Valley VCs Sit on Cash, Forcing Startups to Dial Back Ambition

Post by elliotec » Thu, Mar 10, 2016, 4:49 AM UTC

techdragon wrote: post #54

cstejerean wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's popular now in the SV circles (and this site) to hate on Uber. I'm not even sure why, but I'm fairly certain it's localized. I have traveled and used Uber all over the country and internationally as well. They seem to be doing just fine.

For a while, before WW2, it looked like Germany was "doing fine" under Adolf Hitler too. Doing fine doesn't mean anything, you need to look deeper at the reasons people are hating Uber. There is growing evidence of systemic "social issues" that Uber is either amazingly still ignorant of, or more likely are being wilfully ignorant of in an attempt to maximise their profits. People are just reacting to this evidence ba…

Post by mattnewton » Thu, Mar 10, 2016, 5:01 AM UTC

elliotec wrote: post #61

techdragon wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while, before WW2, it looked like Germany was "doing fine" under Adolf Hitler too. Doing fine doesn't mean anything, you need to look deeper at the reasons people are hating Uber. There is growing evidence of systemic "social issues" that Uber is either amazingly still ignorant of, or more likely are being wilfully ignorant of in an attempt to maximise their profits. People are just reacting to this evidence ba…

Uber == Nazi Germany

Post by ajmurmann » Thu, Mar 10, 2016, 5:17 AM UTC

freyr wrote: post #22

mindcrime wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the somewhat ironic "catch 22" to the whole thing: If you're a startup and you don't take VC funding, then you have the luxury of simply enjoying organic growth and funding expansion by re-investing profits into the company. Well, as long as you can do that in the face of competitive pressure. Strictly speaking, unless it's a "network effect" situation like a social network, you probably don't need to grow fas…

> unless it's a "network effect" situation like a social network, you probably don't need to grow fast. Uber seems like a weird example of this. It was said (and remains said) that they're operating in a winner-take-all space, and they expanded as if they were a social network. Despite the aggressive expansion and marketing, a majority of people I know in the Bay Area now use Lyft exculsively. The last few times I've…

Post by patmcguire » Thu, Mar 10, 2016, 5:30 AM UTC

freyr wrote: post #22

mindcrime wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the somewhat ironic "catch 22" to the whole thing: If you're a startup and you don't take VC funding, then you have the luxury of simply enjoying organic growth and funding expansion by re-investing profits into the company. Well, as long as you can do that in the face of competitive pressure. Strictly speaking, unless it's a "network effect" situation like a social network, you probably don't need to grow fas…

> unless it's a "network effect" situation like a social network, you probably don't need to grow fast. Uber seems like a weird example of this. It was said (and remains said) that they're operating in a winner-take-all space, and they expanded as if they were a social network. Despite the aggressive expansion and marketing, a majority of people I know in the Bay Area now use Lyft exculsively. The last few times I've…

Post by rewqfdsa » Thu, Mar 10, 2016, 5:56 AM UTC

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #55

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really interesting to me, because I've noticed the same thing in the Bay Area. I would conjecture that Uber constantly being under attack (i.e. having lots of negative articles about them) has played a significant role in this. So when people have to pick between Lyft and Uber, they go for the one that seems "less evil". Perhaps the reason Lyft doesn't come under fire as much is because they haven't grown eno…

Uber's problems aren't caused simply by being the frontrunner. They're cultural problems that come from straight the leaders of the company itself. They've repeatedly proven that they are misogynists[1][2][3], and that they don't have the same morals that most people value[4][5]. It's a disturbing trend that some of these unicorn startups are valuing growth at the expense of morals, and that VC's are complicit in pus…