Chapters
Jet.com's founder, Marc Lore, aims to compete directly with Amazon by offering prices 10-15% cheaper, targeting the middle-class American consumers who prioritize price over convenience and selection.
Shownotes Transcript
Ben & David break down Jet.com’s meteoric rise, culminating in Walmart’s blockbuster $3B+ acquisition of the company just two years after its founding. Will we look back on this deal as an ‘Instagram-like’ bargain or a ‘Pets.com'-sized blunder? And most importantly, can anyone compete with Amazon going forward? We speculate wildly.
**Sponsors:**Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24)Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta)Crusoe: https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoe) Topics covered include:
- Community spotlight: Nowdue), a super fast invoicing platform for teams on Slack. Invoice like it’s the future! This looks very cool.
- Jet’s deep origins in Founder & CEO Marc Lore’s first two companies, The Pit) and Quidsi) (aka, diapers.com)
- Lore’s chance run-in with Jeff Bezos at a school picnic in Seattle) in the early 2000’s
- Amazon's dramatic acquisition of Quidsi in 2010, including Bezos’ admonition to Amazon corp dev to keep Quidsi from being bought by Walmart under any circumstances (covered well in The Everything Store))
- Lore’s less-than-favorable opinion of Amazon's culture)
- Lore's vision of Jet) as an ‘online Costco’ that can directly with Amazon on price by selling goods to a “huge middle-class of people" at effectively zero margin, and make profit on membership fees
- Jet’s huge), pre-launch) fundraising rounds), and subsequent massively promoted public launch) in July 2015
- Jet’s pivot in October 2015 to drop the membership model) (their only profit engine), and subsequent massive growth (but also accompanying massive losses)
- 'Admitting defeat)” to Amazon in July 2016? Immediately followed by the blockbuster $3B+ Walmart acquisition announcement)
- Is e-commerce really a winner-take-all business and will Amazon just take over the world? Featuring liberal citations (again) of Ben Thompson's) Aggregation Theory) and the importance of customer experience.
- Is there any path for Walmart & Jet to compete effectively with Amazon? Is Marc Lore Walmart’s only hope?
- Fantastic interview with Tim Cook) discussing (among other things) the massive amount of growth still left in the internet
Followups:
- Lucasfilm: Star Wars Rouge One trailer) drops! Featuring a strong female protagonist!)
New section: Hot Takes! (thank you @cteitzel on Slack for the idea)
- Verizon/AOL acquires Yahoo!)
- Lyft reportedly turns down acquisition offer from GM)
- Microsoft acquires Beam)
- Randstad acquires Monster.com)
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Michael Mauboussin’s Talk at Google) and Reflections on the Ten Attributes of Great Investors) after thirty years of honing his craft
- David: Strava), the fantastic social fitness-tracking app
- None this week… coverage of Instagram Stories) to come next time!
