Groupon founder Andrew Mason couldn’t keep his job as CEO, thanks to a long series of missteps and missed chances to turn around the company. But the quirky executive maintained his trademark (if sometimes off-putting) sense of humor to the last.

Here’s the memo he sent to Groupon employees shortly after the company announced he’s leaving:

People of Groupon,

After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. If you’re wondering why… you haven’t been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.

You are doing amazing things at Groupon, and you deserve the outside world to give you a second chance. I’m getting in the way of that. A fresh CEO earns you that chance. The board is aligned behind the strategy we’ve shared over the last few months, and I’ve never seen you working together more effectively as a global company – it’s time to give Groupon a relief valve from the public noise.

For those who are concerned about me, please don’t be – I love Groupon, and I’m terribly proud of what we’ve created. I’m OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company this far with all of you. I’ll now take some time to decompress (FYI I’m looking for a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40, if anyone has a suggestion), and then maybe I’ll figure out how to channel this experience into something productive.

If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness – don’t waste the opportunity!

I will miss you terribly.

Love,

Andrew

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下面是中文版：

“我被解雇了”：Groupon CEO向员工坦诚告别                                                                  译 陈玮 校 Lily
        由于接连出现一系列失误，加上先后错失一连串扭转公司困局的机会，美国团购网站Groupon创始人安德鲁·梅森（Andrew Mason）无法保住自己的公司CEO之职。但这位奇特的CEO把自己标志性的幽默感（虽然有时会惹人不快）保持到了最后一刻。         

       在Groupon宣布他即将离职后不久，梅森向公司员工发出了如下备忘录：

       Groupon各位同仁，        

       在身为GrouponCEO度过了四年半紧张而美妙的岁月之后，我已决定要与家人分享更多的时间。开玩笑啦——我今天被解雇了。如果你不知道这是为什么的话……那就表明你一直都没有关心公司。从S1上市申请书中有些业绩指标备受争议，到两个季度业绩均未达到公司自己设定的预期，再到目前股价徘徊在上市发行价的四分之一附近，过去一年半以来发生的所有事情都不言而喻。作为公司CEO，我应对此负责。         

       你们在Groupon的工作非常出色，应该得到外部世界给予你们第二次机会。我已成为其中的障碍。一位新的CEO会给你们带来这种机会。公司董事会在我们过去几个月合力采取的策略背后给予了协力支持，而且我也从来没有看到过能像你们这样高效共事的全球团队——现在是时候让Groupon从公众非议中解脱出来了。   

       我要对那些关心我的人说，请不用担心——我热爱Groupon，而且对于我们已经创造的成绩感到非常骄傲。对于走到这个阶段遭遇失败，我坦然接受。如果说Groupon是《忍者蛙》游戏的话，那么我就像是在第一次玩通关时，一气打到“特拉管道”（Terra Tubes）还未丢命的玩家。有机会与你们一起把这家公司发展到今天，我感到非常幸运。现在我将要腾出些时间来减压（仅供参考：我正在寻找好的减肥训练班，想减去自己在Groupon工作期间增加的40磅，如有建议烦请告知），然后或许我能想出办法——把这个经验用于某种富有成效的事情上。         

        如果说在这段简单的“朝圣”旅程中有什么智慧想要与你们分享的话：那就是要有勇气以用户为先。我最大的遗憾，就是有时候我会由于缺少数据支持而否定了自己对什么最符合顾客利益的直觉。此次公司领导层变动可给予你们一些喘息的空间，用来摒弃陋习，并为客户提供可持续的幸福感——不要浪费这个机会！      

       我会非常想念你们。         

       此致，         

       安德鲁

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如果您想进一步了解Coupon创始人，请看文章：

安德鲁•梅森做了伟大创始人该做的事