The short of it: This is, in my opinion, perhaps the most innovative company in the startup industry today, the first of a new industry. To declare them non-innovative, as some people do, is either short-sightedness or just jealousy.
I'm sure a lot of people were jealous of YC too when it first started turning the angel/VC investing world on its head. Same difference.
Their strategy looks good - however what many people are assuming (that they do great execution ) is not correct. They have a record of hiring the top management in their investee companies from consulting firms. There has been a series of hire and fire events in their portfolio at the CEO level because of this.
I see a lot of comments in this page highlighting the fact that they open and shut companies in a matter of months. Actually, the problem is what I mentioned earlier. Poor choices of executive mangement (with no execution experience) results in runaway spending, disproportionate salaries, etc. In 6 months time the Samwer brothers take one look at the margins, decide that the business is unsustainable (as opposed to changing the execution) and shut it down.
In fact there is a recent article floating around that talks about this (my google-fu isnt good enough).
I personally think that Rocket's model is a brilliant strategy, but lacks appropriate execution structure.
The short of it: This is, in my opinion, perhaps the most innovative company in the startup industry today, the first of a new industry. To declare them non-innovative, as some people do, is either short-sightedness or just jealousy.
I'm sure a lot of people were jealous of YC too when it first started turning the angel/VC investing world on its head. Same difference.