People of Groupon,
After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of
Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just
kidding - I was fired today. If you're wondering why... you haven't been paying
attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two
quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that's hovering
around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half
speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.
You are doing amazing things at Groupon, and you deserve the
outside world to give you a second chance. I'm getting in the way of that. A
fresh CEO earns you that chance. The board is aligned behind the strategy we've
shared over the last few months, and I've never seen you working together more
effectively as a global company - it's time to give Groupon a relief valve from
the public noise.
For those who are concerned about me, please don't be - I
love Groupon, and I'm terribly proud of what we've created. I'm OK with having
failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be
like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever
play through. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company
this far with all of you. I'll now take some time to decompress (FYI I'm
looking for a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40, if anyone has a suggestion),
and then maybe I'll figure out how to channel this experience into something
productive.
If there's one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim
would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My
biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition
on what's best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some
breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness -
don't waste the opportunity!
I will miss you terribly.
Love,
Andrew
One thing one doesn't see very often is humility at the CEO level. Let's hope this is the start of something.
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