On Groupon Buying The Alfred App

Alfred might be the best example of artificial intelligence used on a restaurant recommendation app. Yesterday, Jason Kincaid wrote that Groupon is on the verge of acquiring Clever Sense, the company behind Alfred. This acquisition should bode well with $GRPN investors. 

If you have never heard of Alfred, imagine an iPhone app that ‘speaks’ restaurant recommendations to you. What separates Alfred from the competition is something called model-based learning. Alfred is a semi-intelligent agent that is capable of serving a unique recommendation drawn from the user’s taste preferences. Like Siri, Alfred listens and adapts to the user. It really is something magical. 

And now Groupon is acquiring Alfred’s technology. 

Groupon will likely use Alfred’s AI technology to power a new method of targeting customers. “It seems like you enjoyed the dining experience at Chop House. I thought you might also enjoy Waterbar. You are close to the restaurant. Click here to purchase a $10 for $25 coupon,” Alfred will say.

Using location data to target customers is great, but using location data in conjunction with a user’s taste preferences is even better — thumbs up for Groupon if they actually go through with this acquisition.

UPDATE - Dec. 13th 2011 – Damn, Google outbid Groupon!

(Source: techmeme.com)

Like Enron, Groupon Is Firing The Worst 10 Percent of Its Sales Staff

Reuters:

Daily deals site Groupon is replacing the worst 10 percent of its sales staff as it pushes to win stronger deals from merchants and ensure it can keep growing, the company’s chief executive told potential IPO investors on Wednesday.

Andrew Mason is fostering a culture of corruption at Groupon. The pressure is on. The bottom 10 percent of employees will be fired. This is as cut-throat as it gets. Employees must be willing to do whatever it takes to get on top. Some will even cheat.

Enron perfected this model. Each year Enron’s management would hold employee reviews, where managers would fire the worst 10 percent of their employees. This led many employees to do things that they otherwise would not have. Some broke the law, others misrepresented their trades. Eventually Enron imploded. The company’s President and CEO, Jeff Skilling, along with its CFO, Anthony Fastow, were sent to jail for committing fraud.

A company’s culture is set by its management. I am not a fan of what Andrew Mason has chosen to do. This is business ethics 101. It is not smart to breed an overly competitive corporate culture.

Ethics.org:

Corporations are composed of cultures. Take a good close look at your culture. What are the norms of behavior? What is valued? Are employees rewarded for succeeding at any cost or are they urged to be shepherds of the corporation’s reputation as well as its assets? What pressures do they face to commit misconduct? What systemic problems exist that could encourage good people to make bad decisions?