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> Ridesharing companies are not hard or expensive to start. There is a lot of work that goes into the infrastructure behind companies like Uber and Lyft. You n
by djsumdog 9y ago
> Ridesharing companies are not hard or expensive to start.
There is a lot of work that goes into the infrastructure behind companies like Uber and Lyft. You need good engineers that build products that are reliable and well tested, to work 24/7.
It is a hard problem. A lot of the smaller city taxi companies that have apps contract to larger vendors as well.
- gaius 9y agoYou need good engineers that build products that are reliable and well tested, to work 24/7 So did newspapers - the very definition of mission-critical computing is the the paper HAS to hit the stands the next morning. Didn't save them from half-arsed competitors running glorified blogs...
- ams6110 9y agoThe backend systems can be SaaS. Amazon could do it. Anyone can then buy a local franchise for that backend service in their area. Or it could be offered whitelabel.
- wpietri 9y agoSure. But compare with Flywheel, which has less than 50 employees and produces a perfectly adequate app. Infrastructure is also much easier at small scales. And as you point out, this is pretty easy to outsource. That means that that Uber's engineers are not making much of a mote.