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Look at Uber, the ride-hailing start-up. It’s the biggest tech unicorn in the world, with a valuation of $69 billion. Not long ago Uber seemed invincible. Now i

Look at Uber, the ride-hailing start-up. It’s the biggest tech unicorn in the world, with a valuation of $69 billion. Not long ago Uber seemed invincible. Now it’s in free fall, and top executives have fled. The company’s woes spring entirely from its toxic bro culture, created by its chief executive, Travis Kalanick. This is a big assertion. There are multiple forces at play regarding Uber's erosion. The culture is a significant aspect of it, but not the entire reason. Other forces include regulation, Uber's floundering self-driving play, and Uber's inability to continue paying drivers the same rates without running out of money.

vosper 10y ago
I suppose you could stretch it to say: 1. Their optimistic / misguided (or is it? Can we be sure yet?) foray into self-driving cars was a result of arrogance stemming from their toxic bro culture 2. Their problem with subsidizing rides and losing money is due to a win-at-all-costs competitive attitude that demands they run Lyft into the ground, stemming from toxic bro culture. 3. Increasing regulation is due to their arrogant tendency to flout local taxi laws and run Uber anyway (this I might agree with, though I'll note that Uber is often wildly popular when it disrupts a local taxi market, and they have been able to get their way in part due to asking Uber riders and drivers to actively support regulation change in their area) But, no, I agree with you. The idea that everything Uber's struggling with is directly the fault of the toxic bro culture that Kalanick has (seemingly single-handedly?) created is absurd.
- mschuster91 10y ago
  The win-at-all-costs culture is not "bro exclusive". For example, look at how Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are copying stuff from each other in the hope that users do not leave the walled garden. Or what Google did with gmail and now AMP.
  - vosper 10y ago
    Oh I agree, win-at-all-costs is definitely not bro-exclusive, since it's been around a lot longer than this concept of bro-culture has been.

vosper 10y ago

I suppose you could stretch it to say: 1. Their optimistic / misguided (or is it? Can we be sure yet?) foray into self-driving cars was a result of arrogance stemming from their toxic bro culture 2. Their problem with subsidizing rides and losing money is due to a win-at-all-costs competitive attitude that demands they run Lyft into the ground, stemming from toxic bro culture. 3. Increasing regulation is due to their arrogant tendency to flout local taxi laws and run Uber anyway (this I might agree with, though I'll note that Uber is often wildly popular when it disrupts a local taxi market, and they have been able to get their way in part due to asking Uber riders and drivers to actively support regulation change in their area) But, no, I agree with you. The idea that everything Uber's struggling with is directly the fault of the toxic bro culture that Kalanick has (seemingly single-handedly?) created is absurd.

mschuster91 10y ago
The win-at-all-costs culture is not "bro exclusive". For example, look at how Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are copying stuff from each other in the hope that users do not leave the walled garden. Or what Google did with gmail and now AMP.
- vosper 10y ago
  Oh I agree, win-at-all-costs is definitely not bro-exclusive, since it's been around a lot longer than this concept of bro-culture has been.