Let's say I have to take a cab everyday to work. If Uber gives me a ride for 15 bucks and Lyft gives me the same ride for 18 bucks, I know which one I will choose. Do you?
Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
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Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#32Lyft and Uber, from a birds-eye view, do the exact same thing ; and furthermore, neither is profitable, so the entire market is built upon potential future sales bases. Lyft is here valued at, generously, $7 billion. Meanwhile, Uber's valuation is reported variously, but a general Google search suggests its well in excess of $50 billion. This exceeds any expectation of market craziness. Are these investors talking to…
Early stage private valuations tend to be focused on future potential, usually expressed in total addressable market figures. Lyft was selling slow expansion (they're still a US-only operator, and even within the US operate in relatively few markets) and most likely positive cashflow. Uber was selling rapid global expansion, where each new city could be scaled up via Uber playbooks. Then it started selling itself as…
Oh wow, this is the first I'm hearing of it. Yandex, the search engine operates a Yandex.taxi? That's pretty interesting, all major Global search engines, Google, Yandex, Baidu have interests in developing self-driving cars as well.
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> neither Lyft nor Uber has demonstrated a "financially viable business Self driving cars
In the magical future where self-driving cars will be able to replace 100% of what a driver does 100% of the time, what barrier to entry will protect Uber from competition? What stops someone from leasing a few dozen vehicles, and opening up their NotUber self-driving taxi service?
The client app, backend tech, and economies of scale.
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#34Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider's perspective I don't understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber. Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.…
The key points are - CEO never blackmailed journalists - No major revelations of sexual harassment - ~~No major revelations of political support~~ Related to core business - Surge Limit has prevented complaints about emergency pricing vs Uber. - Lyft takes a lower commission capped at 20%/25% - Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). Uber's tip policy encourages cash, which is an often cited comp…
the in app tipping that lyft provides is what seals the deal for me. the drivers are performing a service for me and having an integrated way to enhance their compensation is really nice. a lot of the drivers have a hard time making a good living especially considering vehicle related costs are all on their shoulders. I'm happy to have a 1-click way to give them a bit extra.
I've never understood why uber doesn't let you tip from within the app. it further solidifies the perception that uber doesn't care about its drivers. they can't wait to replace all their human drivers with a self driving fleet. can the same be said about lyft? maybe. but at least the humans are being compensated better by lyft right now.
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#35Anybody who's got a small but viable alternative to Uber could really benefit by pivoting to an "ethics first" model right now. Between Kalanick and Thiel, the market seems ripe for disruption.
Can you give an example of large companies which operate on a "ethics first" model?
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#36Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider's perspective I don't understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber. Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.…
Lyft has chosen a pink mustache as their symbol. Being number 2 they have sympathy of the leftist hippies as they dont like anyone succeeding.
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> neither Lyft nor Uber has demonstrated a "financially viable business Self driving cars
In the magical future where self-driving cars will be able to replace 100% of what a driver does 100% of the time, what barrier to entry will protect Uber from competition? What stops someone from leasing a few dozen vehicles, and opening up their NotUber self-driving taxi service?
Small barriers to entry -
Cost of purchasing said vehicles
Cost of developing a Uber=style app
Even past this, the industry will never be highly profitable in the long run because of competition from people who do get past this
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#38Lyft and Uber, from a birds-eye view, do the exact same thing ; and furthermore, neither is profitable, so the entire market is built upon potential future sales bases. Lyft is here valued at, generously, $7 billion. Meanwhile, Uber's valuation is reported variously, but a general Google search suggests its well in excess of $50 billion. This exceeds any expectation of market craziness. Are these investors talking to…
Early stage private valuations tend to be focused on future potential, usually expressed in total addressable market figures. Lyft was selling slow expansion (they're still a US-only operator, and even within the US operate in relatively few markets) and most likely positive cashflow. Uber was selling rapid global expansion, where each new city could be scaled up via Uber playbooks. Then it started selling itself as…
And? What's the difference between total coverage in 2018 versus total coverage in 2020? Uber can't lock Lyft out of the market- that was abundantly proved when a bit of ham-fisted PR made Lyft one of the most popular apps of January. And Lyft can just copy any of Uber's random X-delivery schemes that actually works. Self-driving cars might be a distinguishing factor, since as far as I know Lyft has no efforts in that direction, but that deficit could be entirely compensated for if Lyft winds up selling themselves to some company that does have that tech.
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#39Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider's perspective I don't understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber. Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.…
> from an outsider's perspective I don't understan
I don't either, but it's related to the outsider status.
Questions I'd be asking would revolve around unit economics - average gross and net revenues off a ride, average rides per driver per month, average rides per user per month, average driver retention and churn, average user retention and churn, all of the above in historic context broken down per market.
Presumably sophisicated investors at this stage are asking for such numbers and base their valuations on cashflow. It's not a pure software business with winner-take-all mentality, Lyft is a Lowe's to Uber's Home Depot.
Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles
#40Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider's perspective I don't understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber. Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.…
> from an outsider's perspective I don't understan
I don't either, but it's related to the outsider status.
Questions I'd be asking would revolve around unit economics - average gross and net revenues off a ride, average rides per driver per month, average rides per user per month, average driver retention and churn, average user retention and churn, all of the above in historic context broken down per market.
Presumably sophisicated investors at this stage are asking for such numbers and base their valuations on cashflow. It's not a pure software business with winner-take-all mentality, Lyft is a Lowe's to Uber's Home Depot.