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Is there any evidence that kicking Kalanick helped Uber?

geofft 9y ago
I am trying to determine what evidence I would expect to find after 47 days to either support or oppose this hypothesis. Since it's a privately owned company, we don't have a lot of detail about either stock performance or revenue / profit, and even so, I'm not sure that you'd be able to attribute changes on this timeframe (either for the better or for the worse) to Kalanick leaving. On the other hand, since it's privately held, arguably what helps Uber is that its investors (owners) are happy with it, and they requested that he leave. So, yes?
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Kalanick is the majority owner, so maybe he'll come back on board. The reason I ask is because I've heard that companies that kick their founders generally fail. I'm not sure how true that is, but people on HN said it was common during the bubble. It could be true that 2017 is different, that times have changed and that to win Uber needs to move forward without Kalanick. But the employees generally felt that he was doing a good job. All in all, it's a confusing situation.
  - BoiledCabbage 9y ago
    > The reason I ask is because I've heard that companies that kick their founders generally fail. Possibly because that companies that are so screwed up internally that they have to kick their founder out are destined to fail. And kicking the founder out doesn't change their course enough to fix it.
    - DrScump 9y ago
      companies that kick their founders generally fail Don't companies "generally fail" on average, period? (>50%)
mtgx 9y ago
If it was because of him, then by now it probably wouldn't matter much if he was kicked out, as he already built a certain type of culture inside the company. The company would pretty much have to be built from the ground-up to change all of that.
joycey 9y ago
I guess time will tell. Before Travis left Uber was without a COO, CFO, CMO, SVP of business, and SVP of engineering. I recall reading something about how they were having trouble recruiting senior level execs willing to work with Travis. If kicking out Travis can result in Uber hiring competent execs across the board, then maybe.

I am trying to determine what evidence I would expect to find after 47 days to either support or oppose this hypothesis. Since it's a privately owned company, we don't have a lot of detail about either stock performance or revenue / profit, and even so, I'm not sure that you'd be able to attribute changes on this timeframe (either for the better or for the worse) to Kalanick leaving. On the other hand, since it's privately held, arguably what helps Uber is that its investors (owners) are happy with it, and they requested that he leave. So, yes?

sillysaurus3 9y ago
Kalanick is the majority owner, so maybe he'll come back on board. The reason I ask is because I've heard that companies that kick their founders generally fail. I'm not sure how true that is, but people on HN said it was common during the bubble. It could be true that 2017 is different, that times have changed and that to win Uber needs to move forward without Kalanick. But the employees generally felt that he was doing a good job. All in all, it's a confusing situation.
- BoiledCabbage 9y ago
  > The reason I ask is because I've heard that companies that kick their founders generally fail. Possibly because that companies that are so screwed up internally that they have to kick their founder out are destined to fail. And kicking the founder out doesn't change their course enough to fix it.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    companies that kick their founders generally fail Don't companies "generally fail" on average, period? (>50%)

mtgx 9y ago

If it was because of him, then by now it probably wouldn't matter much if he was kicked out, as he already built a certain type of culture inside the company. The company would pretty much have to be built from the ground-up to change all of that.

joycey 9y ago

I guess time will tell. Before Travis left Uber was without a COO, CFO, CMO, SVP of business, and SVP of engineering. I recall reading something about how they were having trouble recruiting senior level execs willing to work with Travis. If kicking out Travis can result in Uber hiring competent execs across the board, then maybe.