Groupon is the poster child for everything that's wrong with the silicon valley startup model.
Founders creating stupid companies with marginally useful products and the VCs pumping millions into them in hopes of a quick profit.
Founders creating stupid companies with marginally useful products and the VCs pumping millions into them in hopes of a quick profit.
If the company can continue stringing together solid quarterly results, it should get back to its ipo price and more.
Can't win, it seems. ;)
I think it's a good thing their share price isn't just going to the moon and then crashing and wiping out an entire industry like what happened in the Dom-Com crash. Maybe a subdued IPO market will mean this time it'll be more like a boom period, and not another bubble getting ready to burst.
Personally, I prefer SV when it's leaner. I'm actually working on a project that is actually innovative, and I'd much prefer to raise money later, hopefully when all this madness has dried up and VC's have time to evaluate something new.
Groupon might not be a strong company, might not have a good product, might be in for a lower share price, etc. But it doesn't add anything to call it "stupid" or lament the fact that they were given money, especially given how many times this sentiment is reiterated on every thread relating to Groupon.
The post just doesn't seem general enough to cover a different climate (which you might not have been active in, and which I personally hope we will return to eventually.)
That's all I have to say. I don't mind the current climate as much as the OP does. You're still free to disagree, but the sentiment as expressed is pretty clear and specific.
Still, glad you shared your thoughts.