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Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

nytimes.com

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Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#291

Post by JSONwebtoken »

sverhagen wrote: post #114
slice_of_life wrote: post #38

Pushing a founder out is often a bad idea. This might very well be the beginning of Uber's demise. This won't be good for the company. All CEOs make mistakes even great ones like Gates with antitrust or Zuck calling users dumb-fucks. They weren't kicked out, they instead were allowed to come into their own. There's a distinct fire that a founder has for the company they founded. You can't hire that. Without this fire…

I pretty much can't stumble upon an article about Uber that's not about controversy. I know that kind of news sells better. But in my perception now Uber had the pendulum swung far off center. I've been shocked by their (reported) ethics, to the point of not purchasing their services. I know that consequence is not taken by a majority of people, but I do sense a more than average disgust for Uber's ethics. If you'd a…

If Marissa Mayer is the best female candidate that comes to mind, then that proves the best candidate for the job does not happen to be female.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#293

Post by marcell »

necubi wrote: post #116
rmason wrote: post #12

Hope everyone's paying attention to the identity of these investors behind this horrid behavior. Travis is not without his flaws but he created an awful lot of value for them. They pressure him into taking a sabbatical, then two days in they pull this cowardly act of firing him remotely. Not only was it a cowardly act, but it was the wrong thing to do for the business. It will lead to an epic destruction of value. Wo…

Wow -- I'm amazed to hear this sentiment. I'm personally proud that one of our VCs was involved. Travis helped build an incredible company, but his disregard for the law, for his employees' well-being, for basic decency threaten to tear all of that down. Just in the past six months: * Susan Fowler's blog post exposed a terribly broken HR system and a culture of sexual harassment that reached the very top. This has hu…

I don't think these examples are all that damning, aside from the Susan Fowler and HR failure:

- Waymo: the judge has not ruled yet, and there is no evidence revealed to the public which implicates Uber. There is lots of evidence implicating Levadowski.

- Greyball: I can see investors forgiving this as a necessary play to fuel growth.

- Cursing the driver: a private conversation, neither here nor there.

That said, there may be issues that are not public, and the sexual harassment problem alone may be enough. Senior leadership was rapidly leaving. We don't know what the full Holder report said.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#294

Post by nradov »

Animats wrote: post #275
dfabulich wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, but I think that's exactly how/why Uber's investors were able to convince Kalanick to step down. Uber may or may not take over the world at some point, but Uber needs another round of investment in the next 18 months just to survive. If the existing investors refused to play ball, they could kill the next round, which really would kill Uber. And here's another important moral of this story for founders:…

If the existing investors refused to play ball, they could kill the next round, which really would kill Uber. If there's a next round, it will probably involve a big haircut for the early-stage investors.

I think you mean a big haircut for the later stage investors. Even if Uber has a down round, the earliest investors will probably still have positive returns (at least on paper).

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#295

Post by pducks32 »

pishpash wrote: post #172
flyosity wrote: post #5

If Uber ends up going down in flames, unable to recover from the scandals and lawsuits, and Lyft prevails, it will be the most incredible change of fate in the business world this century or perhaps longer. The future of automobiles and transportation is still being swirled about, and it feels like Uber's downfall has blown the game WIDE open, ready for anyone (maybe Uber, maybe Lyft, maybe Tesla, Google, Apple, an a…

It will also be a tragedy. With Kalanick gone, Uber is already behaving like a conformist, viz. the recent headlines (1) "Uber co-founder: We’ve been too obsessed with growth" (what?); (2) "Uber is (finally) rolling out tipping" (just awful). That sounds just like Lyft and Lyft is not a worthy rival in any sense of the word.

In places like Chicago if you don't tip the driver they will give you a 1 star rating. Having in app tipping solves this problem.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#296

Post by mcgrath_sh »

jpatokal wrote: post #144
flyosity wrote: post #5

If Uber ends up going down in flames, unable to recover from the scandals and lawsuits, and Lyft prevails, it will be the most incredible change of fate in the business world this century or perhaps longer. The future of automobiles and transportation is still being swirled about, and it feels like Uber's downfall has blown the game WIDE open, ready for anyone (maybe Uber, maybe Lyft, maybe Tesla, Google, Apple, an a…

But has any of the press coverage translated into actual business impact? Uber's been all over the news in Silicon Valley's incestuous little bubble for the last few months, but the general public has a solid track record of continuing to use whatever service is cheapest and/or most convenient, which remains... Uber.

I'm in Pittsburgh. Most of my friends have moved to Lyft due to Uber's "behavior." To be fair, due the trips we are taking are relatively infrequent and when we do, there is little cost difference between the two.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#297

Post by mattlondon »

All this talk about Lyft becoming the new Uber is perhaps a bit unrealistic.

Apart from in SF, I've never found Lyft available anywhere I've been (although I understand it is operating on other parts of the US).

To momentarily sing-praises of Uber: the same app, the same login, the same card just works internationally pretty much where ever I have gone on work and vacations regardless of currencies etc - morals aside it is a slick service - but so far I've not been able to use a single Lyft ride because they dont seem to be available apart from the US.

Please come to London & the EU Lyft! I dont want to use Uber due to their well-publicised issues but there is no alternative apart from "old world" solutions.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#298

Post by fragmede »

OriginalPenguin wrote: post #126
logicallee wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can't they just cut their burn rate? I mean it's not like they own a fleet of cars they need to make car payments on and fill with gas to keep operating.... in theory there's no minimum spend to keep operating, is there? if (hypotehtically) they cut spend to approx. nil, and 95% of their drivers left, then 5% of their drivers would remain and they would be profitable... where does the "killing" of Uber occur? Yahoo f…

Yes, they can cut their burn rate. But if they cut it too much, they'll stop growing. The problem is they need to sustain their 70 billion dollar valuation for investors to be happy. To be worth 70 billion they have to be either: Growing at a very fast rate (which requires a very large burn rate to sustain) Or be generating billions in profit each year. Even with a cut burn rate, they aren't going to be generating bi…

Keep in mind that if their leaked financials are to be believed, they made $6.5 billion in net revenue for 2016. Unfortunately total costs exceed revenue, so they are far from profitable, but that's not exactly chump change.

Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.

#300

Post by schlumpf »

How could the board kick out a CEO founder given the vertiginous increase in equity valuations said founder presided over? Because those valuations are only meaningful to end investors (i.e. the LPs) when shareholders experience positive cash flow. At Uber the opposite is happening. Why shouldn't we assume, then, that the board realizes Uber is headed for a fatal pinch[0] and has acted accordingly?

Bloomberg in April reported[1] Uber's cumulative cash burn at US$8 bn since its founding in 2009. You can argue that Travis Kalanick presided over rising valuations but so far there is no evidence of an increase in book value per share. Conversely that cash burn risks being crystallized as "value destruction" if revenue growth stalls.

The alleged personnel issues, the lawsuit, the bad press -- they are history and the firm has no choice but to cope with them. But failing to improve net margin can be quickly fatal and if that is happening then the other issues remain relevant. TK, who also presided over those, becomes part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

[0] http://paulgraham.com/pinch.html [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-14/embattled...

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