The long term of LivingSocial
The above video between Fox News’ Chris Wallace and LivingSocial’s CEO, Tim O’Shaughnessy is a fascinating back and forth about the DNA of O’Shaughnessy who has long had the “entrepreneurial bug” as Wallace called it.
Besides the success story told above about the expanding web company is O’Shaugnessy’s attitude toward competition and about Groupon notes that in the long term, he believes history will tell the story of his competition much like eBay and Amazon are told – both are giants, both are commerce, and both offer similar functions, but they are different from one another and have their own loyal users, likely with overlap.
Rather than speak poorly of a competitor, the young CEO publicly welcomes the competition which came along over a year after their founding. Both are well funded, and Groupon has even gone public on the stock exchange, with O’Shaughnessy cleverly darting questions about when they will join Groupon with their ticker symbol.
The couponing genre is hot right now, not just because of a historically terrible economy, but also because the increase in smartphone ownership has made digital coupons even more useful as consumers can search for coupons as they arrive at an unplanned destination, just like couponbook buyers used to do, making purchase decisions based on where they can use a coupon.
O’Shaughnessy’s approach of bundling and adventures has set the company apart, and we are fascinated by his attitude toward competition as a challenge, not a threat. In fairness, LivingSocial has funding to the tune of $808 million, with which, they’ve gobbled up SocialMedia.com, Ticket Monster, ensogo, GoNabit, InfoEther, BuyYourFriendADrink.com, and Urban Escapes. That kind of money can calm the nerves of any entrepreneur as opposed to a startup just getting off of the ground.
Regardless, O’Shaughnessy’s story as told above by Williams is an interesting study for business professionals.
