We launched over 100 companies in 100 countries. Most failed. The ones that survived — Zalando, Delivery Hero, HelloFresh — created more value than the failures destroyed. That is the game.
The idea is 1%. Execution is 99%. Everyone has ideas. Almost nobody can execute at speed and scale. That's what Rocket Internet does — we execute faster than anyone on Earth.
We sold Alando to eBay for $43 million, 100 days after we launched it. One hundred days. That taught us everything about speed. If you can build and sell a company in 100 days, you can do anything.
People call us copycats. I call us efficient resource allocators. If a business model works in America, why wouldn't it work in Brazil or Indonesia? The only question is who gets there first.
We need to become the most aggressive company on the internet. EVER. I am dead serious. This is not a game.
Zalando started as a Zappos clone. Now it's worth more than Zappos ever was. The copy became bigger than the original. That happens when execution matters more than originality.