This past weekend I attended a lunch presentation by Andrew Mason of Groupon, which he gave to participants in the Chicago Urban League's NextONE Program. I was invited by great friend John (JR) Dallas and welcomed by the Urban League staff.

Groupon, if you are not familiar, is widely regarded as Chicago's biggest tech success story of 2009. The web site allows people to buy one steeply discounted offer each day, provided enough other people also buy the offer so the retailer has a critical mass of new customers. They achieved profitability in the spring of 09 and closed on $25mm of funding late last year, when they admittedly didn't need the money. Now they're on target for $100mm in revenues in 2010.

It would be too easy to romanticize the above. Mason and team came up with an idea, coded it in a month, and it became a runaway success. But just looking at their history as Groupon would be denying some important lessons about innovation and persistence.

ThePoint.com: Groupon's predecessor.

Before Groupon was (and still is) a web site called The Point, which Mason started in 2006. The Point was built to allow people to achieve critical mass on a political or social issue before taking action, to ensure the action they take (a donation, a protest, a mass action, etc) had an impact. The site itself didn't take off to the founders' expectations because of a lack of focus; they were providing a platform for an undefined audience to take action on any potential issue.

The software and concept that powered The Point now powers Groupon. In late 2008, the team worked for a month to get the product off the ground, with very limited features and simple e-commerce capabilities, and the new, focused idea stuck.

Among many others, I was able to pull these lessons from Andrew's talk and knowing the Groupon story:

1. They weren't afraid to act, try something different, and risk failure. Groupon was a 30-day diversion from working on The Point. If it failed, they wouldn't be out a lot of time, money, or emotional investment.
2. They took an existing asset, the software engine powering The Point, and applied it in a different way. They learned that this new application had considerably more monetary value than the original.
3. Mason and the team continually improve Groupon by creating a product they themselves want to use, and add features and improvements based upon problems they themselves have. Their philosophy, "If I have this problem, chances are someone else does, too."

Take a look inside your business as we take a look inside ours. Do you have the opportunity to "Pull a Groupon?" Perhaps you have software systems that are built for one purpose that you could refactor for a different one, or maybe you could deliver your services to a completely new audience. Chances are you are creating a product or service right now that could either make better use of by-products created or could be applied in a completely different way.

If this article strikes a chord with you, please let us know in the comments. If you see successes from "pulling a Groupon," please let us know (and Groupon too, I'm sure they'd appreciate it)! Finally, if there is an opportunity for KeyLimeTie to assist developing the software needed for you to accomplish your goals, please drop us a line.

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