9个因过于超前而失败的创业理念

    团购网站

    早在90年代末，团购网站就在美国遍地开花，其数量一点也不亚于Groupon引领的“百团大战”时代。其中最出名的有Letsfuyit.com，在2001年放弃IPO计划，随后黯然倒闭的Mercata，以及Mobshop.com、ActBig、Zwirl.com、C-Tribe.com等大大小小的团购网站。美国在线和雅虎也曾计划推出自己的团购网站。不过在“.com”泡沫破裂后，除Actbig.com之外，上述网站无一生存。

    到了2009年，Groupon又让团购理念火了起来。很多人可能认为团购业务依然算是新生事物，就像我最近在一篇文章中指出的那样。我的同事丹•普利马克甚至称，Groupon仍然是一家价值50亿美元的公司。

    Group buying sites

    In the late '90s, group buying sites were just as common as they were in the Groupon era. This includes the most well-known, Letsbuyit.com, as well as Mercata, which scrapped its IPO plans in 2001 and shut down. Others include Mobshop.com, ActBig, Zwirl.com, and C-Tribe.com. AOL AOL 1.36% and Yahoo YHOO 1.42% had plans to launch their own group-buying sites, too. None of those companies survived the dotcom crash—except Actbig.com, apparently.

    In 2009, Groupon revived the concept. One could argue that the daily deals category remains a novelty, as I recently did in this article. My colleague Dan Primack recently counter-argued that Groupon is still a $5 billion company, which is not to be dismissed.