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Beepi and Vroom and Carvana - will they make a DENT?

I think literally they just didn't understand the acquisition strategy and by the time they figured it out it was too late. It was Silicon Valley folks who sought growth above margins, hoping to optimize the business later.

Excellent write up. I can't believe they relied on Edmunds pricing data. That's what happens when you're spending other people's money!
 
After reading that post on TechCrunch. I'm really baffled here. How do you take $150 million dollars in investments ($150 MILLION) and go completely bust a few years later? Actually go in the hole $6 million!! Did they not have an accountant in the freaking building?? Someone to say, "Hey guys! We are spending more than we are taking in here! Let's maybe change something we're doing?" Or... Someone to say something about over spending instead of saying "Well... the bank account is getting low. Let's just try and raise more money!!" I really don't get how ppl can be that freaking careless!! Now there's 300 people out of a job!!
Definitely a shit ton of waste. I definitely agree. I'm sure the VCs involved did or do not have all of their eggs in one basket, but one never knows. I can't imagine what they spent $25M a year on, but I'm sure a lot of was in marketing. I could be damn wrong.

DEADPOOL!
 
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I'm no Silicon Valley insider, but I would venture to guess that this happens quite a bit. Boy has idea, boy gets a dump truck full of money and boy gets fancy. Fancy offices, fancy employees with fancy titles and fancy marketing plans. Fancy is expensive.

Also, as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread...what is the real disruption in many of these programs? Form completion and delivery?!? My current dealership has been delivering trucks all over the country for years and we can all find an API or ten to streamline trade appraisals and credit apps. They better come up with something a whole lot fancier to justify those millions of dollars or the well is gonna dry up.

Here's my battle-cry (speaking as an employee of a franchised car dealership)....we need to get off of our collective asses and figure this stuff out on our own. If anyone knows how to grind out deals and get shit done cheap, it's car guys. Right now we possess the keys to a powerful kingdom: franchise laws and LAW contracts. Both pretty much force a new car customer to use one of our dealerships and our lobbyists have done a good job keeping this in place. However, if we don't evolve we stand a good chance of losing this leverage. Lobbyists or not.
 
Here's my battle-cry (speaking as an employee of a franchised car dealership)....we need to get off of our collective asses and figure this stuff out on our own.

Yes!

Also, as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread...what is the real disruption in many of these programs? Form completion and delivery?!? My current dealership has been delivering trucks all over the country for years and we can all find an API or ten to streamline trade appraisals and credit apps. They better come up with something a whole lot fancier to justify those millions of dollars or the well is gonna dry up.

You the man Adam! All it takes is a few prominent dealers doing it successfully and the rest will follow.
 
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I'm no Silicon Valley insider, but I would venture to guess that this happens quite a bit. Boy has idea, boy gets a dump truck full of money and boy gets fancy. Fancy offices, fancy employees with fancy titles and fancy marketing plans. Fancy is expensive.

Also, as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread...what is the real disruption in many of these programs? Form completion and delivery?!? My current dealership has been delivering trucks all over the country for years and we can all find an API or ten to streamline trade appraisals and credit apps. They better come up with something a whole lot fancier to justify those millions of dollars or the well is gonna dry up.

Here's my battle-cry (speaking as an employee of a franchised car dealership)....we need to get off of our collective asses and figure this stuff out on our own. If anyone knows how to grind out deals and get shit done cheap, it's car guys. Right now we possess the keys to a powerful kingdom: franchise laws and LAW contracts. Both pretty much force a new car customer to use one of our dealerships and our lobbyists have done a good job keeping this in place. However, if we don't evolve we stand a good chance of losing this leverage. Lobbyists or not.
Agreed, most start-ups hit the deadpool (https://techcrunch.com/tag/deadpool/, https://www.reddit.com/r/shutdown/, countless examples), that is a fact. Just because you've a good business plan and VC doesn't mean you'll truly create a market or penetrate (disrupt) a market successfully. It's pure folly to think start-up capital equates to success or value. Creating a successful business model (and one that evolves, as they all should) is far more difficult than that of funding generation (which is an art in itself).

IMO, leadership and execution is where most fail. There have been plenty of examples of where similar models make it big, just by the insertion of the proper leadership and minor tweaks to software and process(es).

Granted, most successful VCs know this and expect failure. They don't put all of their eggs in one basket, so to speak. They live by the 3/10 rule, where if 3 out of the 10 start-ups (they've invested in) bring success, their investments will have paid off handsomely.
 
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Bye, bye Carvana

Cars in Vending Machines, a Fading IPO and an Ex-Con Behind Them
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...chines-a-fading-ipo-and-an-ex-con-behind-them

I posted this on LinkedIn but thought it could be helpful for this thread as well:

https://www.forbes.com/global/1999/0517/0210039a.html

In the article it references CarMax's early struggles, losing 23.5 million on 1.5B in sales. At the time Forbes was printing the article CarMax stock was at $4 per share, down from $20 at IPO.

Probably a bit early to start writing Carvana off Alexander and I would be embarrassed to share that article if I were you. It is an obvious attempt to garner readers through a salacious headline and includes facts that aren't pertinent to the growth story and ultimate success of the company.
 
I posted this on LinkedIn but thought it could be helpful for this thread as well:

https://www.forbes.com/global/1999/0517/0210039a.html

In the article it references CarMax's early struggles, losing 23.5 million on 1.5B in sales. At the time Forbes was printing the article CarMax stock was at $4 per share, down from $20 at IPO.

Probably a bit early to start writing Carvana off Alexander and I would be embarrassed to share that article if I were you. It is an obvious attempt to garner readers through a salacious headline and includes facts that aren't pertinent to the growth story and ultimate success of the company.
I find nothing salacious about it, I took the article title and link and posted it in an appropriate DealerRefresh forum post. That's a Bloomberg report. To make you happy, I've removed Bye Bye Carvana. Interpret at you will.
 
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