Michael Dell may have put it best: "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
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Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#12Reorg like crazy. At the end of the turmoil announce that my work as an goodlike management doctor has been done and everything is now on track for the less gifted but down to earth management that is now necessary, exit, laugh all the way to the bank, and find some other suckers to trick.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
So instead of changing the culture, basically pretend that the only problem Uber has is damage to its brand because its lack of ethics was finally called out?
That's not how I read it. You're right, frgtpsswrdlame totally skipped over that Uber currently seems like a rampant shit-show from the outside - I can't imagine any women applying to work there - but he did address two concrete issues Uber has that aren't just "brand damage": focusing too much on self-driving tech, and their flagrant disregard for local laws.
But he's not suggesting that they change their ethics and stop abusing local laws. Rather, he's suggesting engaging in unethical anticompetitive practices that abuse regulation to create barriers to entry. That's just a change of tactic, not a change of mindset.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#14Keep focus on self-driving through the next funding cycle (for the hype) then drop it like a hot potato. It is way too long term for Uber to be burning money on it, they have immediate short-term problems. I'd probably try to rebrand as the new, legal Uber and start spending money on lobbying local politicians. The "taxi-app" market has almost no switching costs and so Uber has almost no pricing power. They'll need t…
> If it wants to continue to exist it needs to erect new barriers that protect it and keep out competition. If making it illegal for competition to exist is the only way to keep Uber running then it shouldn't keep running.
Erecting barriers to entry is what every single business tries to do. Whether it's buying patents, spending vast sums of money on your brand, monopolising key resources - they're all trying to do the same thing.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#151. Hire Chris Lattner who just left Tesla to take over self-driving initiative.
2. Ask Chris Sacca to come out of retirement and to get more involved in Uber's strategy.
3. Find a COO like yesterday.
4. Shut down Uber eats and Uber rush and double down on self-driving initiative.
5. Make the team leaner, more agile and eliminate 1s layer of management (engineering managers, etc.). Dev teams should be %100 autonomous driven (not managed) by product managers.
6. Eliminate Tips.
7. Pay Uber drivers way more and have them sign a special contract (can't sign-up with other competitors).
8. Increase passenger engagement during a ride by providing location-based deals, events, etc. A twitter-like app to use while riding an Uber.
etc... this is just a short list.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#16Michael Dell may have put it best: "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
Only if there is any money left by then.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#17Reorg like crazy. At the end of the turmoil announce that my work as an goodlike management doctor has been done and everything is now on track for the less gifted but down to earth management that is now necessary, exit, laugh all the way to the bank, and find some other suckers to trick.
Or just do nothing at all - the Mayer gambit. The payoff's the same.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#18- I'd purge: disclose everything that needs to come out fully and immediately
- Throw away self driving cars for now. The tech will become commoditised. Almost everyone at YC in November was doing self driving motorcycles (I have no idea why either).
- I'd closely align Uber with consumers and environmental groups rather than falling in with taxi industry corruption. lobbying etc. Make cities change laws to benefit their citizens: let ride sharing exist so they can get picked up in rough neighborhoods (PS, abandon tipping, it breaks this), allow Uber cars in public transport lanes (because they are public transport), make sure ride sharing has dedicated space at the airport. Be tough to local governments when you need to be tough, but better yet, have consumers be tough for you. Expose the risks that cities like Austin have put consumers in by replacing Uber with Facebook groups of strangers. Expose cities like London where the normal black cabs frequently illegally refuse to pick up passengers and the mayor wants to 'protect' them because they're 'historical'. Ride sharing is for everyone.
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#19Michael Dell may have put it best: "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
He was famously wrong in that particular instance...
Re: Ask HN: You are named CEO of Uber, what do you do in “180 days of change”?
#20Keep focus on self-driving through the next funding cycle (for the hype) then drop it like a hot potato. It is way too long term for Uber to be burning money on it, they have immediate short-term problems. I'd probably try to rebrand as the new, legal Uber and start spending money on lobbying local politicians. The "taxi-app" market has almost no switching costs and so Uber has almost no pricing power. They'll need t…
Is Uber's brand as bad across the rest of the world as it is in the tech news echo chamber? Simply curious how ubiquitous news of the turmoil has become