Groupon founder Andrew Mason's farewell letter to employees (2013)

I remember seeing this and being extremely impressed by his candor, his forethought and his graceful humor. These tidbits especially stood out:

- As CEO, I am accountable.

- I'm OK with having failed at this part of the journey.

- This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness – don't waste the opportunity!

For the curious, Mason’s story is really interesting and he did a great interview on the Without Fail podcast a few years ago.

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/without-fail/j4hrl8

It's funny to go back and read what this forum and the tech world was saying about Groupon a decade ago. It was valued at $30 billion!

Everyone likes to point to the "infamous Dropbox comment" whenever people are negative here about a hyped startup, but it seems to me these stories are far more common; "you just don't get it!". This company minted millions (billions?) for SV insiders cashing out on the public, and was heralded as the fastest gowing company ever. All hype.

It's still alive, apparently (market cap < $1 billion), and still bleeding money.

"My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what's best for our customers."

I think we can learn something from that quote.

Pretty refreshing to read. I can't imagine being 40 lbs overweight and would sacrifice 90% of my wealth to be my normal self if it ever happened... hopefully his destiny led him to a better place.

Battle Toads is still an awesome game.