The idea for Groupon emerged from recognizing that group buying was a viable business model, especially since people were already attempting group purchasing campaigns through 'The Point'.

We launched 'The Point' in September 2006, but after floundering for about a year, we pivoted to create Groupon.

After a couple of weeks, it became clear that we were onto something significant with Groupon, and we began making projections about its potential growth.

While running 'The Point', we launched Groupon as a side project, which allowed me to shift my focus without admitting that 'The Point' was failing.

A pizza company successfully used a growth hack by advertising on dating apps, offering discounts to users who shared their number quickly.

In the early days, we generated Groupon vouchers using a FileMaker app, which was a makeshift solution that involved exporting data and emailing vouchers manually.

I manually promoted Gobble by distributing coupons in coffee shops and personally following up with new customers to encourage repeat orders.

I found it difficult to deal with clones of Groupon, as it felt demoralizing to see others copy our concept without the same passion for building a startup.

During our time at Y Combinator, we focused on understanding whether consumers would pay for delivery services and if restaurants would be willing to partner with us.