Finally John Scully will steer the ship in the right direction. Wait, what?
That was a Gil Amelio quote, not John Scully.
Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
311–320 of 1001 posts
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think Uber can go much lower, negativity around it was simply overwhelming. Desperate times require desperate measurements - kicking CEO is like saying: "ok, we did some wrong things - sorry, but we will try to change for a better".
It comes down to conviction and courage to follow through. I find it curious that just when he's out, one of the things that he'd fought against for so long has been done i.e. tipping. The reason it's courage involved in such a situation is because, against all external pressure, he maintained that he thought it would create friction. I can see that and some people may disagree - and those people can use Lyft, but at…
Completely agree. Uber (as a product) will turn into Lyft, rather than what should be the other way around on the merits. Uber is clearly a superior product. That is orthogonal to its quality as a company. I'm not convinced that having a good company culture requires the product to be shittier.
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#313Wow, I thought he was just going to step away and take a break. Do we know who might replace him? It's also interesting that the five shareholders mentioned in the NYTimes article want 2 "truly independent directors". What does that mean? Depending on how many board seats there are, maybe two votes aren't enough?
I bet it will be a woman. Merrisa Mayer? lol
Is there an issue if it's a woman?
Is Marissa Meyer the only woman y'all know?
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uber bought market share by subsidizing rides. That can't go on forever. Or much longer, without more capital. They're already borrowing heavily, having run out of equity sources. The business model hype is supposed to be that they push taxis out of business, then raise rates. Or self-driving cars will somehow save them. Both are unlikely. [1] http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/growth-vs-profits...
Completely ridiculous. The model was not to raise rates in the future. The whole reason they could raise so much money was that they showed as they reduced rates, they induced more demand. They also had data showing increasing lifetime customer value. I recommend reading Brad Stone's The Upstarts. If they can have higher profits/customer while having lower rates than other companies, then they actually have a moat. I…
That was never going to work. With self-driving cars on the horizon they will soon be forgotten about as car manufacturers start rolling out their own apps. The switching cost is too low. If Uber thought they could rely on brand recognition to dominate the market it's because they misjudged what market they were in and who the players were. Regardless of what Uber could do in the next 10 years Mercedes and BMW will still be more recognisable names and as soon as they roll out their self driving fleets and ride hailing apps Uber are history. No one will buy Uber if they can build the same thing for what is, in the grand scheme, essentially free.
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#315Earlier 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:…
“He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it.” – Dune , Frank Herbert
Ironically applies to both Kalanick & the investors!
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do we have any data to suggest that Uber is materially weakened? Do the negative headlines and social media posts necessarily translate into significant changes in consumer behavior?
There are articles showing them losing share to Lyft.
I stopped using Uber about a few months ago in favor of Lyft it's the same shit and easy to do.. I'd be surprised if they weren't losing a decent share
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uber bought market share by subsidizing rides. That can't go on forever. Or much longer, without more capital. They're already borrowing heavily, having run out of equity sources. The business model hype is supposed to be that they push taxis out of business, then raise rates. Or self-driving cars will somehow save them. Both are unlikely. [1] http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/growth-vs-profits...
Completely ridiculous. The model was not to raise rates in the future. The whole reason they could raise so much money was that they showed as they reduced rates, they induced more demand. They also had data showing increasing lifetime customer value. I recommend reading Brad Stone's The Upstarts. If they can have higher profits/customer while having lower rates than other companies, then they actually have a moat. I…
At some point, though, every company that wants a sustainable business model needs to make money "on average" on the sum of all items (units of service, e.g. rides) sold. Uber being a local business should be able to do this progressively as its business matures in each city. However, if it is true that they are not profitable in their mature US market where by some accounts they enjoy >80% market share, that implies some substantial flaws in their model. Subsidizing rides in Asia or some smaller city in Europe is ok to gain growth, subsidizing rides in New York or San Francisco is worrying. And autonomous driving implies a completely different business model and economics (driven by the "who owns the car fleet" discussion).
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
I concur. This is a very poor decision all of which stems from the snowballing and mob mentality of the outraged. Companies at this stage in an ultra competitive market (not talking about ride sharing, but self-driving) need their founders to lead and grow. It is just too early and critical to bring in a professional CEO. See Apple.
he could have cleaned ship years ago with all the previous scandals but he was either too stubborn or too arrogant to think any bad news would pull his company down. he was representative of uber's toxic culture and it seems like he should have stepped down right after he was caught bad mouthing a driver FROM HIS OWN COMPANY.
Is that the video where he explains how there wasn't huge demand for upmarket cabs to angry upmarket cab driver? There wasn't much scandal there.
Re: Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
#319Earlier quoted context omitted.
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, th…
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.
But uber is still lagging behind Waymo/Lyft in the self driving technology. They were desperate to catch up, hence the acquisition of lewandowski's new company in the first place. Now that path is no longer viable regardless of the verdict.
Whoever becomes the new CEO will have to be laser focused to make their auto pilot program work somehow. Without that, Uber has no path to profitability.
They really should have done what lyft did, building partnership with companies like Google/Waymo and GM instead of trying to build their own auto pilot program from scratch.