- $1 million in revenue per day (this is what Arrington heard and Mason didn't confirm nor deny it)
- 1,000 employees
- 12 million people receiving an email
Please check out my new RobDKelly.com blog for all these postings and much, much more. Thanks, Rob Kelly
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason Shares A Few Thoughts
August 2nd, 2010 — Entrepreneurship
I was at the recent CrunchUp and Groupon's CEO Andrew Mason shared a few interesting factoids about his business with Michael Arrington.
Andrew seemed like a nice guy when we met at the coffee break -- he certainly emulates the casual Silicon Valley entrepreneur style with t-shirt, baggy pants and flip-flops.
I think Groupon (and the concept of flash-sales) is going to change the face of commerce -- and the company will also have a dramatic impact on the Chicago Internet entrepreneurship scene (as many of Groupon's early employees cash out and start their own Internet businesses).
Below are my notes from Mason's talk with Arrington:
Some Groupon Numbers:
3 Tips For Startup Founders From Paul Graham of Y Combinator
July 31st, 2010 — Entrepreneurship, Fundraising
TechCrunch had a good interview with Paul Graham of Y Combinator on what he looks for in an entrepreneur.
I find Paul super-bright...and he has invested in over 200 companies over the last 5 years so he's got some data to support his ideas.
So listen up, founders (wannabe founders too)!
3 Tips for Startup Founders
1) The Founder Is More Important Than The Idea Graham bets on the jockey, not the horse. 2) The Relationship Between The Founders Is Very Important The relationship between founders is key. Founders are ideally friends for awhile or have worked together on things. "What we don't like is people who only came together for purposes of this startup." Reason: If the startup is all that ties them together, that gives little to hold the startup together (especially during crises). Close friends will… Continue readingWhat Makes A Good Startup Entrepeneur by Ron Conway & Paul Graham
July 30th, 2010 — Entrepreneurship, Fundraising
Fun panel at today's CrunchUp with:
- Paul Graham, YCombinator
- Ron Conway, SV Angels
- Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
- "The success rate in our portfolio is going from 10% to 15% right now...because of the$25 million to $50 million M&A deals."
- Failure Rate was 77% leading up to the Internet Bubble of 2001...and now is about 40% post bubble (2002 to today)
- "Repeat-entrepreneurs" have about a 66% rate of success in their second startup.
- Deal flow did not decrease during mortgage bubble.
- Entrepreneurs have the same level of success regardless of the climate...it's
- "Getting your money back( (from an entrepreneur) is not a bad
5 Steps To Inevitability Thinking (E.g. How To Make It Inevitable That You’ll Generate $20K Per Mo. In Ad Revs)
July 25th, 2010 — Getting Things Done
I remember when my friend Eben Pagan shared the concept of Inevitability Thinking with me -- it's such a simple yet powerful approach to achieving your an objective...damn, why didn't I think of that!?
The easiest way for me to share Inevitability Thinking is to give an example (I'm going to use a hypothetical example of an Internet business I want to build).
To do this exercise on your own you would need:
- A Calculator
- Your Brain
- A half-hour or so of time
5 Steps To Invetability Thinking
1) Articulate Your Objective
First step is to articulate your objective. For this exercise, let's assume your objective is to build a content-based Web site that generates $20,000 per month in advertising revenue. Sound… Continue reading4 Easy Leadership Tips From Coach Bill Walsh
July 22nd, 2010 — Leadership
I love to read books on leadership.
The latest one I finished (which I borrowed from the awesome San Francisco Library) was The Score Takes Care of Itself by Steve Jamison & Craig Walsh...about the leadership style of football coach Bill Walsh.
Why should you listen to Coach Walsh: well, among other things, he invented a new offense now widely used in football and turned the worst team in the league (the San Francisco 49ers) into Super Bowl champs (in just two years).
There were four leadership techniques that Walsh shared that I found most useful:
