????團購網站Groupon這位如同大男孩的創始人昨天遭到了解聘。如果你還沒有讀過他寫給員工的信，那么幫個忙，趕快點擊此處閱讀。在信中，梅森以卡羅爾?巴茨（雅虎前CEO——譯注）的坦率體（“我TMD被雅虎利用了”）為戒，淡化了苦楚和難堪，同時還征用了任天堂（Nintendo）的老案例。確實，他被炒了魷魚；但他藉此奪回了Groupon的最佳人氣寶座，哪怕只是曇花一現的功夫。（他在Twitter上的風采依然不減當年。建議點擊此處查看。）

????32歲的梅森離開之后，聯席創始人埃瑞克?勒夫科夫斯基和副董事長泰德?雷昂塞斯將負責掌管Groupon，尋找下一任首席執行官，帶領公司回歸正軌。而在人們的記憶中，梅森可能是一個聰明的、傲慢的、古怪的、反權威主義（或最多就是反規范而已）的創業神童。多虧有了史蒂夫?喬布斯和杰西?艾森伯格版的馬克?扎克伯格這些先例，此次離任也讓他加入了技術創業公司的夢之隊。對于勒夫科夫斯基、雷昂塞斯和即將上任的首席執行官來說，要讓Groupon東山再起并不是件容易的事。

????梅森的功績已經得到了一定的積極評價。例如，《福布斯》（ Forbes）雜志稱，梅森“做了出色的創始人應做的事情：他進行了創新，搭建了公司。”【而且他還挑戰了一般公認會計準則（GAAP accounting）的極限！】在他這封“我被炒了”的信中，梅森顯得格外討人喜愛。你都恨不得送他一本精簡版的圣人傳記來幫助他度過隨后幾個月的空檔期。

????關于梅森的離任，我最欣賞的一點就是，他從容、幽默地接受了一個事實——他已不再適合如今的Groupon。他擅長為業務出新點子。但是，他并不善于培養和管理業務，招架競爭對手，同時適應快速變化的環境。

????其他的創始人也發生過同樣的事情嗎？有時候，擁有奇思妙想的人往往只能帶領公司走到這一步。而且有時候，公司需要一個不同的、擁有更遠大目標的管理者來讓創業公司生存下去，并讓創業公司經歷發展歷程中的繁榮、成長、變化和創新。我希望，“創始人離任沒什么不好”這一理念能成為梅森Groupon神話的一部分。梅森不僅遭到了解聘，而且Groupon需要一位新的領袖也并不是他自己的決定。因此，他的離任也表明，企業擁有強有力的董事會是多么重要，因為這樣的董事會并不只是為了執行創始人的議案而存在。

????安德魯，我們也會非常地想念你。當然，那得是在你回來之前。

????而這些人一定還會再回來。

????The man-boy founder of Groupon was fired yesterday. If you haven't read his letter to employees, do yourself a favor and clickhere. Mason took a lesson from the Carol Bartz school of honesty ("Yahoo f*cked me over"), dialed down the bitterness and the profanity, and upped the references to old school Nintendo. Yes, he was axed; but he recaptured the mantle of Most Liked Groupon Person, even if just for a moment. (He continues to be charming on Twitter. You should follow himhere.)

????Mason, 32, leaves co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and vice chairman Ted Leonsis to steer Groupon (GRPN), find the next chief executive, and get the company on track. Mason will likely be remembered as a brilliant, arrogant, eccentric, anti-authoritarian (or at least anti-normatively polite) startup whiz kid. Thanks to Steve Jobs and the Jesse Eisenberg version of Mark Zuckerberg, this puts him in good tech-startup-fantasy company. Lefkofsky, Leonsis, and the incoming CEO will have the tough job of making Groupon successful.

????A sort of positive glow is already being built around Mason's legacy. Forbes, for example, claims that Mason "did what great founders do: He innovated and he built." (And he pushed the envelope on GAAP accounting!) Mason was incredibly likable in his I Was Canned letter. You sort of want to give the guy a hagiography-lite to get him through the next few months in the wilderness.

????But what I really like about Mason's departure is that he accepted with grace and humor the fact that his company had outgrown him. He was good at coming up with a new idea for a business. But he was bad at growing and managing that business, fending off competitors, and adapting to a fast changing landscape.

????Haven't we seen this before with other founders? Sometimes the person who has the genius idea can take a company only so far. Sometimes it takes a different manager with a broader vision to make a startup a permanent, thriving, growing, changing, innovating part of the corporate landscape. I hope the idea that it's okay for founders to leave becomes part of Mason's Groupon legend. And given that Mason was fired and didn't decide on his own that Groupon needed a new leader, his departure also shows why it's so important for companies to have strong boards that aren't just there to push the founder's agenda.

????Andrew, we'll miss you terribly, too. That is, until you come back.

????They always come back.