Author Archives: Rakesh Agrawal

About Rakesh Agrawal

Rakesh Agrawal is a 0-1 product leader. Ex-Amazon, Ex-Microsoft, as well as a number of startups. He tweets at @rakeshsfnyc

NOT first! Where the heck is Rocky’s analysis of Yelp?

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

I had several people comment to me this week that they would like to see more timely updates in response to breaking news on companies. For example, the Yelp S-1 was released on Thursday and I probably won’t post my … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, newspapers, yelp | 5 Comments

LivingSocial tries yet another model

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

LivingSocial announced a new product today as part of its Instant service. It will allow users in the DC area to order food online for delivery. A premium offering allows users to order food like they order room service, complete … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, groupon, livingsocial | Comments Off

What’s wrong with journalism today, part 1

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

One of the great innovators in online journalism, Jim Romenesko, resigned from his position at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank of sorts. Among journalists, Romenesko practically invented blogging. Some reporters who claimed to never had read a blog … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, newspapers | Comments Off

Amazon automatically unsubscribing users from AmazonLocal list

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Amazon is automatically unsubscribing some users from its AmazonLocal daily deals mailing list. Deal fatigue, the idea that consumers are tiring of daily deal emails, has been one of the longstanding concerns with the daily deals space. Amazon’s move is … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, livingsocial | 1 Comment

Investing in Groupon is like investing in a leaky bucket

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

If you’d told me 5 months ago that I would spend a lot of 2011 studying accounting, talking to businesses and saying bad things about a company that everyone once loved, I never would have believed you. It all started … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, groupon | 9 Comments

Groupon’s road to IPO: Best resources for potential investors

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

This is a compilation of the best news coverage I see of the Groupon IPO. I won’t be including items from this blog on the list, but will include my work elsewhere. Other sources: Jim Cramer says “This is not … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, groupon | Comments Off

My video analysis of the Groupon roadshow

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

On Tuesday, I led a live viewing of the Groupon IPO roadshow video on Chill, a great new site for interacting with others while watching video. The video below includes my analysis of the Groupon roadshow, as well as my … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, groupon | Comments Off

Groupon’s tricky S-1 math

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Quick: How many people bought a Groupon in the third quarter? The obvious, easy answer based on the latest S-1 is 29.5 million. That’s what Reuters wrote yesterday. (They rounded up to 30 million.) But that number is wrong. What … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, groupon | 7 Comments

Think Groupon is a technology company? Think again.

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Through much of its roadshow presentation, Groupon tries to make the claim that it’s a technology company. At one point, CEO Andrew Mason bizarrely uses a cyborg to illustrate how much the company is about technology. From a company perspective, … Continue reading →

Posted in daily deals, groupon | 43 Comments

Short-term, transactional thinking in a social media world

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

I woke up this morning to find a bill under my door for a $7.60 bottle of water, courtesy of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Apparently the bottle of water next to the bathroom sink wasn’t free. There wasn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in strategy, travel | 2 Comments