5 ms·

Lots of startup business models have been based around breaking the rules and then asking for forgiveness. See Uber etc

BobbyJo 5y ago
What rules did Uber break? I was under the impression that the startup model was to do things there are no rules for yet, and grow fast enough that you get to influence them when they're made.
- PedroBatista 5y ago
  > What rules did Uber break? Many and there's a long list. Almost every city had strict rules about passenger transportation, Uber obviously knew this and ignore them all. That's another reason they raised $25.2B in funding over 30 rounds, to become so big even big cities became small compared to them and they could use the "See you in court" tactic, by that point yeah they lose many cases, so what? They are so big cities and governments were pressured to change the laws to suit Uber. Nothing is black and white, before Uber the business wasn't exactly fair and clean but Uber applied the scumbag business tactic to a whole new level and it was amplified by the billions of dollars in funding.
  - BobbyJo 5y ago
    Any citations on the laws they broke? Edit: I'll take the down as a 'No' :P
    - EliRivers 5y ago
      https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=laws+uber+broke https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=laws+uber+broke "Uber’s business model is predicated on lawbreaking" [0] "That Uber regularly broke laws to cement its frontrunner status is not a controversial statement, it’s a fact." [1] [0] https://hbr.org/2017/06/uber-cant-be-fixed-its-time-for-regulators-to-shut-it-down https://hbr.org/2017/06/uber-cant-be-fixed-its-time-for-regu... [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xwxyv/uber-became-big-by-ignoring-laws-and-it-plans-to-keep-doing-that https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xwxyv/uber-became-big-by-ig...
      - fouric 5y ago
        "LMGT(FY)" is a disrespectful, counter-productive, and weaselly response. Please don't use it. If you make a claim, it's your responsibility to provide evidence (including links) to back it up, and anyone who has actually used Google extensively knows that (1) search results vary per user due to search bubbling and (2) search result quality (and precision) can vary wildly depending on the exact query used.
        EliRivers 5y ago
        Normally I'd agree, but in this case, BobbyJo absolutely asked for it. It would have taken ten seconds to find a huge amount of material on Uber's law-breaking, and to pretend that one never even heard of such a thing and that Uber is totally law-abiding? Bullshit; it's like asking for citations that water is wet. BobbyJo even came back to snark about downvotes. BobbyJo chose to be a passive-aggressive dickhead, and deserved to get exactly the same back. You'll note I did actually then provide some actual references. In conclusion, BobbyJo deserved it and it was a right thing to do. Disrespectful? Yes, that's the point.
        fouric 5y ago
        > In conclusion, BobbyJo deserved it and it was a right thing to do. Disrespectful? Yes, that's the point. This is absolutely against HN guidelines, general common decency, and just pure logic. You do not get to decide who "deserves it" and who doesn't. Even in cases where the information is easily found, there are polite ways to say that, and you appear to have intentionally chosen an impolite manner.
        EliRivers 5y ago
        you appear to have intentionally chosen an impolite manner. Yes, EXACTLY so. Choosing to be polite or not is part of expression. Active choice of politeness (or not) adds layers to meaning and communication. In this case, part of choosing to be impolite is expressing that BobbyJo didn't deserve politeness here. Conversely, sometimes being polite is itself brutally insulting. In this case, it would have been passive-aggressively treating BobbyJo like a child; far more insulting. You do not get to decide who "deserves it" and who doesn't. Of course I can make that decision. Just did. You might subscribe to a set of rules in which I don't get to make that decision; I clearly do not subscribe to that. I note that I certainly won't be telling you who you should and should not be polite to, though.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - kube-system 5y ago
    Uber took advantage of a grey area in the rules. They knew passenger transport was regulated, but didn’t physically transport any passengers. They didn’t break the rules as much as they had a (then) untested interpretation.

What rules did Uber break? I was under the impression that the startup model was to do things there are no rules for yet, and grow fast enough that you get to influence them when they're made.

PedroBatista 5y ago
> What rules did Uber break? Many and there's a long list. Almost every city had strict rules about passenger transportation, Uber obviously knew this and ignore them all. That's another reason they raised $25.2B in funding over 30 rounds, to become so big even big cities became small compared to them and they could use the "See you in court" tactic, by that point yeah they lose many cases, so what? They are so big cities and governments were pressured to change the laws to suit Uber. Nothing is black and white, before Uber the business wasn't exactly fair and clean but Uber applied the scumbag business tactic to a whole new level and it was amplified by the billions of dollars in funding.
- BobbyJo 5y ago
  Any citations on the laws they broke? Edit: I'll take the down as a 'No' :P
  - EliRivers 5y ago
    https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=laws+uber+broke https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=laws+uber+broke "Uber’s business model is predicated on lawbreaking" [0] "That Uber regularly broke laws to cement its frontrunner status is not a controversial statement, it’s a fact." [1] [0] https://hbr.org/2017/06/uber-cant-be-fixed-its-time-for-regulators-to-shut-it-down https://hbr.org/2017/06/uber-cant-be-fixed-its-time-for-regu... [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xwxyv/uber-became-big-by-ignoring-laws-and-it-plans-to-keep-doing-that https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xwxyv/uber-became-big-by-ig...
    - fouric 5y ago
      "LMGT(FY)" is a disrespectful, counter-productive, and weaselly response. Please don't use it. If you make a claim, it's your responsibility to provide evidence (including links) to back it up, and anyone who has actually used Google extensively knows that (1) search results vary per user due to search bubbling and (2) search result quality (and precision) can vary wildly depending on the exact query used.
      - EliRivers 5y ago
        Normally I'd agree, but in this case, BobbyJo absolutely asked for it. It would have taken ten seconds to find a huge amount of material on Uber's law-breaking, and to pretend that one never even heard of such a thing and that Uber is totally law-abiding? Bullshit; it's like asking for citations that water is wet. BobbyJo even came back to snark about downvotes. BobbyJo chose to be a passive-aggressive dickhead, and deserved to get exactly the same back. You'll note I did actually then provide some actual references. In conclusion, BobbyJo deserved it and it was a right thing to do. Disrespectful? Yes, that's the point.
        fouric 5y ago
        > In conclusion, BobbyJo deserved it and it was a right thing to do. Disrespectful? Yes, that's the point. This is absolutely against HN guidelines, general common decency, and just pure logic. You do not get to decide who "deserves it" and who doesn't. Even in cases where the information is easily found, there are polite ways to say that, and you appear to have intentionally chosen an impolite manner.
        EliRivers 5y ago
        you appear to have intentionally chosen an impolite manner. Yes, EXACTLY so. Choosing to be polite or not is part of expression. Active choice of politeness (or not) adds layers to meaning and communication. In this case, part of choosing to be impolite is expressing that BobbyJo didn't deserve politeness here. Conversely, sometimes being polite is itself brutally insulting. In this case, it would have been passive-aggressively treating BobbyJo like a child; far more insulting. You do not get to decide who "deserves it" and who doesn't. Of course I can make that decision. Just did. You might subscribe to a set of rules in which I don't get to make that decision; I clearly do not subscribe to that. I note that I certainly won't be telling you who you should and should not be polite to, though.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- kube-system 5y ago
  Uber took advantage of a grey area in the rules. They knew passenger transport was regulated, but didn’t physically transport any passengers. They didn’t break the rules as much as they had a (then) untested interpretation.