The Rise and Fall of Groupon Inc.

Groupon was co-founded by Andrew Mason (Mason) and Eric Lefkofsky (Lefkofsky) in 2008. Mason, a graduate in public policy at the University of Chicago, was involved in building databases on a contract basis at a company founded and funded by Lefkofsky, an entrepreneur. In January 2007, with Lefkofsky's backing, Mason started a crowdfunding start-up for social activism called ThePoint in order to get groups of people together to solve problems. ThePoint was a platform for organizing protests and fund-raising initiatives for social causes. It was constructed around the tipping point concept where the campaign required commitment from a specified number of people to kick off. Though the start-up gained traction in Chicago, it made hardly any money...