Groupon

Just to be straightforward, Groupon was sort of falling out of favor.

And the team that's in place now is really trying to change that quickly.

And so we're acting like a startup.

I'm Janelle Visser, and I'm here with Stephen Joyce.

Hi.

And today, we're talking with our friend Kerry Kefflinger, who is the VP and GM of Things to Do at Groupon.

So, to kick things off, Stephen.

Mm-hmm.

And I was like, I'm going to go away for a week.

And I went on Groupon getaways with my little budget.

And I'm like, oh, the Azores, never heard of it.

Looks great.

[laughs]

"That being said, you must be giddy over what I heard Groupon is doing, where the cost of a trip is very low, but they don't tell you where you're going until 72 hours before departure, I believe.

Is this r- not right up your alley?"

It is.

Not on the air, yeah

... on the podcast or YouTube show.

What Groupon is doing, I think is just so fun.

This is the third time I'm aware of there's been mystery fare programs.

That was big.

And then I did kind of a Groupon business, which became AppSumo.

That was big.

Then we built SumoMe.com. That was big, which is a software tool.

Then I did payments for games, that was big.

And then I did kind of a Groupon business, which became AppSumo.

That was big.

Then we built SumoMe.com. That was big, which is software tools.

That was big.

And then I did kind of a Groupon business, which has became AppSumo.

That was big.

Then we built SumoMe.com, that was big, which is software tools.

Then I did payments for games.

That was big.

And then I did kind of a Groupon business, which has became AppSumo.

That was big.

So, uh, my background, way back in the day, I was one of the first employees at LivingSocial.

LivingSocial was a competitor of Groupon.

And obviously Groupon's model was get people in at a discounted price and then it would turn into long-term business.

Uh, ServiceDash obviously is not that, but what, what ServiceDash is, it's a tool, if you think like DoorDash, being able to buy a sandwich on DoorDash, ServiceDash is that for the trades.

Being able to buy, uh, to be able to get a plumber to come out to your home, uh, an electrician.

... for the rest of their life using that.

It, it gives these small businesses the ability to play and it allows them to put their business out there like when they...

And why I was comparing it to, like, LivingSocial and Groupon, was you had the ability to turn a switch on and off if you wanted the, if you wanted to do those deals.

I mean, there was there's a company that everybody thought was going to take over the world not too many years ago.

And that was Groupon.

And that just cratered.

I mean, it's still around, of course, but a lot of missteps.

There was there was there just wasn't much stickiness.

And basically it had the effect of just reducing prices and pricing power for merchants.

How many Groupon massage offers do you need? I mean, everybody becomes disloyal and they go to the new deal of the day.

Well, yeah.