How Did a Top Ten LinkedIn Influencer and an “Oprah” Blogger Lose an $18 Million Competition?

The founder of Diapers.com that was sold to Amazon for nearly $450 million decided to launch a contest for his new shopping membership website Jet.com.  The contest goal was to sign up as many email accounts as possible in order to win the Grand Prize of stock options valued at approximately $18 million.  Prizes for 2nd place through 10th place were worth approximately $1.8 million each.  Jet.com is backed by investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Google Ventures

The conventional wisdom was that the winner of the contest would have significant followings in social media including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc…  In fact the 6th place winner owns social media marketing firms’ likeable.com, and likeablelocal.com.  In addition to social media firms, Port Washington, NY entrepreneur Dave Kerpen is also a LinkedIn super user with over 550,000 followers.  Kerpin stated that he also spent about $1000 on the competition,

The winner of the Jet.com competition is, Eric Martin, York, PA, a sales and support person for a Funeral Insurance company.  In addition to selling funeral insurance, Martin’s career trajectory has included stints as a car salesman and a Ron Paul leaning candidate for Congress.  Martin does not seem to have significant social networking savvy like the other top ten finalists, but he used an innovative approach to attract nearly 8000 email addresses for the Jet.com contest.

Instead of leveraging the clout of tens of thousands of social media followers Eric Martin noticed a trend in web savvy shoppers using reward and gift websites.  Sites such as GiftHulk and Swagbucks pay users rewards for information about their daily internet habits including shopping, search, and opinion polls.   Swagbucks claims to have paid over $60 million in rewards since 2008. Martin used about $18,000 raised from friends and family to pay users of reward websites to opt-in their emails for Jet.com

The second place winner was Kyle Taylor Founder of The Penny Hoarder website.  Taylor is also a featured financial blogger on Oprah.com.  The 5th place winner is Kevin Schlenker, Tampa, Fla a car stereo distributor who used LinkedIn to advertise Jet.com and received less than 300 views from his January 28, 2015 post.

Jet.com considers the contest successes having generated over 350,000 opt in email addresses.  The success of actively utilizing social media sites LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook is also soundly demonstrated in the contest.  The success of Eric Martin’s strategy also demonstrates that out of the box thinking and use of rewards websites deserves some consideration when launching and developing a consumer facing web service.

Edward Bukstel Twitter @ebukstel

Uber Hits Speed Bump

Uber Japan is shutting down after being cited as being illegal.  44 Cab companies in Philadelphia, PA are seeking an injunction against Uber.  New York City has lost nearly $500 million in Taxi cab medallion revenue as a result of Ubers success in the city.  Uber has been halted in Portland Or and Anchorage AK.

Ubers business model is essentially a 20% split on all revenues relating to moving passengers from point A to Point B.  Uber has clearly created a better “taxi” service.  But how long will the taxi industry keep its meter running?

Uber has clearly invested in Big Data and predictive analysis to enhance the service and customer experience.  A quick review of Uber’s patent filings demonstrates the deep knowledge that Uber has invested in enhancing service.

1	20150012341	SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPLITTING A FEE FOR AN ON-DEMAND SERVICE
2	20140279011	GENERATING PROMOTIONS FOR A SERVICE USING A MAP INTERFACE
3	20140278838	DETERMINING AN AMOUNT FOR A TOLL BASED ON LOCATION DATA POINTS PROVIDED BY A COMPUTING DEVICE
4	20140129951	PROVIDING ON-DEMAND SERVICES THROUGH USE OF PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICES
5	20140129302	PROVIDING A CONFIRMATION INTERFACE FOR ON-DEMAND SERVICES THROUGH USE OF PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICES
6	20140129135	DYNAMICALLY PROVIDING POSITION INFORMATION OF A TRANSIT OBJECT TO A COMPUTING DEVICE
7	20140011522	SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING DYNAMIC SUPPLY POSITIONING FOR ON-DEMAND SERVICES
8	20130246301	PROVIDING USER FEEDBACK FOR TRANSPORT SERVICES THROUGH USE OF MOBILE DEVICES
9	20130246207	SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING PRICES FOR SERVICES
10	20130132887	TRANSITIONING USER INTERFACE FEATURES FOR ON-DEMAND SERVICES THROUGH USE OF PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICES
11	20130132246	PROVIDING A SUMMARY OR RECEIPT FOR ON-DEMAND SERVICES THROUGH USE OF PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICES
12	20130132140	DETERMINING A LOCATION RELATED TO ON-DEMAND SERVICES THROUGH USE OF PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICES

There is a focus on calculation of on demand pricing and an excellent method for splitting fares oinvolved in a ride sharing or “car pool” trip.

In addition to grass roots litigation and outright bans of the Uber service in cities around the world, Uber is facing harsh criticism over passenger safety.  There have been a string of sexual assaults by ride-share drivers in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.  The US Congress is now looking into Uber’s practices regarding background checks

 Uber has clearly made the riding experience better.  The company generated nearly $500 million in gross revenues (including driver receipts)in San Francisco alone.  Given the scale of these numbers it may not be long until Uber faces real competition.

@ebukstel

Half a Trillion in Healthcare not Paid by Medicare or Medicaid

In 2009, about 42.1 million family caregivers in the United States provided care to an adult with limitations in daily activities at any given point in time. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $450 billion.  Caregivers want to use connectivity tools to keep track of loved ones—data, connectivity, sharing—even from a distance.  So healthcare will be personal, but also easier for the people who love you.  This family and friend care is not paid by Medicare or Medicaid.

Interesting insights regarding the Uber Model and Healthcare

Uber to fire 100,000 drivers over next 10 years

Uber is developing a self driving car in a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University.   This development points to a long term strategy where there will be no need for drivers.  Over 100,000 Uber drivers could be fired over the next decade.