Not everything successful companies are doing is worth copying

As a new startup, we often review what other successful companies are doing to see what we can learn.

Where have they put their call to action? What copy are they using on the pricing page? Where have they successfully reduced the friction between buyer and seller?

This constant review of “best practice” is enormously beneficial, and we have taken a lot of what we have learned and rolled it into Eventarc.

You need to be careful though.

There are things successful companies do because they are already successful and it NO LONGER MATTERS.  They get away with it, but if you tried the same thing you would die a quick and painful death.

Case in point?  Groupon.

Groupon is a phenomenally successful group buying site, rumored to be doing hundred of millions in revenue annually.  They made it to product to market fit, and are now scaling as fast as they can.

This is the homepage the Groupon site delivers to me.

Okay I don’t live in Honolulu, but they did their best to get as close to Melbourne as they could.

What stands out for me though is that they require you to sign up with your email address before you can access the site.  Lets just repeat that.

You have to give them your email address and subscribe, before you can even see the deal

Wow.

They get away with this because it no longer matters.  Their revenue is so large and their product so successful, that the customer abandonment from implementing this policy is probably negligible.

Not everything successful companies are doing is worth copying.