Last year, e-commerce sales around the world surpassed $1 trillion for the first time; Amazon accounted for more than 5% of that volume.That 5% figure is telling. Amazon does not dominate. There is so much room for innovation in retailing.
The impending Age Of Abundance was prophecied in the scriptures thousands of years ago.
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Ecommerce: Sizzling Space
The Entrepreneur Lifestyle
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| English: Dennis Crowley in Foursquare's New York office, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Crowley says it's been "super-stressful" on his relationship, too, but Skees, his fiancee, knows this life. They've been together since shortly before Foursquare's founding, and friends describe her as his rock--one that has tamed his out-all-night lifestyle while still supporting his dreams. They're currently planning their October wedding. A friend recently told Crowley that if he could go back in time, he wouldn't have put off having kids to do a startup. And Crowley is well aware of what's become of him: His identity is his company; he is only as mature as it is. "I've thought about it for a while, and to me it's like I've got to close this chapter in my life before I can go on to the next one," Crowley admits over beers in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, one Saturday afternoon, as parents stroll by with baby carriages. Earlier that day, we bumped into Alex Rainert, Foursquare's current head of product (and his Dodgeball cofounder), who was taking his daughter to ballet. "It's like arrested development--when you're stuck in the same place where you were at 26," Crowley continues. "My mind-set is of the person who is still unsure whether they have enough money in their ATM to go to another bar. I lived that way when I was unemployed, when I was a snowboard instructor, and when I was at NYU. A lot of my personality is stuck in those five years, and I don't know if that's ever gonna change."
So It Was Not Pretty?
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| 2010 PSFK NY Conference - Naveen Selvadurai (Photo credit: Dave Pinter) |
This summer, over dinner at a restaurant only 400 feet from Foursquare's headquarters, Selvadurai had his first on-the-record conversation about the exit. He's still visibly hurt by it, like a man not yet over his divorce, and yet spoke politely, if hesitantly. "It was definitely a surprise. I wanted to stay," Selvadurai says. He'd look away and take long pauses, trying to find the words. He wouldn't go into detail. "This was my baby. To leave everything behind--it was the worst kind of breakup ever. I truly feel like an orphan." Though he remains a shareholder, Selvadurai left the board in October. When asked if he's on good terms with Crowley, Selvadurai only says, "We haven't talked in a long time, since that last conversation."My instincts at the time were right. The guy was jilted, after all. Now that I have the truth, the call I am making is it was a bad move. It is a DNA thing. A move like that hurts the company, I think.
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