- Apr 29, 2011
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- Chris
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!
Beepi and Vroom and Carvana - will they make a DENT?
- Thread starter Jeff Kershner
- Start date
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!
At one point our customers figured out they could buy Nissan Leaf's from us and resell them to Beepi. They sold 6 Leafs to Beepi in one day at a profit of about $3k each before Beepi literally shut off taking Leafs.
- Feb 11, 2015
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- Alex
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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- Sep 4, 2015
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- Adam
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.
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.
- Apr 29, 2011
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Yes!
You the man Adam! All it takes is a few prominent dealers doing it successfully and the rest will follow.
- Feb 11, 2015
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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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- May 1, 2005
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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
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...chines-a-fading-ipo-and-an-ex-con-behind-them
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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.
- Feb 11, 2015
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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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