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Having a significant leader advantage and on a market that takes time & a lot of money to develop is one of the more classic “moats” in the infrastructure game.

Having a significant leader advantage and on a market that takes time & a lot of money to develop is one of the more classic “moats” in the infrastructure game. Anyone can lay tons of fiber cable, anyone can build railroads, how are those moats? For the same reason, including the legislation you can nudge along the way to even more establish an unmovable position

Dumblydorr 8y ago
Are you being sarcastic? No one can just throw down Rail or cable, that's what doomed Google fiber and Cali HSR and many other projects. There is no moat with Lyft because any user could easily switch to another ride hailing app.
- awinder 8y ago
  Yeah I was being sarcastic. My point is that theres a limited technical challenges on the scale of feasibility ("anyone _can_ build...). The big challenges are on the cost/return side of things. Google Fiber faced tremendous pressure for if it was responsible spending or not, which they ultimately decided it was not. So there's good skepticism here about why the valuation would be that high, but I think its a stretch to say they don't have a moat and they're doomed / you cant build a successful company that way. AT&T / Verizon seem very comparable (they don't have a technology moat, they have a first-mover advantage which has been stable for a long time).
jeremyjh 8y ago
Yes, let's talk about the unassailable infrastructure that Lyft and Uber have built. It would help for you to name such things that they have built, since they have not built fiber or railroads. Is it the software? Because it seems there are dozens of locale-specific services that work the same way. As near as I can tell, the only thing they have right now is brand recognition. That is a moat, but hardly unassailable if someone brings more pricing transparency to the entire market.
- treis 8y ago
  >Yes, let's talk about the unassailable infrastructure that Lyft and Uber have built It's a two sided market that takes a significant investment to create. Yes, Google can add G-Car to maps, but where are the drivers coming from? They're not going to switch unless they can expect more income than from Lyft/Uber. Google can't provide that without investing a lot of money in incentives. The best analog to Lyft/Uber is Mastercard/Visa. It's theoretically easy to enter the market, but in practice it's going to be very difficult to develop your own two sided marketplace going against the incumbent competitors.
  - jeremyjh 8y ago
    Mastercard/Visa is a veritable fortress compared to Lyft/Uber. The plethora of locale-specific competitors proves that. When you go to Austin, you won't find some local credit card network that no one has ever heard of.

Dumblydorr 8y ago

Are you being sarcastic? No one can just throw down Rail or cable, that's what doomed Google fiber and Cali HSR and many other projects. There is no moat with Lyft because any user could easily switch to another ride hailing app.

awinder 8y ago
Yeah I was being sarcastic. My point is that theres a limited technical challenges on the scale of feasibility ("anyone _can_ build...). The big challenges are on the cost/return side of things. Google Fiber faced tremendous pressure for if it was responsible spending or not, which they ultimately decided it was not. So there's good skepticism here about why the valuation would be that high, but I think its a stretch to say they don't have a moat and they're doomed / you cant build a successful company that way. AT&T / Verizon seem very comparable (they don't have a technology moat, they have a first-mover advantage which has been stable for a long time).

jeremyjh 8y ago

Yes, let's talk about the unassailable infrastructure that Lyft and Uber have built. It would help for you to name such things that they have built, since they have not built fiber or railroads. Is it the software? Because it seems there are dozens of locale-specific services that work the same way. As near as I can tell, the only thing they have right now is brand recognition. That is a moat, but hardly unassailable if someone brings more pricing transparency to the entire market.

treis 8y ago
>Yes, let's talk about the unassailable infrastructure that Lyft and Uber have built It's a two sided market that takes a significant investment to create. Yes, Google can add G-Car to maps, but where are the drivers coming from? They're not going to switch unless they can expect more income than from Lyft/Uber. Google can't provide that without investing a lot of money in incentives. The best analog to Lyft/Uber is Mastercard/Visa. It's theoretically easy to enter the market, but in practice it's going to be very difficult to develop your own two sided marketplace going against the incumbent competitors.
- jeremyjh 8y ago
  Mastercard/Visa is a veritable fortress compared to Lyft/Uber. The plethora of locale-specific competitors proves that. When you go to Austin, you won't find some local credit card network that no one has ever heard of.