I never said he wasn't pushed, but I wouldn't make it sound like he was fired. The role didn't evolve as expected and so there's no reason for him to stay. Pretty simple.
backstory is simple: Rob was brought in as adult supervision in case Andrew Mason couldn't handle his shit. Everyone was worried about this with Andrew early on (this is why so many VCs passed on Groupon in '09). Now…
I don't think most consumers care about the technology they're using. They care about quality (does the phone work) and price. Discussions of GSM vs CDMA seem to obfuscate the main issue, which is that less competition…
Seems like you're arguing against gift cards in general. $100b worth of gift card spending suggests other people feel differently. Maybe you're not the target market? http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005802
From your own link: Free when the money comes from PayPal balance or bank account. 2.9% + $0.30 USD when the money comes from a debit or credit card or PayPal Credit (the sender decides who pays this fee).
True. But my point is that tons of people already use gift cards even though you and I can agree it may not be a rational choice. There's something about the psychology of giving/receiving cash that our culture has not…
How many billions do people spend on gift cards each year? Must be a multi-billion market...and that's constrained by the fact that with normal gift cards merchants must actually opt-in to start offering gift cards.…
It's no more ridiculous than a normal gift card: "Wait, you paid $25 so I can have $25 that can only be spent in one location?" That's a cost right there...if flexibility had a price I'd bet it'd be >5%.
Gift cards have lots of costs...some hidden (expired cards, lost cards), some more explicit (shipping costs, service fees) These dont expire. I think it's pretty cool.
I never said he wasn't pushed, but I wouldn't make it sound like he was fired. The role didn't evolve as expected and so there's no reason for him to stay. Pretty simple.
backstory is simple: Rob was brought in as adult supervision in case Andrew Mason couldn't handle his shit. Everyone was worried about this with Andrew early on (this is why so many VCs passed on Groupon in '09). Now…
I don't think most consumers care about the technology they're using. They care about quality (does the phone work) and price. Discussions of GSM vs CDMA seem to obfuscate the main issue, which is that less competition…
Seems like you're arguing against gift cards in general. $100b worth of gift card spending suggests other people feel differently. Maybe you're not the target market? http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005802
From your own link: Free when the money comes from PayPal balance or bank account. 2.9% + $0.30 USD when the money comes from a debit or credit card or PayPal Credit (the sender decides who pays this fee).
True. But my point is that tons of people already use gift cards even though you and I can agree it may not be a rational choice. There's something about the psychology of giving/receiving cash that our culture has not…
How many billions do people spend on gift cards each year? Must be a multi-billion market...and that's constrained by the fact that with normal gift cards merchants must actually opt-in to start offering gift cards.…
It's no more ridiculous than a normal gift card: "Wait, you paid $25 so I can have $25 that can only be spent in one location?" That's a cost right there...if flexibility had a price I'd bet it'd be >5%.
Gift cards have lots of costs...some hidden (expired cards, lost cards), some more explicit (shipping costs, service fees) These dont expire. I think it's pretty cool.