What do you mean some other company would have eventually figured it out? Literally dozens of companies were working on the concept in parallel, not just Lyft,

What do you mean some other company would have eventually figured it out? Literally dozens of companies were working on the concept in parallel, not just Lyft, whose existence already undercuts your argument. My friend Christian who eventually got into YC with a different startup entirely had one called CloudCar in Boston, and he was far from the only one. This same argument comes up literally every time obvious anti-competitive practices are mentioned and it’s bullshit. It’s completely and totally reasonable to demand innovation AND ethical business practices coexist and anyone telling you otherwise has an agenda.