LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits

Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by lawnchair_larry on Friday March 29, 2013 @05:15PM (#5463077)

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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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by eclipticplane on Friday March 29, 2013 @05:19PM (#5463097)

> "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.

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by alxbrun on Friday March 29, 2013 @06:52PM (#5463451)

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 ?

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by jazzyb on Friday March 29, 2013 @07:13PM (#5463526)

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.

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by steveklabnik on Friday March 29, 2013 @08:02PM (#5463720)

Exactly.

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by rhizome on Friday March 29, 2013 @05:25PM (#5463123)

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

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by minimaxir on Friday March 29, 2013 @05:24PM (#5463117)

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

Profit is another story, though.

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by doktrin on Friday March 29, 2013 @10:00PM (#5464052)

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.

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Re:LivingSocial co-founder Aaron Battalion quits by jinushaun on Friday March 29, 2013 @11:39PM (#5464250)

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

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