Ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason Reveals His Next Move
Michael Seto / BI
It's already been three months since Andrew Mason left the company he founded, Groupon.
During that time Mason, who was ousted from the daily deals company, says he's traveled and lost some weight. He's also figured out what he's going to do next. Sort of.
Mason has decided to move to San Francisco later this summer with his wife. There, he'll spend one day per week at Y-Combinator, advising startups.
Here's the post:
It's been almost three months since I left Groupon, time I've spent traveling, losing some weight, reading, and embarking on other cliched pursuits of the unemployed. Here's a quick update on what's next for me.
NEWCO
I feel very lucky to be alive at a time when someone like me can have a simple idea like Groupon that ends up impacting millions of people. If there's a silver lining to leaving Groupon, it's the opportunity to start something new. I've accumulated a backlog of ideas over the last several years, my favorite of which I'll be turning into a new company this fall.
As part of this, my wife and I are moving to San Francisco later this summer. We both love Chicago and while this next chapter in our lives is taking us elsewhere, we're not planning to sell our current home and expect to visit often. Chicago is developing quickly as a technology hub, and I hope to continue to find ways to support the amazing community of entrepreneurs here.
Y-COMBINATOR
To keep my brain from atrophying, I'll be spending a day each week at Y-Combinator for the next several months, trying to make myself useful to the incoming class of startups. I've had the pleasure of speaking at several Y-Combinator events over the years, and in addition to being a huge fan of Paul and Jessica, I always walk away deeply inspired by the entrepreneurs I meet. I'm looking forward to hopefully passing along some of my learnings to the startups there.
HARDLY WORKIN'
I managed over 12,000 people at Groupon, most under the age of 25. One thing that surprised me was that many would arrive at orientation with minimal understanding of basic business wisdom. "Haven't you read any business books? Good to Great? Winning? The One Minute Manager?" I'd ask. "Business books? Not really our thing," was the typical response. I came to realize that there was a real need to present business wisdom in a format that is more accessible to the younger generation.
It was with this in mind that I spent a week in LA earlier this month recording Hardly Workin', a seven song album of motivational business music targeted at people newly entering the workforce. These songs will help young people understand some of the ideas that I've found to be a key part of becoming a productive and effective employee. I'm really happy with the results and look forward to sharing them as soon as I figure out how to load music onto iTunes, hopefully in the next few weeks.
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