hard it was to run a small business.
one-thing keep-going
One thing I've come to learn about myself is that I have to keep going.
would-be culture difficult
Once you have something so deeply infused in your culture and your brand, it would be very difficult to reverse that inertia if you wanted to.
writing marketing culture
Groupon as a company - it's built into the business model - is about surprise. A new deal that surprises you every day. We've carried that over to our brand, in the writing and the marketing that we do, and in the internal corporate culture.
religious attachment challenges
One of the challenges of innovation is figuring out how to wipe your mind clean about what you should be doing at any given moment, and not having a religious attachment to what's gotten you there thus far.