Neil Mehta

And there's some tenants around building those remarkable businesses at scale that we think are really important. One of them is building a jaw-dropping customer experience. It's really hard in the world of capitalism to build something that delights humans at a differential rate, what anybody else on earth can do.

And there's some tenants around building those remarkable businesses at scale that we think are really important. One of them is building a jaw-dropping customer experience. It's really hard in the world of capitalism to build something that delights humans at a differential rate, what anybody else on earth can do.

Think about when you pick up your iPhone or the first time you might've used an Uber, if you're a developer, the first time you use Stripe for payments, or if you're a trader, maybe you opened the Robinhood. Capitalism is basically full of a sea of businesses that are not really doing anything that difficult. They're just kind of me too products that are swimming in the river of beta, if you will.

Think about when you pick up your iPhone or the first time you might've used an Uber, if you're a developer, the first time you use Stripe for payments, or if you're a trader, maybe you opened the Robinhood. Capitalism is basically full of a sea of businesses that are not really doing anything that difficult. They're just kind of me too products that are swimming in the river of beta, if you will.

And I think the steps to creating a JDCE, a jaw-dropping customer experience, it usually starts with breaking trade-offs. It usually starts with doing something very difficult, either technically or operationally, that would usually give competitors nightmares. You have to do something that was borderline impossible or perceived to be impossible before.

And I think the steps to creating a JDCE, a jaw-dropping customer experience, it usually starts with breaking trade-offs. It usually starts with doing something very difficult, either technically or operationally, that would usually give competitors nightmares. You have to do something that was borderline impossible or perceived to be impossible before.

You have to do it from a customer-centric perspective. You have to really figure out what the customer pain points are. You could ask some customers, but usually customers can't even articulate all the pain points they're facing. They just know they're frustrated or this experience is suboptimal. We're lucky at Green Oaks over the last 12, 13 years.

You have to do it from a customer-centric perspective. You have to really figure out what the customer pain points are. You could ask some customers, but usually customers can't even articulate all the pain points they're facing. They just know they're frustrated or this experience is suboptimal. We're lucky at Green Oaks over the last 12, 13 years.

We've been lucky enough to partner with a number of companies that have built jaw-dropping customer experiences. I'll tell you where we created the word. I created the word after spending a lot of time with Coupang right at the beginning of Green Oaks. And in the case of Coupang, so Bomb started a business that was just starting to sell products like any other online site would sell products.

We've been lucky enough to partner with a number of companies that have built jaw-dropping customer experiences. I'll tell you where we created the word. I created the word after spending a lot of time with Coupang right at the beginning of Green Oaks. And in the case of Coupang, so Bomb started a business that was just starting to sell products like any other online site would sell products.

It was really a marketplace. And he made the decision in 2013, 2014, that he'd start to transition that to building one peak capability, meaning that he could pick, pack, ship, and deliver a wide variety of SKUs, everything from soap to tissue paper to golf clubs to fresh groceries over time.

It was really a marketplace. And he made the decision in 2013, 2014, that he'd start to transition that to building one peak capability, meaning that he could pick, pack, ship, and deliver a wide variety of SKUs, everything from soap to tissue paper to golf clubs to fresh groceries over time.

And the early days of that, if you asked people around Korea, they would tell you, we don't need faster delivery. Everything shows up here in two and a half to four days. It's great. It's totally fine. And his view was actually, it's consistent, reliable, fast delivery. You get the stuff you ordered on time, usually within 12 to 24 hours. And that sounds obvious today.

And the early days of that, if you asked people around Korea, they would tell you, we don't need faster delivery. Everything shows up here in two and a half to four days. It's great. It's totally fine. And his view was actually, it's consistent, reliable, fast delivery. You get the stuff you ordered on time, usually within 12 to 24 hours. And that sounds obvious today.

You order something 12 hours later or 24 hours later, it shows up at your door. Now it's called the rocket experience at Coupang. But at the time, building that, it sounds easy. Open a warehouse, put a bunch of stuff into that warehouse, hire a bunch of drivers, work with those drivers to fill up their trucks, deliver it to the door, take it off.

You order something 12 hours later or 24 hours later, it shows up at your door. Now it's called the rocket experience at Coupang. But at the time, building that, it sounds easy. Open a warehouse, put a bunch of stuff into that warehouse, hire a bunch of drivers, work with those drivers to fill up their trucks, deliver it to the door, take it off.

Now, there's a bunch of stuff that breaks when you actually try to build that experience step by step. First thing is the unit economics completely break. Second, to actually drive throughput through these, do you buy from manufacturers? How much do you buy from manufacturers? What do you do about your inventory turns? How do you service the right stuff on a website?

Now, there's a bunch of stuff that breaks when you actually try to build that experience step by step. First thing is the unit economics completely break. Second, to actually drive throughput through these, do you buy from manufacturers? How much do you buy from manufacturers? What do you do about your inventory turns? How do you service the right stuff on a website?

It is extraordinarily hard to go build all that stuff. And it took years. It took two to four years to really start to build that flywheel so it worked. And what did it entail to build a jaw-dropping customer experience? It took new technology. Coupang built not just a new warehouse management system, from what the consumer touches on a website, all the way down to new routing software.

It is extraordinarily hard to go build all that stuff. And it took years. It took two to four years to really start to build that flywheel so it worked. And what did it entail to build a jaw-dropping customer experience? It took new technology. Coupang built not just a new warehouse management system, from what the consumer touches on a website, all the way down to new routing software.