BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

I thought they only cover IPOs or huge private companies. Go to their home page and see their "articles" (Featured Research). Scroll through - no way any of those huge companies are yours. You created that "onetimecomment" anonymously and made it up and then disappeared. That's not intelligent discussion, that's a provable defamatory lie. Where would your little company "without resources to sue" be exactly? Facebook? Palo Alto Networks IPO? Twitter? Where? Liar.

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

GLASSDOOR.com LivingSocial 190 EMPLOYEE reviews livingsocial.com HQ: Washington, DC Write a Review

“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012

Cons – Daily HR violations Lies

“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New

Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating

Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel
    VMware – Reston, VA

“Cool brand but dying industry” Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New Cons – incompetent management and dying product. Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field

“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New

Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long

“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.

Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!

Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.

Be warned, stay away!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.

“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing

The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012

I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc

- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.

- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.

- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.

- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.

Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.

Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!

“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!

Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.

“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012

“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011

    Linux Systems Administrator – new
    MITRE – McLean, VA

“Great Employees, bad communication.” Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people. More

Poor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel

“Lack of Integrity and Honesty” Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012

Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.

“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.

“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012

I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...

Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!

I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011

Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market

Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.

“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen

“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!”

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

GLASSDOOR.com LivingSocial 190 EMPLOYEE reviews livingsocial.com HQ: Washington, DC Write a Review

“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012

Cons – Daily HR violations Lies

“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New

Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating

Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel
    VMware – Reston, VA

“Cool brand but dying industry” Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New Cons – incompetent management and dying product. Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field

“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New

Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long

“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.

Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!

Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.

Be warned, stay away!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.

“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing

The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012

I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc

- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.

- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.

- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.

- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.

Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.

Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!

“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!

Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.

“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012

“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011

    Linux Systems Administrator – new
    MITRE – McLean, VA

“Great Employees, bad communication.” Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people. More

Poor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel

“Lack of Integrity and Honesty” Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012

Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.

“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.

“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012

I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...

Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!

I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011

Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market

Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.

“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen

“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!”

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

GLASSDOOR.com LivingSocial 190 EMPLOYEE reviews livingsocial.com HQ: Washington, DC Write a Review

“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012

Cons – Daily HR violations Lies

“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New

Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating

Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel
    VMware – Reston, VA

“Cool brand but dying industry” Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New Cons – incompetent management and dying product. Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field

“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New

Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long

“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.

Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!

Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.

Be warned, stay away!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.

“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing

The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012

I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc

- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.

- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.

- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.

- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.

Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.

Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!

“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!

Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.

“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012

“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011

    Linux Systems Administrator – new
    MITRE – McLean, VA

“Great Employees, bad communication.” Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people. More

Poor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel

“Lack of Integrity and Honesty” Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012

Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.

“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.

“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012

I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...

Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!

I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011

Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market

Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.

“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen

“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 3, 2011

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

GLASSDOOR.com LivingSocial 190 EMPLOYEE reviews livingsocial.com HQ: Washington, DC Write a Review

“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012

Cons – Daily HR violations Lies

“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New

Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating

Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel
    VMware – Reston, VA

“Cool brand but dying industry” Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New Cons – incompetent management and dying product. Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field

“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New

Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long

“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.

Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!

Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.

Be warned, stay away!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.

“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing

The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012

I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc

- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.

- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.

- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.

- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.

Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.

Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!

“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!

Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.

“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012

“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011

    Linux Systems Administrator – new
    MITRE – McLean, VA

“Great Employees, bad communication.” Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people. More

Poor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012

    Strategic Account Manager-Intel

“Lack of Integrity and Honesty” Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012

Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.

“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.

“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012

I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...

Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!

I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011

Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market

Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.

“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen

“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 3, 2011

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

From the employees' owns mouths. Draw your conclusions about how they feel about LivingSocial's CEO and Sr. Management's credibility and honesty:

http://www.glassdoor.com/GD/Reviews/LivingSocial-Reviews-E23...

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

That's an outright lie. No PrivCo salespeople and research people interact whatsoever or coordinate whatsoever. And salespeople deal with partners at top VC firms, major law firms, etc. They would never email some random little crappy company an email off their domain, not would they ever waste their once a week featured research note covering a mom and pop operation like you sound. Who would even read it? This is completely made up and libelous. Expect a subpoena for your IP address because that's a made up outright defamatory lie. Leaving aside it makes no logical sense whatsoever, go read PrivCo's featured research notes and the companies the subjects of them (usually new IPOs like Zynga, Facebook etc., which you obviously aren't) right on PrivCo.com home page for all to see. Which "Company" were you supposedly featured in your fantasy world?

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

Groupon's accounting gimmickry is extensive, and began pre-IPO (recognizing full purchase price of coupon when they are only acting as an "agent" (middleman) not as a "principal" (i.e., making the food, owning the spas for the massages etc.), which as a CFO I can tell you is Accounting 101.

Among other places: http://bit.ly/Y3hfft

And yes Rocky Agrawal and the Grumpy Accountants Professors and PrivCo.

And the accounting tricks continue - even most Wall Street analysts covering the company for a living have not picked up on it - but for "Groupon Goods last fall they changed the way they account for those purchases. (Remember for Goods their "deal-share" is even smaller than their 37% or so for restaurants/spas/etc. It's under 10% for tablets, laptops etc. So when they at first sold a $2000 flat screen TV, they booked (as forced by the SEC finally) just their $200 cut. When revenue growth slowed, they (meaning likely Eric Lefkofsky instructed) Groupon to find a way to recognize the entire $2,000 sales as their revenue. And the only way (again, speaking as a CFO who knows this intimately - not boasting my opinion is better than anyone else's, just sharing the real facts, I don't own or short the stock - and the only way they could recognize the entire $2,000 example TV sold is if they "took possession of it, then re-sold it" in plain language. And one of the requirements is that Groupon has (even briefly) the "risk of loss" (that is, the TV breaks while legally/technically in their possession before shipped to the buyer). I.e., find a way that Groupon's technically not just a deal middleman on Goods and let the buyer and seller deal with each other, but be the Reseller like Amazon.

So they literally (and this is not speculation, this is in the SEC filings - not highlighted and sort of minimally mentioned, but it's there) - they literally state starting with their third quarter 2012 10Q that beginning that quarter Groupon signed a new contract retaining a 3rd party company to act on its behalf to receive the goods from the Goods merchant, then that company acting on Groupon's behalf - with a contract that says Groupon bears "all risk of loss" and then ships it to the buyer. Now that sounds awfully inefficient, and it is, because it has to be shipped twice, reducing Groupon's margins to near zero on Groupon Goods. But it takes Groupon Goods revenue from 10% of each sale to 100$ of each sale. Starting to get the picture?

So in the last 2 quarters they reported a dramatic spike in Groupon Goods revenues (no profits of course) but analysts - not knowing any better - began to upgrade the stock, saying yes the daily deals business is slowing to almost 0$ year over year, but look at Groupon Goods! Its revenue is suddenly growing like gangbusters! (I have to give hat tip here to an Accounting Seminar that used it as an example, and to PrivCo who published a Research Note detailing it, but I checked everything in the SEC filings and can say with 100$ certainty, but of course you can confirm it yourself.)

So price targets were raised, and many former bullish turned bearish analysis (like Ken Sena from Evercore) turned bullish again, and said Groupon is going to surprise all the naysayers! Groupon Goods is its true future, it's growing in triple digits in revenue now! (Because their revenue recognized went from 10$ of each sale to 100%, by having this fulfillment company acting on their behalf briefly taking possession of the goods and contract says Groupon has "all risk of loss" - even though the possession was sometimes for 10 minutes, since they just put it in a box and shipped it right away to the waiting buyer who had already pre-ordered it. No inventory, just in and right out the door.

One more fact you should know (again gotta give hat tip to PrivCo securities lawyers on their staff who pointed this out), go to the section on "Related Party Transactions" (i.e. this is where a company is doing business or hiring a company owned by a senior Officer, Director or Major Shareholder). And in that section - brief as it is - it says one of those Related Party Transactions is that they retain and have a contract with a fulfillment company founded in mid-2012 that is owned by Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell (Groupon's co-founders, Board members and largest shareholders). Yes you read that right. They saw daily deals declining sharply, and decided they had to find a way to "grow Revenue" - without actually selling any more stuff. So they quickly formed this company that signed exactly the contract terms needed verbatim that would allow the accountants to deem Groupon as having taken possession and acting as a principal / reseller and not an agent and recognize the entire Goods amount purchased.

And most Wall Street analysts (Evercore's Ken Sena was on TODAY on BloombergTV still touting the Groupon Goods revenue growth as reason to buy the stock, even though daily deals fell for the first time ever year over year.) He's clueless, and he's telling his clients Buy based on Groupon Goods revenue growth spurt since last summer.

I'll let the HN crew react to above instead of just saying out loud what I think of that or what you should. Share what you think of that.

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

It's true. Groupon's accounting gimmickry is extensive, and began pre-IPO (recognizing full purchase price of coupon when they are only acting as an "agent" (middleman) not as a "principal" (i.e., making the food, owning the spas for the massages etc.), which as a CFO I can tell you is Accounting 101.

Among other places: http://bit.ly/Y3hfft

And yes Rocky Agrawal and the Grumpy Accountants Professors and PrivCo.

And the accounting tricks continue - even most Wall Street analysts covering the company for a living have not picked up on it - but for "Groupon Goods last fall they changed the way they account for those purchases. (Remember for Goods their "deal-share" is even smaller than their 37% or so for restaurants/spas/etc. It's under 10% for tablets, laptops etc. So when they at first sold a $2000 flat screen TV, they booked (as forced by the SEC finally) just their $200 cut. When revenue growth slowed, they (meaning likely Eric Lefkofsky instructed) Groupon to find a way to recognize the entire $2,000 sales as their revenue. And the only way (again, speaking as a CFO who knows this intimately - not boasting my opinion is better than anyone else's, just sharing the real facts, I don't own or short the stock - and the only way they could recognize the entire $2,000 example TV sold is if they "took possession of it, then re-sold it" in plain language. And one of the requirements is that Groupon has (even briefly) the "risk of loss" (that is, the TV breaks while legally/technically in their possession before shipped to the buyer). I.e., find a way that Groupon's technically not just a deal middleman on Goods and let the buyer and seller deal with each other, but be the Reseller like Amazon.

So they literally (and this is not speculation, this is in the SEC filings - not highlighted and sort of minimally mentioned, but it's there) - they literally state starting with their third quarter 2012 10Q that beginning that quarter Groupon signed a new contract retaining a 3rd party company to act on its behalf to receive the goods from the Goods merchant, then that company acting on Groupon's behalf - with a contract that says Groupon bears "all risk of loss" and then ships it to the buyer. Now that sounds awfully inefficient, and it is, because it has to be shipped twice, reducing Groupon's margins to near zero on Groupon Goods. But it takes Groupon Goods revenue from 10% of each sale to 100$ of each sale. Starting to get the picture?

So in the last 2 quarters they reported a dramatic spike in Groupon Goods revenues (no profits of course) but analysts - not knowing any better - began to upgrade the stock, saying yes the daily deals business is slowing to almost 0$ year over year, but look at Groupon Goods! Its revenue is suddenly growing like gangbusters! (I have to give hat tip here to an Accounting Seminar that used it as an example, and to PrivCo who published a Research Note detailing it, but I checked everything in the SEC filings and can say with 100$ certainty, but of course you can confirm it yourself.)

So price targets were raised, and many former bullish turned bearish analysis (like Ken Sena from Evercore) turned bullish again, and said Groupon is going to surprise all the naysayers! Groupon Goods is its true future, it's growing in triple digits in revenue now! (Because their revenue recognized went from 10$ of each sale to 100%, by having this fulfillment company acting on their behalf briefly taking possession of the goods and contract says Groupon has "all risk of loss" - even though the possession was sometimes for 10 minutes, since they just put it in a box and shipped it right away to the waiting buyer who had already pre-ordered it. No inventory, just in and right out the door.

One more fact you should know (again gotta give hat tip to PrivCo securities lawyers on their staff who pointed this out), go to the section on "Related Party Transactions" (i.e. this is where a company is doing business or hiring a company owned by a senior Officer, Director or Major Shareholder). And in that section - brief as it is - it says one of those Related Party Transactions is that they retain and have a contract with a fulfillment company founded in mid-2012 that is owned by Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell (Groupon's co-founders, Board members and largest shareholders). Yes you read that right. They saw daily deals declining sharply, and decided they had to find a way to "grow Revenue" - without actually selling any more stuff. So they quickly formed this company that signed exactly the contract terms needed verbatim that would allow the accountants to deem Groupon as having taken possession and acting as a principal / reseller and not an agent and recognize the entire Goods amount purchased.

And most Wall Street analysts (Evercore's Ken Sena was on TODAY on BloombergTV still touting the Groupon Goods revenue growth as reason to buy the stock, even though daily deals fell for the first time ever year over year.) He's clueless, and he's telling his clients Buy based on Groupon Goods revenue growth spurt since last summer.

I'll let the HN crew react to above instead of just saying out loud what I think of that or what you should. Share what you think of that.

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

Groupon has 11,500 employees

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

Private companies / IPO research firm PrivCo actually foresaw all this in 2011 pre Groupon IPO. Boy were they right. Just looked up some of the research I read then that made me a believer to avoid Groupon stock and its IPO. A taste, pretty good crystal ball, good solid analysis of the numbers:

http://bit.ly/Y3hfft

But firing Andrew Mason does not fix Groupon's problems, whose business model is fundamentally flawed. And the problem now: Eric Lefkofsky's Super-Voting Stock (many times public shareholders) means he's still the same guy in control, though now has the CEO title too. So nothing will improve at Groupon. Andrew Mason was only a puppet CEO. Lefkosfky called all the major decisions. IPO investors: boycott ALL IPOs with supervoting stock! This is exactly why! Shareholders should be booting Mason AND Lefkofsky. (Zynga has the same problem: Mark Pincus gave himself 70x-to-1 supervoting stock before the Zynga IPO...stock's down 70% from IPO in barely over a year, yet you can't get rid of him). Don't buy these IPOs. (Also some thing PrivCo and others have advised clients, and I'm one of them.) No matter how tempting the IPO sounds, don't do it. Go on to the next IPO...I'm an active IPO investor, and there are always great new ones on the horizon....just wait for the good ones.

BostonCFO2

vor 13 Jahrendiscuss

Private companies / IPO research firm PrivCo actually foresaw all this in 2011 pre Groupon IPO. Boy were they right. Just looked up some of the research I read then that made me a believer to avoid Groupon stock and its IPO. A taste, pretty good crystal ball, good solid analysis of the numbers:

http://www.privco.com/research/october-21-2011-groupons-3rd-....

The problem now though: Eric Lefkofsky's Super-Voting Stock (many times public shareholders) means he's still the same guy in control, though now has the CEO title too. So nothing will improve at Groupon. Andrew Mason was only a puppet CEO. Lefkosfky called all the major decisions. IPO investors: boycott ALL IPOs with supervoting stock! This is exactly why! Shareholders should be booting Mason AND Lefkofsky. (Zynga has the same problem: Mark Pincus gave himself 70x-to-1 supervoting stock before the Zynga IPO...stock's down 70% from IPO in barely over a year, yet you can't get rid of him). Don't buy these IPOs. (Also some thing PrivCo and others have advised clients, and I'm one of them.) No matter how tempting the IPO sounds, don't do it. Go on to the next IPO...I'm an active IPO investor, and there are always great new ones on the horizon....just wait for the good ones.

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