Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Andrew Mason was a really incredible CEO who brought such character to the product, and Groupon was brand-led. For its first couple of years it did not take itself seriously.
The daily deal was great, with something like 50 percent off. Still, people loved the email because it was really well written and it was funny and it had character. Nobody was signing up for the discount alone.
Ian Silber worked there as a designer years before he led design at OpenAI. The company did a really good job early on embracing the brand side of things, and the brand really stuck out.
How did Groupon's daily deal work?
Groupon launched in Chicago in 2008 under Andrew Mason, offering one discounted local deal each day. A deal was tipped only if enough people committed to buy, and otherwise nobody was charged. The mechanism came from The Point, an earlier site Mason started in 2007 for organizing collective action. Merchants gained a burst of new customers, and buyers gained a deep discount.
How did Chicago's comedy scene feed Groupon?
Chicago has long been a center of improvisational comedy, home to The Second City, which was founded in 1959. Performers there train in writing quickly, building on a partner's idea, and finding a joke in ordinary subjects. Groupon was founded in the same city and drew on that local talent pool for its writers. Its deal descriptions were written in a joking voice that stood out from typical coupon copy.
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