The Ledger
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Lore: Quidsi rejected a competing buyout offer $100M higher after Amazon threats
“Yeah, it's even, even worse that we got a higher offer that we didn't take.”
Amazon threatened to drop diaper prices to zero if Quidsi resisted sale
“They said, well, yeah, we're gonna take the price of diapers to zero, and we're gonna, you know, and they made some analogies to some other, used explicit language, and it was pretty scary stuff.”
Quidsi rejected a $100M higher buyout offer due to Amazon retaliation threats
“Because Amazon very clearly stated that if we took that offer, they would do even more to harm the business.”
Amazon explicitly threatened to price diapers at zero to force Quidsi sale
“They said, well, yeah, we're gonna take the price of diapers to zero, and we're gonna, you know, and they made some analogies to some other, used explicit language, and it was pretty scary stuff. I'll just leave it at that.”
Jet.com raised a $618M Series A while operating with negative gross margins
“But the real key was raising, we did a six hundred and eighteen million dollar Series A. So we'd raised some money before that, and then we had the six hundred million Series A. That was a really tough round to get done. That was, at that time, we had negative…”
Lore: AI-driven text commerce will act like a best friend recommending products
“Using artificial intelligence and texting, I think people would be able to, in the future, just text what they want, and the system would know you as well as your best friend or family member, and be able to recommend precisely what you want, and either using …”
P&G and Kimberly-Clark initially refused to sell to Diapers.com
“Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark, the two big diaper manufacturers that make Pampers and Huggies, they refused to sell us diapers. They said they just don't want to waste their time on a business that's never going to work.”
VCs rejected Quidsi's $100M funding round because Amazon was targeting them
“We had only raised 50,000,055 million dollars up until that point, which was pretty modest amount of money raised compared to today's standards, but we went out and we needed another hundred million to keep all the websites going and to really blow it out. We …”
Amazon told Quidsi's team to keep competing against them post-acquisition
“Like, Amazon didn't even, when they brought us in, say, hey, we want you guys to run the mom, baby, parent category within Amazon. They said, you know what, just keep doing what you're doing. Just continue to keep competing with us.”
Jet.com reached a $1B revenue run rate within 10 months of launching
“I mean, we got to a billion people Run rate in revenue within 10 months of the business launching, which was I think probably unprecedented at the time.”
Jet.com burned roughly $40 million per month after its launch
“We were burning about forty million a month.”
Lore: Wonder built 20 mobile restaurant chains that cook at customer doors
“Well, we've built now 20 restaurant chains across all different cuisines, and we put it on a mobile platform so that the restaurant actually comes to you, cooks right outside your door very fast in a high-speed convection oven, and brings the food piping hot t…”
Lore: Nearly 75% of Wonder customers place a repeat order within 60 days
“Close to three quarters of all the customers that try it will come back in the first 60 days.”
Lore: Wonder achieved over 70% household penetration in its first launch market
“In Westfield, the first town, we're over 70% household penetration.”
Lore: Jet.com reached a $1B revenue run rate in 10 months
“I mean, we got to a billion run rate in revenue within 10 months of the business launching, which was, I think, probably unprecedented at the time.”
Lore: Jet.com raised $618M despite having negative gross margins
“But the real key was raising, we did a six hundred and eighteen million dollar Series A. So we'd raised some money before that, and then we had the six hundred million Series A. That was a really tough round to get done. That was, at that time, we had negative…”
Diapers.com profited by cross-shipping items in the empty space of diaper boxes
“But you could make money, because the way shipping works is, if you're shipping a box of diapers to someone, and you have empty space in that box, the marginal cost to ship the next thing you put in the box is very, very small, very low. Like, it might be, you…”
Lore: Consumers will refuse to accept soggy delivery fries within ten years
“I don't think. 10 years from now, people are going to still be satisfied with soggy fries.”
Lore: Wonder mobile food trucks operate with a single driver-cook
“The one person drives and cooks and brings it to your door. So there's only one person on the truck.”
Lore: Rolling Wonder out across the US will take 10 to 15 years
“It's going to take probably, you know, 10 to 15 years to roll it out across the country. It's not something you do in just a couple years.”
Lore: Diapers.com hit $11M in revenue with only three employees
“At eleven million in sales, it was basically just me and Vinny, and we hired another woman to, like, help us with customer care, and some of the fulfillment, but we got up to eleven million in sales with two people, three people, basically.”
Lore qualified for the U.S. National Bobsled Team by finishing 13th
“And then at the end of the month, they had like the time trials to see who makes the U.S. National team and they were going to take 13 people and I finished 13th.”
Marc Lore invested his entire $390,000 life savings to launch The Pit
“I invested 390,000 of my own money into the company. And, you know, the investors, the angel investors said, we're not sure about this idea, but wait, I see here, Mark, you invested 390 grand. That's a lot of money. You know, you're not that old. Why 390 and w…”
Online diaper sales did not exist at normal retail prices in 2004
“It might have been 2003, 2004, somewhere around there. You could not buy diapers at a normal price. They were, like, prices were, like, jacked to ridiculous levels. It just wasn't a thing. Nobody bought them online.”
Diapers.com reached $11M in sales with only three total employees
“At eleven million in sales, it was basically just me and Vinny, and we hired another woman to, like, help us with customer care and some of the fulfillment. But we got up to eleven million in sales with two people, three people, basically.”
Lore: Wonder expects to partner with 30 restaurant chains by July 2023
“So by next summer, by July, we'll have 30 restaurant chains, which we believe is, is around the right number.”
Lore: The Pit raised $5M from 60 angel investors
“We raised five million dollars, all from 60 angel investors.”
Lore invested his entire $390,000 net worth into The Pit
“I invested 390,000 of my own money Into the company.”
Lore: The Pit did around $10M in transaction revenue in 10 months
“The first 10 months, we were doing about ten million in transaction revenue.”
Lore: P&G and Kimberly-Clark refused to wholesale to 1800Diapers
“Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark, the two big diaper manufacturers that make Pampers and Huggies, they refused to sell us diapers. They said they'd Just don't want to waste your time on a business that's never going to work.”
Marc Lore became Sanwa Bank's youngest executive vice president at age 28
“Yeah, I was the executive vice president, which was by far the youngest executive vice president. Yeah, I was 28 when I got the job, yeah.”