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Comment by lawnchair_larry | Hacker News Reader

Is anything LivingSocial did something to be proud of? It seems like the majority of those who invested in or did business with LivingSocial suffered greatly. That's fine, sometimes things don't work out, but I don't know why you'd brag about it.

"millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products"

Sounds like he is reaching, just a bit...

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> "millions of consumers around the world have experienced their local cities because of our products"

I think its a fair assessment, but not the full story.

Millions of people did do things they wouldn't normally do. No way in hell I'm going to pay $200 for a family "dolpin tour" where you usually don't see dolphins, but when it's on LivingSocial (or similar sites) for $50? Sure, why not.

Now, whether it was a boon or bust for local businesses or not is a debated topic. I'm pretty sure that dolphin tour place actually lost money on my trip, or came close to break-even at most, and we were one time customers.

Not to mention that a normal, no-dolphins-promised boat ride may be less than $50 undiscounted anyway.

Really weird for a dolphin tour business to do a coupon deal... How on earth would somebody become a regular customer of a dolphin tour ?

I would imagine they're hoping the people using the coupons have a good time and then tell their friends about it, and the tour gains more money through word-of-mouth.

Exactly.

They had revenue, which can't be said about most big startups nowadays.

Profit is another story, though.

If I had co-founded LivingSocial, I would not have considered the last n years of my life wasted, nor do I believe the majority of contributors here would either.

I would be so lucky to have cofounded a company like LS. My score so far is zero.

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