A Brief History of Groupon

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The foundation for what would become Groupon was laid when its founder, Andrew Mason, was a student at the University of Chicago. He actually dropped out of school in 2007, after receiving a $1 million investment offer, and started a company called The Point. The goal of the company was to improve the online fundraising experience. So the “tipping point” was set. The tipping point would be a certain amount of money or signatures that the fundraiser would put up to make the plan happen, and credit cards would not be charged until the goal was reached.



That would be convenient for the fundraiser, who could control the growth of donations and be safe usa student data for donors, who could be sure where their money was going. However, The Point was not focused enough and it started to drown. But one thing seemed to work: group deals. The team at The Point called hundreds of suppliers a day to set up daily deals, which they called “Groupons.” And the deal would only go through if a certain number of people bought it. The concept was a win-win for suppliers, customers and for the company.

So in 2008, The Point gave space to Groupon, which focuses on advertising local businesses through limited-time deals. The following year, Groupon would expand from Chicago to 28 other U.S. cities. A few more months and it would reach some European markets. In December 2010, Google made a $6 billion bid for Groupon, but it was rejected. Groupon currently has more than 26 million active customers, with more than 1.5 billion Groupons sold to date.