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The cost of an education is now less than your daily coffee fix … Surely it can’t be true?
RC Tomster
Last modified on December 10, 2015 at 1:02 am
- "The Most Crucial Scaling Skill? Linking Short-Term Realities to Long-Term Dreams" - "What happens when philanthropy meets profit?"

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On December 15, 2015, Ziyaad Aboobaker commented on From Rock to Ring – De Beers’ Diamond Cartel Shifts from Managing Supply to Driving Demand :

Great post, thanks Jbogoss. As previously mentioned to you in person, I worked for the private equity fund of the founding family of De Beers right before HBS. They sold their stake in De Beers for USD 5.1 billion in 2011 and used the proceeds to start Tana Africa Capital. Our offices were based in the building of E.Oppenheimer & Son, the family’s holding company.

The corridors of the office building were lined with memorabilia from the history of De Beers so naturally I found this post fascinating. Your post discusses how the company adapted to drive demand, Austin’s comment discusses how they did this many years ago and Ching Ching’s comment discusses the challenges they face today and how they may need to adapt to changing market conditions today.

I wonder how much of this is attributable to the people managing the organization in your opinion? i.e. Now that the Oppenheimer Family (through E.Oppenheimer & Son) is no longer controlling the strings behind the curtain, do you think the company will be able to pull off further creative strategies to stimulate demand again?

It will be very interesting to see how the future of De Beers plays out. Many back home were shocked that the Oppenheimer family sold their holdings after almost 100 years and 3 generations in charge of De Beers, but it might have been a genius decision made at exactly the right time …

On December 15, 2015, Ziyaad Aboobaker commented on GrubHub: Connecting 6.5 million hungry people with 35,000 restaurants :

Great post Sarah – thank you! In 2012 I was approached by a NY-based banker who knew the founder of Seamless and had secured funding to bring this idea to one of the emerging markets. He was looking for a co-founder and we were put in touch via a mutual friend. Long story short, after many hours deliberating I decided not to join him since I did not believe this concept would be as successful in this emerging market:

a) I believed that the idea would only work in certain areas of the country where there was enough disposable income to allow consumers to be price inelastic to this kind of service.
b) The distances between areas of the city made it prohibitive to do timely and affordable delivery.
c) The founder insisted that his business model would be one where the restaurants provide the drivers, which I did not think was viable given it was not yet proven to the restaurant owner that this app would indeed drive significantly more sales.

To Monica’s point above, I am led to believe that Rocket Internet also looked at this particular emerging market in 2013, decided to enter and then fairly quickly left the market. It would be fascinating to see which emerging markets Delivery Hero has been successful in so far and how transferable this concept is.

Additionally, I have used Grubhub a bunch of times since I moved to the US and have been terribly disappointed with the customer service from the drivers provided by GrubHub. Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds …

On December 14, 2015, Ziyaad Aboobaker commented on GrubHub: Connecting 6.5 million hungry people with 35,000 restaurants :

Great post Sarah – thank you! In 2012 I was approached by a NY-based banker who knew the founder of Seamless and had secured funding to bring this idea to one of the emerging markets. He was looking for a co-founder and we were put in touch via a mutual friend. Long story short, after many hours deliberating I decided not to join him since I did not believe this concept would be as successful in this emerging market:

a) I believed that the idea would only work in certain areas of the country where there was enough disposable income to allow consumers to be price inelastic to this kind of service.
b) The distances between areas of the city made it prohibitive to do timely and affordable delivery.
c) The founder insisted that his business model would be one where the restaurants provide the drivers, which I did not think was viable given it was not yet proven to the restaurant owner that this app would indeed drive significantly more sales.

To Monica’s point above, I am led to believe that Rocket Internet also looked at this particular emerging market in 2013, decided to enter and then fairly quickly left the market. It would be fascinating to see which emerging markets Delivery Hero has been successful in so far and how transferable this concept is.

Additionally, I have used Grubhub a bunch of times since I moved to the US and have been terribly disappointed with the customer service from the drivers provided by GrubHub.

On December 14, 2015, Ziyaad Aboobaker commented on Professional Food Critics Beware: Dinner Lab Gives Restaurant Review Power to the Masses :

Great post Christy! I really enjoyed learning about this business. At first I thought it was very similar to something back home called Cube Tasting Kitchen, which does 6-10 small courses each paired with a specific wine. However the business model is clearly much more evolved.

The most interesting point for me was how they effectively achieved value creation for both parties i.e. for the the up and coming sous-chef as well as the patrons. I also found it fascinating that, on a psychological level, have also tapped into the “cool” factor with the pop up, undisclosed venues where everyone wants to feel like they belong to a movement of some sort.

I would love to see them extend the customer experience further, perhaps by doing culinary themed evenings or incorporating some sort of theatrical component to the meal (e.g. along the lines of Opaque, the dark dining restaurant in San Francisco) or even charging a small premium for one off special events where famous chefs make guest appearances.