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I don't get it. Uber are offering an extremely good service, one that I'd pay more money for than they're asking. They don't need to be terrible humans to be su

by mabbo 10y ago

I don't get it. Uber are offering an extremely good service, one that I'd pay more money for than they're asking. They don't need to be terrible humans to be successful so why do they do it? This seems to be par for the course of them in terms of shady shit they've been accused of or caught doing.

kafkaesq 10y ago
They don't need to be terrible humans to be successful so why do they do it? That's what gets me, too. Though it can be easily copied, their service model is such a night-and-day improvement over the state of things previously that they should be universally loved for what they're doing. And yet they keep pulling these asshat antics, and gratuitously making a bad name for themselves -- over and over and over again.
- aetherson 10y ago
  I think that to some extent, companies -- especially relatively young companies -- reflect their founders. And Travis Kalanick seems like he's just kind of a dick. But more so, remember that everything's on a margin, here. Uber can obviously be very successful on the level of "a company that provides taxi services in a lot of cities." But they've taken in more than $10B in funding on the premise that they can be much more than "a company that provides taxi services in a lot of cities." So even though it seems like they should be coasting into victory, they're actually super tense and worried, because what they could coast into victory for is not what they're now obligated to become, based on the money they've taken in and the promises they made to the people who bought them.
five3 10y ago
They should try being successful first. Burning VC w/o making a profit isn't really success.
bsder 10y ago
> They don't need to be terrible humans to be successful so why do they do it? This seems to be par for the course of them in terms of shady shit they've been accused of or caught doing. Because they are a bunch of rich people who simply do not give a shit and the rules do not apply to them? A snotty bully gets the lesson "there will eventually be somebody bigger" beaten into him. A snotty rich bully never actually encounters that.
lvs 10y ago
Their starting point for the product was to barrel through (read: ignore) a widespread municipal regulation in order to manufacture a new market opportunity. This fact alone should be enough to understand their ethos.

by mabbo 10y ago

kafkaesq 10y ago

They don't need to be terrible humans to be successful so why do they do it? That's what gets me, too. Though it can be easily copied, their service model is such a night-and-day improvement over the state of things previously that they should be universally loved for what they're doing. And yet they keep pulling these asshat antics, and gratuitously making a bad name for themselves -- over and over and over again.

aetherson 10y ago
I think that to some extent, companies -- especially relatively young companies -- reflect their founders. And Travis Kalanick seems like he's just kind of a dick. But more so, remember that everything's on a margin, here. Uber can obviously be very successful on the level of "a company that provides taxi services in a lot of cities." But they've taken in more than $10B in funding on the premise that they can be much more than "a company that provides taxi services in a lot of cities." So even though it seems like they should be coasting into victory, they're actually super tense and worried, because what they could coast into victory for is not what they're now obligated to become, based on the money they've taken in and the promises they made to the people who bought them.

five3 10y ago

They should try being successful first. Burning VC w/o making a profit isn't really success.

bsder 10y ago

> They don't need to be terrible humans to be successful so why do they do it? This seems to be par for the course of them in terms of shady shit they've been accused of or caught doing. Because they are a bunch of rich people who simply do not give a shit and the rules do not apply to them? A snotty bully gets the lesson "there will eventually be somebody bigger" beaten into him. A snotty rich bully never actually encounters that.

lvs 10y ago

Their starting point for the product was to barrel through (read: ignore) a widespread municipal regulation in order to manufacture a new market opportunity. This fact alone should be enough to understand their ethos.