Andrew D. Mason (born 1980) is the founder and former CEO of Groupon, a Chicago-based website offering users discounts on local businesses.
Most small business owners are not particularly sophisticated business people. That's not a criticism; they're passionate about cutting hair or cooking food, and that's why they got in the business, not because they have an MBA. Use this quote
Groupon as a company - it's built into the business model - is about surprise. A new deal that surprises you every day. We've carried that over to our brand, in the writing and the marketing that we do, and in the internal corporate culture. Use this quote
There are over 2,000 direct clones of the Groupon business model. However, there's an equal amount of proof that the barriers to success are enormous. In spite of all those competitors, only a handful are remotely relevant. Use this quote
I didn't realize how hard it was to run a small business. Use this quote
If you have a great business, if you're great at your craft people should be coming in there. It shouldn't be this secret. Use this quote
I think if there's any difference between me and a traditional CEO, it's that I've been unwilling to change myself or shape my personality around what's expected. Use this quote
Most of the time, the things that really change the world exist for something fundamentally selfish and then the world-changing ends up being a side-effect of that. Use this quote
The experience is fundamentally different for buying from local businesses than it is for buying consumer goods. Use this quote
I've been very lucky, from the beginning. I've found that as long as you're fundamentally good - as long as you're not being bad to people - people give you a lot of room to be yourself, because being yourself is being honest. And that's what people want to see. Use this quote
When you think of couponing, you picture a mom cutting coupons out of the back of the newspaper. Use this quote
