Former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason is to launch an album of “motivational business music” and plans to launch a new company in the US.
(Image source: TechCrunch)
Mason founded Groupon, an online deals site, but was fired as CEO in February, following concerns about the company’s financial and stock performance.
In the months since leaving Groupon, Mason has been engaging in some “cliched pursuits of the unemployed,” he said. Those include traveling, losing weight and reading.
Writing in his blog last week, Mason announced that he recently spent a week in Los Angeles and recorded a collection of seven songs called “Hardly Workin’.”
Mason said he wants to present business wisdom to younger people and that the songs will help them understand ideas that are critical to becoming productive and effective employees.
He said many of Groupon’s employees are young and many didn’t have much familiarity with business, and didn’t want to read books on the subject.
Speaking about the new album, he said: “One thing that surprised me” about managing Groupon employees, Mr. Mason said, “was that many would arrive at orientation with minimal understanding of basic business wisdom.”
“I came to realize that there was a real need to present business wisdom in a format that is more accessible to the younger generation.”
He continues: “It was with this in mind that I spent a week in LA earlier this month recording Hardly Workin’, a seven song album of motivational business music targeted at people newly entering the workforce. These songs will help young people understand some of the ideas that I’ve found to be a key part of becoming a productive and effective employee. I’m really happy with the results and look forward to sharing them as soon as I figure out how to load music onto iTunes, hopefully in the next few weeks.”
Mason plans to start a new company in the autumn, but did not disclose details. He also said he is taking an advisory position at Y Combinator, a selective incubator program that supports development of entrepreneurial companies.
Mason said he will spend one day every week at the firm’s offices and will advise new startups.
Read Andrew Mason’s blog here
