But we just used TrueCar when shopping for a new car and instantly got spammy, sleazy emails and phone calls from dealers before even completing the process (which we never did).
It wasn't fun. I really wish we didn't give them any information. So I don't have high hopes for this business succeeding.
What really needs to happen is that people need to be able to just buy a car like they buy everything else without salespeople in the middle. Why can't I buy a new car from the manufacturer straight from their website? Seeing all the trouble Tesla is having fighting the dealership model is discouraging...hopefully it will improve, I'm just not sure TrueCar is the answer.
As a dev who works for company in the same vertical, this is the modus operandi of every dealership in the country. Their online strategy is "Get email addresses from boomers, then spam their inboxes into submission!" As if boilerplate ridden automated emails and $5 off your next dealership tune-up could influence buyers on a once-in-a-decade purchase.
[1]http://www.arcleu.com/how_not_to_advertise_your_websites_liv...
Bernie Brenner, the guy who heads up their business development, wrote The Sumo Advantage which one of the best books I've read on BD. He very clearly identifies the role of BD and how it is distinctly different than sales. I'd recommend it for any startup looking to partner with large established businesses to spur growth.
But I don't think the tech community should be all excited about this company. It's not a 'tech' startup per se, it's just a normal marketing (lead-gen, specifically) company that happens to use the Internet--and using the Internet to do business has not been something to get excited about for at least ten years now. It's not like Oculus or WhatsApp or Airbnb or even Uber. There's no technical innovation at play here, there's no business model innovation at play here, there's no new market segment being addressed, it's not disruptive or even radical innovation. It's not innovation driven, it's just a good company delivering a good product. It's not a 'startup' the way we use startup in the tech community, it's just a plain old business.
It is much better to get "certificates" on Truecar with a fake name/email, then go to the dealer and say: give me this car for 500$ less, or I'll walk away.
I didn't buy a car yet, but I got two real offers from dealers just like that.
Truecar is a middleman... Middlemen tend to go away. I am not optimistic about their future.
also, when selecting your dealers it was pretty obvious that they were going to be contacting you, no?
To say, net income may not be the best indicator of success for high growth tech companies. They reinvest every dollar to continue to spur growth.
Not to say you don't have a point (net profit isn't the only factor), just that your example is weak.
If you operations are sucking up cash, then the sustainability of the business depends on ability to inject new cash from somewhere else.
starts beating chest and humming
One of the best things PG ever said about HN is that comments "should be written in the spirit of colleagues cooperating in good faith to figure out the truth about something". I intend to add that to the site guidelines.
Please re-read what you post and, if doesn't have this quality, edit it until it does. If, after editing, there is nothing left, you should have no trouble deleting it (or just not posting). In my experience, this approach works—when one remembers to take it.
It'd certainly flatten threads a bit, especially in the case of someone posting a factually incorrect comment and correcting it after the fact.
