How does a 29 year-old become worth more than 600 million dollars in just ten years? One word: innovation. Andrew Mason founded Groupon in 2008 with the simple idea to use the internet to both promote local businesses and find amazing discounts with the click of a mouse. Every quarter Groupon has more than 42 million unique customers, and remains on top of the coupon hunting competition. However, this did not happen overnight. Before Groupon, Mason started in the entrepreneurial field with ‘The Point’. The Point was a “social initiatives platform” dedicated to bringing local people together to accomplish a goal. It was decided that the website was simply too abstract to market, but it was far from a failure. Mason took the imperfected idea, stripped it down, built it up, and the following year revealed Groupon.
Groupon both aids the community and everyday people by promoting limited time offers for local businesses. The company prides itself on building communities, making life less boring, and starting and ending with the customer. Groupon collects 50% of every transaction plus a small credit card fee. By 2010 it was reported the company’s annual income was in excess of 800 million. The site has remained relevant today by living the same ideal Andrew Mason did when creating it originally: innovating. They have continued to transform to fit the technology curve, putting more emphasis on simplicity, and revamping their app to meet consumer needs.
Although a multi-hundred-million dollar business they continue to operate as the entrepreneurially driven project they started as in 2008.
I enjoyed reading your blog. So many people use companies like Groupon to purchase good and services within their area. However, I can guarantee that most do not realize what innovative ideas go into making a company this successful. I didn’t realize that they take 50% of the transactions as profit.
Great post! It was very interesting to read about how Mason had an existing business before Groupon. The way he was able to innovate the old and turn it into something new is very inspiring, especially since Groupon is so big now
This blog is very well written and captures your attention from the first sentence. I enjoyed reading about how Andrew Mason did not get it quite right at first, and then the following year he made it big with Groupon. This company has spread and expanded because of Andrew’s entrepreneurial spirit.
I’ve used Groupon before, but I never considered the impact that it has had on the business environment and local communities. Andrew Mason has made an amazing impact on local businesses through this app!
As someone who uses Groupon somewhat frequently, I find it so interesting to see how they started! The fact that they are still growing and building capital is impressive and I can’t wait to see if they can continue to sustain the business, or if their competitors will start to overpower them.
It’s cool to see how the idea adapted over time. Most people think of entrepreneurs as either glowing successes or failures that result in massive debt, but Groupon seems to be an example of a business that learned from its previous mistake to make a name for itself very prominently. Although ‘The Point’ may have flopped, Mason is obviously persistent and observant enough to learn from what happened and change it into Groupon.
What I found most interesting about his story is that he utilized what remained of his “failed” idea(although it seemed interesting to me) as the basis for a new multimillion dollar one. I enjoyed reading this story, as I had always wondered how something like Groupon came to be.
I really enjoyed reading this blog post. I found it really cool how he launched “the point” and even though it didn’t to well he did not consider it a failure. Rather, he learned from it and used it to launch groupon which is a huge hit. It’s really encouraging to see how he didn’t let the success (or lack there of) of his first idea dictate his innovation and drive to do more.