Journal tomhudson's Journal: Groupon Dead Pool. Place your bets! 4
And now for some great news - Groupon stock is tanking - gee, who would have predicted THAT
Okay, for the sarcasm-impaired, who would NOT have predicted that? This is a GOOD THING (TM) because now maybe it'll force some sanity into the marketplace. (Then again, given how obvious it was that Groupon was a Ponzi scheme, insolvent, and the founders have been milking it, probably not). It's hard to compete against Ponzi schemes like Groupon, and they suck attention, resources, and revenue away from other potentially viable projects and other economic sectors.
So, how long before Groupon folds?
Negatives: Losing money like crazy, still insolvent even after the cash infusion from the stock sale, high sales costs, low repeat business, unlikely to attract other investors who have seen shares drop like a stone
Positives: When you have that sort of cash flow, you can hire lawyers to keep reality away
My "WAG" - they'll be EOL around the same date as XP.
let it simmer for a little while (Score:1)
I think if it crashes quickly, people may forget it sooner. Maybe it's better if it withers slowly and reminds everyone of what they thought of it.
This was a /. post on Groupon back in March and my comment:
> This is what we value in this country. Companies that spam coupons for the masses to buy more shit they don't need. So Wall St. intends on pumping 25 billion into a company that doesn't actually even manufacturer anything. A company whose only value is that it offers discounts to other companies! So
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me about it! The last place I worked at, the stupid owner insisted that I produce a complete group-buying site *while* also producing another web-based application (for his biggest customer - something that "failure OR missing a deadline is not an option because they'll sue if it's a day late).
And of course, the idiot changed the specs for his group buying site on a daily basis.
And his biggest customer kept changing the specs for their web app on a daily basis.
And then a week before the custome
Re: (Score:1)
Whenever I'm developing something I prefer to talk to the customer myself. Not just because the manager or reps often misunderstand what the customer needs, but because the customer themselves may not understand what they need. It's all in the mind...
Re: (Score:2)
It's the better way of working - but then you find out that they were (1) over-sold, (2) under-bid, (3), totally clueless, same as the boss, (4) confused.
Some changes they want that will break everything, they think can be done in a few minutes, and some changes that they don't even propose because they think that it's too hard are no-brainers that you already WANT to do but the boss, in his "I IZ GREAT DESIGNER" already nixed.
So then you're put into an ethical dilemma - how to accommodate the customer w