doing some research on @jack for my talk with him later today. came upon this. look at that grin on jack’s face watching the president tweeting. that is pride in action.
Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.
Continuations: Google Buying Groupon is a Flawed Idea
Really interesting perspective from Albert here. The businesses are fundamentally different. It feels to me like part of Google’s struggle, as it continues to fight off Facebook (and Apple), to figure out how it can tap into Web 2.0—to be more human, less engineer. I’m not trying to conflate people-on-the-ground with running a social network, but to my mind there’s a common thread running through these things. Local, human, social, curated: not part of Google’s (automated) DNA.
On one hand I can understand Google’s aggressive interest in Groupon. Groupon appears to be one of the few companies that has cracked the code on making money from local businesses. Groupon’s revenues are rumored to be around $50 million per month, which is impressive. But there are at least two fundamental compatibility problems.
First, Groupon is a feet on the street business employing over 3,000 people globally. So at $600 million in annual revenues, that amounts to only $200,000 of annual revenue per employee. Google on the other hand does about $30B in revenues with around 25,000 employees, which works out to $1.2 million in annual revenue per employee and that’s including all the employees that work in Google businesses that produce no revenues at all. In other words, Google is a technology company and Groupon is a people company. Business Insider made this point when the acquisition rumor first surfaced.
Second, Groupon’s business model does not seem super defensible. People who want deals will generally go look for them. And businesses that want to offer deals will do so on any channel that will let them. This suggests that the price for connecting a deal searching consumer with a deal offering business should get driven down quickly and that ultimately this will be a performance based market. Deal aggregation or search (e.g., Yipit) would seem to be a better model and one that fits more naturally with Google’s DNA.
So if I were on Groupon’s board, I would definitely vote for hitting this bid. Conversely if I were on Google’s board, I would seriously question why management wants to do this. This seems to be a deal driven by the wrong reasons, which makes me even more nervous about who is at the wheel at Google.
(CT)Rocktober: Fred Wilson Tonight!
Psyched to be attending this event tonight.
[Tonight] night we’re psyched to be hosting the next installment of the Change The Ratio Speaker Series™ with Fred Wilson. I know, we’re excited too. The topic is “Diversity In Tech: A Great Investment” and here’s the description:
Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar in conversation with industry leader, Union Square Ventures managing partner Fred Wilson, about why women — as founders, entrepreneurs, team members and potential markets — are great investments that are only getting better as the industry evolves. The discussion will also include practical advice on bootstrapping, seeking funding from angels and VCs, risk-taking — and getting to the table in an industry that runs on relationships.
Up front, I have to say that I made this description too narrow insofar as I did not specifically include women and minorities. It will all be addressed. If you have any suggestions for me vis a vis questions, send them to me at sklarra@gmail.com. The sign-up is here - we’re at wait-list point now but who knows - and we’ll be recording and/or streaming it. Deets upcoming. Special thanks to Hunch, which is hosting, and Magnify, which is recording. Looking forward!
