Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O. • Hacker News Board

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

#571

Post by beisner » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:19 PM UTC

toomanybeersies wrote: post #549

johnbellone wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, I hate having to have multiple apps to do the same thing. That would drive me crazy for every city. I would pay a premium not to do that. Second, none of these apps I have seen thus far even attempts to make it easier for the user to add payment methods. Each time I need to put in my credit card information? Twice if I am on business? Nobody has taken advantage of Apple or Android pay integration. I don't cons…

> That would drive me crazy for every city Most people only go to another city once or twice a year, so it's not a significant issue for them.

But is that true for most people who use Uber, or even taxis? I wouldn't be surprised if a large portion of Uber/taxi users were in fact people traveling to a different city.

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

#572

Post by sethrin » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:21 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #478

bunkat wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber doesn't make enough from fares to be profitable, they use investors' money to heavily subsidize them. Once the investor money runs out, Uber won't be able to pay drivers unless they jack up prices considerably. Once they are no longer price competitive, customers will move to other services. Turns out the car service business isn't very sticky at all (even the drivers work for multiple companies...). Drivers sta…

> Once the investor money runs out And when will that be exactly? This entire thread is overflowing with nothing but fantasies of Uber dying - basically raw emotional hatred - and little else. Eight years on, they've never had a serious problem with raising capital and there's no evidence to suggest they'll struggle to do so now. The absolute last problem that Uber has right now, is money.

Uber has been a fantastic means to lose billions, so far. It's not clear that they have a way to profitability. Are you going to invest in them? Do you trust their numbers? If so you might want to explain why.

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

#573

Post by Xorlev » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:21 PM UTC

ransom1538 wrote: post #538

Retric wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to grow when you sell dollars for 70c each. But, when you suddenly need to sell them for 1.01+$ nobody wants to buy. Uber's problem is taxi companies have lower overhead because among other thing their drivers sometimes get hailed by people at street level. Which means their either taxi prices are lower and people stop using Uber or they pay drivers more and drivers mostly stop working for Uber.

Of course they can be profitable. Uber doesn't have overhead. There are no Uber factories or millions of rotting vehicles in a warehouse. At the core it is a iOS/Android app (4 guys could maintain this), a call center (India), and a law firm (outsource it). They would have to cut their staff, remove the ping pong tables and get real but profitability is there. They are on a land grab.

You really don't know what you're talking about. There's more to Uber than just an app. There is a large set of backend services responsible for everything from authorization to billing, promotions, logging, road directions, ETA forecasts, driver portals and so much more. I've never worked there but ventures like this tend to be very complicated with lots of moving pieces.

More than a team of four can manage certainly.

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

#574

Post by creepydata » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:24 PM UTC

camelite wrote: post #83

Should we believe men too when they're victimised by women, or is this a one way deal? What if it's a man and a woman accusing each other, or two men or two women. What if the dude is a historically oppressed minority?

Sexual harassment in all it's forms should be taken seriously.

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

#575

Post by badwolf » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:25 PM UTC

ada1981 wrote: post #521

_asummers wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, I've personally taken Lyft almost exclusively lately. Among my peers, I've noticed similar trends. I've even heard shifting in language -- rather than say "call an Uber", I've heard "call a Lyft"., Plural of anecdote is obviously not data, but those are my data points.

We've made the shift in NYC to Lyft or JUNO. Not even sure if I installed Uber last month when I got a new iPhone.

Same. Juno in NYC, RideAustin in Austin, and Lyft everywhere else if there's not another local(ish) tnc

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

#576

Post by ritchiea » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:26 PM UTC

ncallaway wrote: post #553

ritchiea wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have a company yet if you're dependent on future investment.

Eh, I think that's taking it a bit too far. I think it's far to say you don't have a sustainable business model yet if you're dependent on future investment.

Yes yes, clearly there are points in time where there is a real entity that exists as a company. But in the context of "can I lose all this?" where you are a founder building something, you don't just not have control, you don't have anything when you are dependent on future investment.

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

#577

Post by amyjess » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:26 PM UTC

jeroenjanssens wrote: post #372

NumberCruncher wrote: post #343

print "%s may or may not take over the world at some point, but it needs another round of investment in the next 18 months just to survive." % ('any Ponzi scheme')

Python 2? Absolutely barbaric.

I use %s with Python 3 when I don't specifically have access to 3.6 (like at work, where I have to use 3.4 because we're a RHEL 7 shop). I detest .format(), and I won't use it.

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

#578

Post by tim333 » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:28 PM UTC

dayaz36 wrote: post #515

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…

It's like what PayPal did to Elon

It was actually pretty different from that. PayPal merged with Elon's X.com and had technical differences with the PayPal founder and they decided to stick with PayPal's tech strategy. There weren't similar scandals. (See Founders at Work).

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

#579

Post by booleanbetrayal » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:29 PM UTC

I called a board ousting of Kalanick some 6 months ago. This move is just too late to pull up from the current nosedive. RIP Uber.

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

#580

Post by abritinthebay » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 1:29 PM UTC

Cogito wrote: post #119

abritinthebay wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Investigating starts with belief. You don't have to assume truth, just believe they mean their account, you assume good faith. Believe them and allow that belief to start the process of uncovering what the truth is. There's a reason Listen & Believe is a thing and it's not because anyone is saying "you should have unquestioned faith in what someone says".

I'm not sure what you mean here by belief, but it seems like a redefinition that causes the word to lose value. "Believe" has always implied to me "understands to be true". How can I believe anything based only on the words of a single person? (Except trivial things like believing that they said something to you) I have primarily heard the phrase "listen and believe" used by people who think it is impossible for cert…

shrug

I'm using the usage that social and case workers use when they talk about believing victims.

So... frankly, I don't really care what HN thinks of the usage.

Note, again, that nothing you said is counter to the "good faith" usage. You're assuming they are speaking the truth as they see it. That's all.

That's how any investigation that involves eye witness testimony works.

It's also the recommended practice for improving reporting and investigation so, again, don't really care what HN thinks about the term: the experts in the field recommended it.