

Groupon manager attacks “slavedriver” CEO Daniel Glasner with two leaked emails - mdariani
http://venturevillage.eu/leaked-groupon-emails-slavedriver

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tsunamifury
Third place is "you're fired".

At least Alec Baldwin offered a reward of a car and a set of steak knives for
first and second place. Using only threats to motivate and not offering
anything for success is usually the sign of an organization circling the drain
in my experience.

Granted I do have some reservations about the source here.

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microtherion
Yes, the visual I imagined went along with that article was something like
this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AXTx4PcKI>

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dia80
I'm not sure how this article made the front page. The swathes of awkwardly
(machine?) translated German and the fact there appears to be several "CEO"s
mentioned makes it very difficult to understand.

~~~
OSButler
Plus the spoon-fed excerpts of the emails makes it look like a tabloid
article. Show the full content of the emails, so the reader can make up
her/his own opinion.

~~~
mdariani
maybe it's better to comment below the article that they should show the whole
email and not just excerpts. don't think the author of the article will read
the comments here ;)

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PhrosTT
Any company that allows this:

[http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-08-31/entertainment...](http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-08-31/entertainment/30000786_1_groupon-
fuchsia-humor)

...But getting humor writer/editor Daniel Kibblesmith onto the fifth season of
The Millionaire Matchmaker demonstrates the group-buying site is as
unceasingly resilient in using its savvy to generate interest in its company.

"It came from a really honest place," said Groupon's PR guru Julie Mossler who
suggested Kibblesmith for the show. "We knew it would come with some free
publicity, but this was about getting him on the show and getting him a
girlfriend."

...

"I assumed I was [picked] because I was the strongest person at Groupon, but
we haven't actually confirmed that yet." he joked. "They didn't want anyone
too intimidating, but I know they were looking at stuff like height."

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joedev
I've always imagined a sweatshop, boiler-room operation when I think of a
Groupon office.

~~~
mdda
I'm pretty sure that's an accurate picture of the kind of sales operation
that's required to make the magic work...

The key difference, though, is that a stockbroker Boiler-Room is usually
operating at (or around) a threshold of legality since making markets in
stocks is a highly regulated industry (at the very least there's the threat of
sanctions if a salesperson goes too far).

OTOH, the Groupon sales team will have no such restrictions on how they sell
the dream of increased customer awareness through the magic of the internet,
and their vast mailing list.

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brown9-2
If Groupon is breeching contractually agreed bonuses with it's employees, why
wouldn't they challenge that in the legal system?

On the other hand, "Director of Sales" is already one of the most meaningless
job titles that exist.

~~~
its_so_on
you're forgeting something. We're not talking about a Director of sales here.
We're talking about a Herr _Direktor_ of sales

~~~
its_so_on
sorry i wasn't clear: titles like this mean a lot more in germany, where it's
much harder to find or lose a job; they also have a record that follows them
around, much like your college transcript. being a director isn't like being
one in america.

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dlytle
There's a lot of mention in the article about "McKinsey"; looks like that's a
management consulting firm. The impression I get is that they have a bad
reputation, but I have no idea why. Anyone have any insight on this?

~~~
archangel_one
I didn't take that they had a bad reputation; quite the reverse, that people
have left their relatively prestigious job there which would look great on a
CV, and now that's going to be slightly tarnished by an apparent failure at
Groupon.

~~~
dlytle
Aha, gotcha; I didn't get that part. Thanks for the clarification!

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netmau5
Don't work at Groupon.

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bproper
There is a history of this kind of complaint from Groupon employees, including
a class action lawsuit here in the U.s.

[http://www.betabeat.com/2011/09/09/groupon-through-the-
glass...](http://www.betabeat.com/2011/09/09/groupon-through-the-glass-door-
darkly/)

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buddycasino
Thats the typical Oliver Samwer / Rocket Internet style, and thats the culture
where those assholes come from. Sad, really, but somehow, this feels very
german to me.

~~~
missy
I ve worked in IT companies like this in Berlin and people coming from the
Samwer school. They have very high ideals, which their skills and resources
cannot meet, and their goals can be met early as they are clones piggy backing
of the original american company.

When they hit a point like i assume now, where they cannot freeload of the
original, and real problems that need real new solutions emerge, that can be
solved only with brains, and not brutish force, they implode.

Using the old Platonic concepts of the IDEAL " A copy cannot ever be as good
as its original". The Samwers exploited that most of the innovative work could
be cloned from Groupon hard early but risky phase, and in Berlin you can hire
very cheaply and there is a lophole in the German Intern law.

Dont forget most operations are done in Berlin, this is vital for the whole
company.

Mason please fix this .. I love your restaurant coupons

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tlogan
This is sales. Correct? Aren't all sales jobs like this?

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michaelochurch
Can someone revive Wall Street so it absorbs these kinds of assholes again and
we can have only nice people in tech? It was nicer before the likes of Glasner
and Pincus got in this game.

Also, threatening to revoke a title is just idiotic. It provides nothing to
the organization. (If you need to fire people, just fire them.) Titles only
matter when people are leaving, and so the only effect of reducing a title is
to (theoretically) make it harder to leave, but people who want to leave will
use their old titles and sue the fucking shit out of their employer (libel,
blackballing) if contradicted (and win).

A certain large company (name withheld) had a practice of hiring people in
between levels and "downslotting" about 75% of new hires to title the level
below what they were promised in hiring. It didn't save any money but it flew
a fucking plane into morale. That company abolished the slotting idiocy, but
far too late, and it's probably a contributor to the cultural mediocrity and
general decline of that company over the past 3-4 years.

