Uber chuyến đi bão táp

by Adam Lashinsky, Nguyễn Thụy Khánh Chương (Translator)

Uber - Chuyến Đi Bão Táp

Uber là một trong những doanh nghiệp thú vị và gây nhiều tranh cãi nhất thế giới, vì ý tưởng đi chung xe thông minh, tốc độ tăng trưởng nhanh chóng và cả những cáo buộc nặng nề trước quyết tâm theo đuổi thành công bằng mọi giá của CEO Travis Kalanick. Bất chấp tầm quan trọng của công ty này với nền kinh tế và cuộc cách mạng trong ngành vận tải, cũng như trận chiến giành quyền thống trị toàn cầu của Kalanick với giới quan chức chính quyền và các công ty taxi trên khắp thế giới, câu chuyện đầy đủ về Uber vẫn chưa từng được kể. Đây là câu chuyện mà những người khởi xướng các công ty khởi nghiệp, giám đốc các doanh nghiệp truyền thống, độc giả yêu thích công nghệ, những tài xế và người sử dụng dịch vụ gọi xe sẽ bị hút vào qua từng trang sách.

Trong Chuyến đi bão táp, Adam Lashinsky – cây bút kỳ cựu của Fortune sẽ vén tấm màn tăng trưởng chóng mặt của Uber từ xuất phát điểm khó khăn đến những kế hoạch mở rộng dịch vụ dựa trên nền tảng và mạng lưới sẵn có của công ty. Uber đang chiến đấu với các đối thủ và nhà cầm quyền khắp nơi trên thế giới để chiếm lĩnh thị trường; họ đã đối mặt với những cuộc biểu tình ở các thành phố lớn như Paris, Rio de Janeiro và Mumbai. Họ đã đối đầu và thất bại trong cuộc chiến đắt đỏ và hao tâm tổn trí với Didi ở thị trường Trung Quốc. Uber cũng tuyển những kỹ sư từ các viện nghiên cứu hàng đầu để phát triển chiếc xe tự hành có khả năng thay thế những tài xế mà họ đã nỗ lực để tuyển dụng.

Uber là tiêu đề chính trên các mặt báo mỗi ngày nhưng còn rất nhiều điều về quá khứ và tương lai của công ty này mà chúng ta chưa biết. Lashinky sẽ kể cho chúng ta câu chuyện Uber qua cuốn sách giàu thông tin, được nghiên cứu kỹ lưỡng về công nghệ làm gián đoạn thị trường và vị CEO có tầm nhìn xa nhưng cũng đầy táo tợn.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Buisness, Biography, History, Entrepreneurship

300 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2017

About the author

Adam Lashinsky is a Senior Editor At Large for Fortune Magazine, where he covers technology and finance. He is also a Fox News contributor and frequent speaker and moderator. Prior to joining Fortune, Lashinsky was a columnist for TheStreet.com and the San Jose Mercury News. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

[Thijs Niks · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has some interesting stories, but the writing isn't great and it misses a lot of the storyline. You should read The Upstarts instead.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is just ok, not that good. The first chapter and last chapter are the best parts, and they cover times the author spent with Travis and the storytelling is interesting in these sections. In between that though is a recounting of the Uber story that basically follows the headlines without very much unique insider information. The way the author jumps around to different time periods is messy. The info in there is mostly accurate but certainly not the full story (knowing more than a thing or two about it myself). The writing and storytelling is just ok; it's basically a very long Fortune Magazine article. There is a chapter in there where the author pats himself on the back for his investigative work by becoming an Uber driver. But it was clearly a half hearted attempt at best, seems he did maybe ~10-15 trips max, and it adds very little to the story, not sure why he seemed proud of that. Overall this book was below my expectations.

[Amar Pai · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a lot of new info in here. The book feels tossed off, just a quickie cash-in

Mostly it's ridiculously early for a book like this to exist. The story is happening in real time and most of the crazy developments from 2017 (Fowler, Greyball, Travis resigning) are given short shrift.

Also the writing is neither illuminating nor notable

I do want to read a book about Uber someday, hopefully by a better writer/reporter, written at a point when Uber's story is history and not news.

[Bogdan Korytskyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книга, що розповідає історію Uber до 2016, включно з усіма скандалами, що оточували компанію. Також, що досить очевидно, концентрується на особистості колишнього CEO-Тревора Каланіка

[Huong Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuốn sách về Uber và vị CEO Travis Klanick khá là thú vị đối với mình. Uber đã dừng dịch vụ ở Việt Nam sau khi bán cho Grab. Khi Uber mới bắt đầu dừng thì mình thấy tiếc ra phết, e.g. giá cạnh tranh hơn, bản đồ chính xác, tài xế cảm giác lịch sự hơn. Khách quan mà nói thì cuốn sách này không đi sâu lắm vào Uber, nó là sự mô tả Travis thông qua sự hình thành và phát triển của Uber, và trước đó là 2 cty Scour và Redswoosh của Travis. vị CEO mang nhiều danh tiếng xấu hơn là tốt này gợi cảm giác về một thanh niên khởi nghiệp hừng hực khí thế, xốc nổi, mộng mơ, lắm ý tưởng, 40 tuổi vẫn “cần trưởng thành hơn”.

Tuy vậy điều mình thích ở cuốn sách là việc các công ty công nghệ ở Silicon valley có nhiều liên hệ với nhau đến ngạc nhiên. Họ đầu tư lẫn nhau, sử dụng ý tưởng, học tập công nghệ, chiêu mộ nhân tài của nhau. Họ gặp gỡ, trao đổi, đánh giá về nhau như người cùng 1 thời. Đọc về Uber mà như được đánh mắt nhòm sang nhà hàng xóm Google, Apple, ... và các anh chủ hịn của các nhà đó 😃

Ở 1 số khía cạnh Travis có nét tương đồng với Steve Jobs (đọc mấy dòng về lúc cuối đời của Jobs rớm nước mắt), Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, và tổng thống Alexander Hamilton. Tất nhiên Travis không/chưa thành công bằng họ. (Travis từ chức CEO Uber cuối năm 2017, khi cuốn sách được xuất bản.)

Cuốn sách gợi cảm hứng cho mình tìm đọc về Google, về Elon Musk và Steve Jobs (vốn trước lười đọc kiểu này vì nghĩ sẽ giống tiểu sử). Và cuốn sách làm mình thấy thích làm cho 1 công ty công nghệ điên lên được trong mấy hôm - nơi mà ng ta làm việc quên giờ giấc, đầy sáng tạo và thử thách - nơi mà văn hoá là “không có gì không thể làm được, cứ làm đi” - nguội dần ở những chương cuối khi một CEO đầy tham vọng và thích gân hấn như Travis đã “down on earth” bằng việc chấp nhận bán Uber Trung Quốc cho Didi Chuxing và bán 1 loạt Uber ở Việt Nam, Sing... cho Grab.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was 'ok'. I, long ago, became a fan of Lyft and will remain so. It is a pure 'everyman's' rideshare. The Uber history is notable as much for the culture it portrays of the emergence of Silicon Valley and the explosion of ideas, products, and technology start-ups (Google, Apple, and Tesla). In the midst of it all stands Kalanick. The genius behind Uber, and the aggressive cad who (finally) finds himself now removed for the survival of the company.

[Quinten Vandermeulen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing book, but no must-read. Read the book if you’re intrigued by controversial people. Otherwise, pass on to another one. It won’t make you a better entrepreneur.

Travis Kalanick is undoubtedly one of the most controversial business personalities at the moment. That’s why I chose to read the book, it helped me to better understand the person of Kalanick behind his controversial quotes.

I always find it interesting to read about people and their struggles before they became famous. Wild Ride starts with Kalanick’s pre-Uber period and how this period taught him lessons that would eventually influence his later startup, Uber.

You’ll read that Kalanick is a master networker and how he used this skill to become an expert in fundraising. During the book, you will notice that Kalanick is the exponent of a thinker/doer person. He combines his philosophical, futuristic vision with a ‘get sh*t done’ mentality. That’s exactly what would define culture at Uber.

Wild Ride is not very well written and is sometimes confusing (possibly because I read the Dutch translation). It offers limited surprising insights or deep conversations with Kalanick, but is a fun read overall.

The anecdotal parts are the best. Like the part where Kalanick transformed his San Francisco home into a startup commune called the JamPad, where entrepreneurs could come over to hang and brainstorm. Or how he joined the Random Travelers Society, a group of entrepreneurs who literally threw a globe in the air to decide which country they would visit next. This trip would be a mix between holidays and networking.

Enjoy, but don’t expect too much from it.

Btw, this 2008 pre-Uber blogsite from Travis himself is maybe even better than the book! You’ll get some practical tips ‘n tricks on party crashing at CES and 15 fundraising techniques: https://swooshing.wordpress.com/about/

[Kevin Collett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book in less than three days which shows it is well written (Lashinsky is one of my favourite business writers) and not very long.

However, it's still all a bit "meh". My life is not worse for taking the time to read it but I didn't really learn that much either.

I wonder if this concept will be a lot better when Uber is public and so thorough financial analysis can be done alongside the people stories.

Hatching Twitter and Disrupted will probably be better books for people looking for juicy stories set in a well known business environment.

[Olena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book shares cool facts about the company, but the writing style could be more capturing.

[Jacques Coulardeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book, at Uber’s temporal scale of things, is already old. It wa published five years ago, before COVID-19, and written over a quite longer period of time. The book has a tremendous defect: it is journalistic and as such there are repeats, and the objective is not to analyze a situation, here a corporate project, and to find the logic of it. It is, all the more difficult because Travis Kalanick does not use standard words in their standard meaning, so that a sentence may mean nothing. In other words, you need a Kalanick-English dictionary constantly. And what’s more, he also considers the only way to speak is metaphorically, and not only that, but also symbolically, parabolically, imaginatively, and so many other distantiation from normal language. This language is never seriously analyzed and even considered. On page 204, the author enumerates Kalanick’s “‘brand pillars’ – grounded, populist, inspiring, highly evolved, and elevated.”

The author starts examining “grounded”: “By ‘grounded’ he [Kalanick] generally means practical: it uses technology to move people from one place to another. Yet […] ‘Grounded is like tonality,’ says Kalanick. ‘it’s like functional straight lines, the whole thing. All of the conference rooms are named for cities. They’re in alphabetical order. Like it’s just very practical.’” I have removed the recollection of the child Kalanick seen as a science-fiction reader, especially since we do, not know which science-fiction it is, Ron L. Hubbard science-fiction has little to do with Asimov, or Frank Herbert, with Dune or Blade Runner. But it has absolutely nothing to do with anything outside the American, meaning the US side of things. In science fiction, he would be well inspired to get to Chinese science fiction like the recent Chen Qiufan (The Waste Tide) or the rather old Lao She (Cat Country or City of Cats). He might understand the doom that is always imploding from inside when we reduce the world to me and the rest, to zero and one, to good or bad, to black or white, or Kalanick’s best “bits and atoms” (page 128), or even worse on the same page, in the same sentence “digital knowhow and real-world experience,” but this does NOT include human beings and any empathy of any sort. And Kalanick and the author add some play on the word “ground” and his ground is the “path” along which, within his own offices he paces to and from while talking on his cellphone. And he adds: “ ‘In the daytime, you’ll see me here,’ he says. ‘I’ll do forty-five miles a week.’ This is more ‘groundedness’ – literally the connection to the ground, but also representing the grind-it-out work it takes to oversee Uber. And all together we do not know what Kalanick means with “grounded,” though of course, he avoids the simple negative meaning of “grounded,” i.e., “The ship is grounded in the mud of the estuary, and we will have to wait at least twelve hours to maybe be able to free it again,” or “My father grounded me for a week because I forgot to bring the mail in.” The other “brand Pillars” are mentioned here and there over the next two pages.

Yet within these three pages, he manages to bring up a surprising science-fiction reference when visiting the fifth floor whose conference rooms are named after science fiction authors or books. Asimov’s Foundation series is no surprise. That’s a classic and that refers us to the American science fiction that refused Hubbard’s dictate. It remains human. The next mention, The Martian is also no surprise. Andy Weir wrote his book in 2011, and Ridley Scott’s film came out in 2015. But Ender’s Game is surprising. But let Kalanick explains this reference. “Explains Kalanick: ‘It’s a book about a kid who is trained by the military to play video games, but really complex video games. But he realizes at the end that the videogames he was playing were an actual war.’” (page 206). But the author never pushes this plain idea from Kalanick himself. He would and should have come to the idea that managing a startup like Uber is nothing but a more or less blind video game where the drivers, the cars, and the riders are pawns on an enormous chessboard, and this video game of sorts is a real, actual, and genuine exploitation of a situation in New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Paris or whatever other big cities. Uber is the ultimate Ender’s Game, and its militarization would take just a minute because it all functions as an army of autonomous soldiers sent into the urban jungle of a city to solve a problem as best, they can. In fact, it is the best possible propagator of any disease or pandemic since drivers who do not know riders transport them who do not know the drivers within a closed car space where they are in breathing contact for at least half an hour after the same breathing contact has been shared with who knows how many people before and for how long.

You can tell me it is the same with all public transportation systems from planes to taxis, but that does not excuse Uber whose cars are not theirs and hence under no sanitary control like cleaning and purification/disinfecting every night, plus ventilation of an antiseptic fluid of some type to keep the inside atmosphere clean and pure, as much as possible anyway and more than at the present moment. To manage from high in the sky such a system that reaches the main cities of all countries is a liability for these cities and the accountability of Kalanick is entire since he is supposed to guarantee the competence (including social, hygienic, linguistic, and some others) of the drivers and the absolute security of the cars that are not his, but the drivers’ cars. Public transportation was perfect – and still is – for the circulation of cold and flu viruses. But public transportation is perfect for the propagation of any other virus and of course aggressive viruses like COVID-19 and all its descendants. The author would defend himself by saying that the book was published before COVID-19. But today what can we do about these private cars used daily for that carsharing economic activity that cannot go to a central processing place every night to be duly sterilized and cleaned? Trains can, buses can, planes can, and taxis can, but private cars cannot. Uber is thus a health hazard or even a health liability, but Uber will always consider their accountability is not engaged since the cars are not their property.

I totally regret Adam Lashinsky does not even wonder about such problems, and he is not providing an index, which is standard with modern technology, we cannot check how many times words like “liability,” “accountability,” “emergency,” “personal responsibility of drivers,” “personal responsibility of managers and any personnel having the possibility to take decision implying some hazard for the users (riders and drivers) or the public. That would have led the author to the fact Uber literally got grounded in Europe by the general regulations on employment and salaried positions. Drivers employed like that are not micro-entrepreneurs but are contractual workers. The point is the contract between Uber and its drivers do not guarantee a regular income like any employee is entitled to get. In other words, labor Inspectors must be checking the situation and I am quite convinced they work on the simple line: “dissimulation of salaried employment in order not to pay any salary, hence, not to pay any contributions, and even evading VAT. The drivers are providing Uber with a service paid according to some scale, but VAT is included in the bill from the contractor who is the one who is supposed to pay this VAT. That’s a plain transfer of tax payment and that could be considered tax evasion. And the contracted drivers have to pay their contributions, both as employees and employers since they are officially self-employed, and there again the money paid by Uber includes these contributions that have to be paid by the contracted workers. Transfer of responsibility again.

The only point the book is critical about is the bad incomes provided to the drivers, and NEVER, I say NEVER EVER does Adam Lashinsky mention (of course he speaks mainly from the USA) social contributions, not even the only one that exists in the USA, collected and managed by the US Social Security Administration.

Social Security Administration
How is Social Security financed?
https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsh....
Social Security is financed through a dedicated payroll tax. Employers and employees each pay 6.2 percent of wages
up to the taxable maximum [https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsh...], of $147,000 (in 2022) while the self-employed pay 12.4 percent.
In 2021, $980.06 billion (90.1 percent) of total Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance income came from payroll taxes. The remainder was provided by interest earnings of $70.1 billion (6.4 percent) and revenue from taxation of OASDI benefits of $37.6 billion (3.4 percent).
The payroll tax rates are set by law, and for OASI and DI, apply to earnings up to a certain amount. This amount, called the earnings base, rises as average wages increase.



So, you may understand that the fares minus 25% for Uber, then minus 12.4 percent of this 75% for OASDI, minus California’s (or whatever other state’s) sales tax, minus personal liability and accountability insurance, minus general car insurance, minus health insurance. There must be little left for living. And in Europe, we have the tradition of trying to untangle all sorts of tinkered-around plans that only target the evasion from a maximum of these compulsory taxes and contributions.

Then you will understand why Kalanick is so keen on imagining driverless cars because it solves all these problems, at least superficially in the USA, but in Europe, robots are considered somewhere as employees with varying legislations, rules, and other European directives. Is it progress? Probably at the technical level and even at the road management and transportation levels. But bluntly applied like that by Uber, it is the most inhuman and inhumane approach to the transportation of humans and freight. This situation is rife with conflict, and social conflict, and since the drivers are not employees they can’t unionize legally, but in Europe, they can anyway, and beyond unionization, there are all sorts of class actions and other court procedures.

The book then could have been reduced by half. Half of it is repeats and purely circumstantial elements that bring nothing about the real subject which is the revolution we are right now going through in the world in the field of transportation of people and freight. Uber is not the solution. Uber is a provocative development that will bring the next phase with compulsory daily passage to a cleaning and technical center to make sure the driverless vehicle is fit for running on the following day. These centers will have to employ a lot of people and some of them if not all of them, are highly technically qualified to deal with the various problems encountered in the car, with the cars, and around the cars. Or does Kalanick envisage making Uber a totally anti-social enterprise like in the case when Uber was running full blast to replace the taxi drivers that went on strike for an hour against Trump’s travel bans essentially against Muslims? I am afraid Kalanick’s conclusion goes exactly that way:

“Know what’s right, fight for it, don’t be a jerk.” So read the book but at your own risk and peril, if not your own expense. He is a dual mind for whom the whole world, the whole life, the whole universe even, are cut in two: “If you are a truth seeker, you just want the truth. And if you believe that something is not the truth, then you want to keep seeking the truth. That’s just how I’m wired.” That makes him OCD, obsessive-compulsive, and a simple victim of binarism for whom everything is either-or and nothing else.

When you are finished, go back to page 22 and read again the conclusion of Chapter 1:

“Uber’s story remains a tale of our times of [1] the Transformative power of technology, [2] the impermanence of long-term employment, [3] and the opportunity of Silicon Valley and virtual communities like it to turn [1] scrappiness, [2] moxie, and [3] smarts into vast fortunes.” [my highlighting and comments are in red and blue.]

I guess here the journalist resists the binary mind of his interviewee and reorganizes this interviewee’s world in two ternary elements, but he only considers the side of the entrepreneurs. The author is, in this book, in total agreement with Kalanick who expresses practically never any empathy for anyone, except maybe – and it is not sure – for himself.

He would have been empathetic with the workers for example if he had taken a third ternary approach, each level being themselves ternary.



So, enjoy the trip and if you have any empathy, you can tip the driver who has to survive on a pittance for a lot more work than this pittance should be paying. As for me, I consider public transportation and transportation, in general, have to be discussed democratically by each national community, then by the representatives of these communities to take decisions at their level, and then coordination of these decisions at all levels up to the world and the United Nations that had to have today a global authority to manage all transportation in the world, including military vessels on the ocean and the policing authority has to be just like the UN Peace Keepers. Maybe then the Taiwan Straits might become civilized and US war vessels should be banned from there where they have nothing to do, except provide the President of the United States with a way to try to win some popularity contest like elections.

Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

[Marks54 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about Uber and its former CEO Travis Kalanick by a writer from Fortune magazine who has recently written about Apple and Steve Jobs. It is reasonably written, fairly thorough, and follows Uber up through the start of 2017, although not to Kalanick's recent ouster. It is an informative book and reads like an extended feature article or set of articles in Fortune. The key to the success of an effort like this is not the content (since that is widely known as accessible on the web) but more the tone in which the firm and its star wild child CEO are depicted. Overall, Lashinsky is positive towards his subject while not running over into overt hagiography. As a business book about such a hot current firm and its controversies, the book is even moderate in its approach. It does not pay as much to be a muckraker these days, unless you have proof in hand (and often not even then). It is more important to explicate the story being enacted by the firm and its leader. Critiques do not sell well and may limit the potential for future interviews. Woe the plight of the business journalist!

Uber and Kalanick are at the center of the second wave of internet-based sensational firms - those that combine programming and smart phones with the management of material things (in this case cars). These platform businesses offer the prospects of scaling up to vast size on the basis of new and disruptive ways to approach traditional businesses, such as taxis and limos. AirBnB is another notable example of this breed threatening hotels rather than ground transportation.

Figuring out how a business model like Uber's actually works and how it can be scaled to large volume is fascinating. A firm like Uber is actually serving multiple audiences at once (both riders and drivers) and how to keep both parties happy and cooperative while making a tidy profit is a substantial problem, which firms like Uber solve and resolve as they grown.

A fascinating part of Uber's platform strategy for growth also involves how it interacts with local governments and their rules regarding vehicle and driver's licensing, taxi medallions, taxis, employee benefits, and a host of related issues. I do not wish to defend the sterile rigidities of local taxi systems and do not believe that the local population was served by these collusive local businesses. At the same time, it is difficult to see where innovation leaves off in a new startup and is replaced by strategies for pushing ones costs onto to others in the name of creating new value. This seems to be a defining area of contention for Uber and I cannot wait to see how it shakes out as Uber grows to maturity (and an eventual IPO).

Behind all of this is the nature of the "gig" economy that Uber has come to represent. Not making enough money to support your obligations and aspirations? The solution is to drive for Uber, on your terms and on your own time, and earn extra money. This all sounds fine when couched in the language of freedom and entrepreneurship but be sure not to ask too much about what your effective hourly rate is, how the value of your car is depreciating, and what your health insurance premia as an independent contractor will be. Is the gig economy a solution to income inequality and slowing growth or is it more a symptom of the broader societal and economic problem? You will not find answers in this book, although to his credit Lashinsky tries out life as an Uber driver and does not deny that pay has been declining with fares I am not sure if all of the participants in the Uber ecosystems are as found of the arrangements as Kalanick and his staff are.

The deeper analysis of Uber may have to wait a while, as performance data accumulates and the firm moves towards going public. Whether this firm continues to be worth over $70 billion is an open question and much more will need to develop before a thorough history will be worth the effort. Perhaps Uber will start to look more like a taxi company - and perhaps not. While Uber has had to exit the Chinese market and back off from its battle with Didi, it has had some success in Europe. The international evolution of the firm will be worth following as will its diversification into other products. The self-driving car initiative is the hardest to predict but offers Uber the potential to really change society, although the costs here are also not known.

Lashinsky's book is a firm introduction to the rapid growth of the firms and is worth reading.

[Kevin Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very interested in the subject and I just don't think Lashinsky did all that great a job in making the book compelling reading. I usually like books by reporters but this one just never grabbed me due to the writing style, some redundancy, or something. I still read the book with interest because I'm interested in the subject.

[Herbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want someone to write about tech in a tone that is neither captured nor ideologically critical. I want to read something human. This came so close, but did not hit that mark. Nonetheless, there was some valuable intel here for me as a new traveler in the tech industry.

[Darnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as much hagiography as I'd feared, but still a little breathless. I suspect that the worthwhile books about Uber will be written at least a decade in the future if they are written at all.

[Harry Harman]

Uber’s entire business model is predicated on challenging obsolete laws meant to protect entrenched interests and frustrate innovation rather than benefit consumers. The whole notion of taxi medallions and fixed pricing, for example, constricts supply and keeps prices high—both negatives for riders.

if there had been no iPhone there would have been no Uber.

scrappy

swung for the fences

scorched-earth tactics

The company, then named UberCab

Uber’s “math department,” as he called it, included a computational statistician, a rocket scientist, and a nuclear physicist. They were running, he informed me, a Gaussian process emulation—a fancy statistical model—to improve on data available from Google’s mapping products.

joined an elite group of corporate names that double as verbs: No need to drive to the event, I’ll just Uber there.

For Kalanick, Uber also was the culmination of his experiences to date as an entrepreneur, the sum total of his failures and successes—plus the usual right-time/right-place luck.

VCs can consider their funds fantastic successes if one in ten of their investments pays off.

turn scrappiness, moxie, and smarts into vast fortunes.

The center of gravity for computer science is 350 miles north, in Silicon Valley, its epicenter on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto.

The world’s leading venture capitalists, investors who make risky bets on unproven technology companies, nearly all had their offices on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, minutes from the Stanford campus. The proximity was no coincidence: the financiers recognized the value of staying close

ARPANET. From that first transmission between two “nodes” on the network—the receiving node, as it happened, was at Stanford—the Internet was born.

we were proxying like twenty megabits a second of traffic. Back then, that much bandwidth would cost you like twenty thousand dollars a month to buy.”

“I was doing the deal and learning all the things that in Silicon Valley are standardized now,” says Kalanick, who had neither a background in deal making nor mentors to turn to for advice. “We have blog posts now about all that stuff, about how term sheets work, for example. But at the time, nobody knew shit. It was all tribal knowledge. There was no source of information on venture deals.

would invest $4 million for a controlling, 51 percent stake in Scour. The young company would move into the same building in Beverly Hills as Checkout.com. The deal was supposed to close within a month, during which time the Scour side was not allowed to solicit a better deal, known as a “no-shop” clause.

Says Kalanick: “You’re watching your work, your stuff being auctioned off in a bankruptcy court.

When Kalanick wasn’t playing sports, he was working. He scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins and made copies at Kinko’s. He had a job conducting telephone surveys.

degrees in two majors. A combined computer science and electrical engineering was one. Business economics was the other.

part-time job was the SAT prep class he helped start near his parents’ home

Facilitating the movement of large files was already a big business

Kalanick was frugal as well, sometimes in eccentric ways. He rode an old motorcycle to work, in all kinds of weather. Says Fabbrocino: “We all thought he was crazy. Sometimes he would show up for work drenched from the rain. I respected that.”

The more excited he got about it the faster he talked about it.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

An informative look at the history and growth of Uber as a company.

I checked this out from the library for a research paper for an IT class. It presents much of the same information as documented in The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World, but in a condensed fashion with a focus mainly on Uber. Lashinsky nicely lays out some of the background and surrounding issues relevant to the various events to give the reader a full sense of what was going on at the time.

I found the book pretty easy to get through. It was interesting to learn the basics of Uber's operating structure. As with other accounts of Uber, much of the book emphasizes Travis Kalanick's role in the company and the various challenges and controversies it faced under his leadership. At times, Lashinsky is very critical of Kalanick, however he does offer a glimpse into the former CEO's experiences and thinking through various decisions in a way that is humanizing and helps the reader understand where Kalanick was coming from. Many articles I've read just try to fit him in the box of a "bad" person, so it was interesting to read an account that discusses his previous failure, business decisions, priorities, and thought process. This doesn't excuse Kalanick's behavior, but does present him as an actual person with strengths and flaws, not just a simple caricature.

Overall a good read. Interesting especially for those hoping to learn about the basics of Uber. Goes through the company's main events up to early 2017 (does not include information of Kalanick being replaces as CEO by Dara Khosrowshahi).

[Lê Nhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quyển này nói về sự hình thành và phát triển của Uber.
Tuy nhiên cách viết của tác giả chưa đi sâu vào Uber, chỉ nói ngoài ngoài z đó. Kiểu như học bài cho có chứ không học sâu :)))
Phần giá trị nhất chắc là mấy trang cuối, tóm tắt lại quá trình hình thành và phát triển của Uber.

Đọc xong quyển sách mình mới vào search Uber, thấy nó cũng đang hoạt động ở Mỹ là thị trường chính :)) Uber đã rút khỏi Việt Nam năm 2018. Điều mình biết là nhà đầu tư phải đổ rất rất nhiều tiền và tương lai lãi thế nào vẫn chưa rõ. Vì thị trường gọi xe phụ thuộc vào việc ai trụ lại lâu hơn và có nhiều ưu đãi hơn. Người gọi xe sẽ chọn hãng nào rẻ hơn, người lái xe sẽ chọn bên nào trả ít hoa hồng hơn.
Làm mình nhớ tới Xanh SM. Hồi mới ra mình rất thích app này vì xe điện chạy êm, giá cũng oke, nhiều khuyến mãi, lại của Việt Nam. Nhưng mà sau cỡ khoảng 10 lần chạy, Xanh SM không cho mã giảm nữa, giá cũng đắt hơn, app thì thỉnh thoảng đứng, tài xế ít nên mình tải lại Grab để đi.
Xanh ơi, em đổ ít vốn quá, chị chưa kịp thay đổi hành vi tiêu dùng thì em đã hết mã giảm giá :)))

Ấn tượng về quyển sách:
Biết về Travis Kalanick-CEO, hiểu rằng hình ảnh của người đứng đầu ảnh hưởng đến công ty thế nào. Ông giỏi, rất giỏi, táo bạo, tâm huyết nhưng cũng ngoan cố, có những phát ngôn gây tranh cãi. Cảm giác ông xây doanh nghiệp để phục vụ cho đối tượng khách hàng, tài xế chỉ là công cụ, vậy nên không để tâm lắm.
Khác biệt, vĩ đại, làm việc lớn thì chấp chập cảnh cô độc.
Uber - Too big to handle. Mình có cảm giác vậy, ý tưởng tốt, gặp thời nhưng lớn nhanh quá nên không kịp chuẩn bị.

Sau cùng, trường hợp của Uber giống với câu:
Đi đầu chỉ là một chiến thuật chứ không phải mục tiêu. Tốt hơn nên là kẻ xuất phát sau cùng.

[Alex Devero · Rating 2 out of 5]

If i would have to summarize this book in one word, it would be ok. Author starts the book with describing the early entrepreneurial beginnings Travis Kalanick. He talks about how Travis get his first business experience and co-founded his first and second company - Scour and Red Swoosh. Then, author moves to the main focus of the book, building and growing Uber. Reader will find a couple of interesting stories about Travis and Uber and also about many problems Uber had to, and still has to, deal with.

That said, I have to agree with some reviews saying that the reads book like a set of articles. It really does feel that way when you read it. Probably the biggest time-waster was chapter where the author tries to become an Uber driver for a couple of days. After reading this chapter, I don't see a reason to include it in the book, other than to make the book longer. Sometimes, it also looked like the author wanted to copy style of Steve Jobs biography written by Walter Isaacson. It didn't work.

Would I recommend this book? Probably not. I would suggest reading The Upstarts by Brad Stone, which is on completely different level (in a good way). To summarize it, it was somewhat good read. However, ff you want to learn something about Uber and business in general, there are much better books than this one. If you decide to skip this one, you will not miss anything important.

[Anh Vu Phan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hành trình của Travis Kalanik cùng Garret Camp xây dựng Uber từ nhũng ngày đầu, nuôi ấp từng thành phố, mở rộng phạm vi ra toàn cầu, cạnh tranh khốc liệt với Didi ở thị trường Trung Quốc và Grab ở thị trường Đông Nam Á (rất tiếc là đều thất bại trước các đối thủ này) cũng như công cuộc đổi mới sáng tạo không ngừng để không bị đào thải trong thời đại xe tự hành sắp tới.

Trong đó, các vấn đề có thể nói là nổi trội nhất mà Uber cần giải quyết là:
- Thách thức công nghệ mới: lịch sử cho thấy các đổi mới công nghệ có thể phá hủy cả một nền công nghiệp. Trong lịch sử và hiện tại, Uber đã lần lượt tiêu diệt ngành kinh doanh taxi ở các thành phố lớn trên thế giới. Họ không hề muốn tương lai sẽ đối xử với mình theo cách đó. Rót nhiều tiền của và trí tuệ vào nghiên cứu và phát triển xe tự hành, Uber đang đứng trước cuộc cạnh tranh khốc liệt với Google, Tesla, ... nhằm giành lấy ưu thế người dẫn đầu.
- Nhận dạng kỹ thuật số của khách hàng trong thời đại Dữ liệu lớn. Các thông tin khác hàng, lịch sử di chuyển, thông tin tài chính đã không được Uber coi trọng đúng mực trong thời kì đầu. Điều này đã khiến công ty rơi vào chuỗi bất tận các vụ kiện và bê bối.

Một cuốn sách khá ngắn gọn (có thể hoàn thành trong một lần ngồi đọc) nhưng cảm giác chưa tới. Hai chương đầu và chương cuối cùng có lẽ là hay nhất.

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75-3 stars

Clearly a disappointment.

1. The book has been "castrated" - the author has admitted Kalanick had to "approve" the content (I don't remember the exact words, but I remember the threats e.g. what will happen when the book is published too early ...).
2. The book mentions even less "convenient" situations (e.g. withdrawal from China, case of Susan Fowler, rape in India), but it's hard to say it covers them - they are barely mentioned as "inconveniences" that even if painful (like the whole China story) do not need much detail or attention (entering the China market made a full chapter, but there's very little content there - don't expect e.g. many numbers).
3. There's pretty much zero internal stories one couldn't have read out in open Internet. So the book is valuable mainly for people who don't know anything about Uber story, the evolution of its business model & personal affairs of Travis K. The only exceptions are Kalanick's pre-Uber times - actually, this was quite interesting.
4. Ironically the "Wild Ride" ends when the ride started to become really wild (I know - it's not a fault of the author) - Kalanick's resignation, escalation of sexual misconduct allegations, etc.

In general - balances on the edge of being a waste of time.

[Yogi Hartono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uber's controversies are not new to me. I have heard many things about Uber, from its rise to its doom especially the latest news about its stock price after IPO. I had envisioned this book to be very exciting, full of twists and hardcore moments. And it didn't disappoint.

Each chapter serves a very clear distinction and progression to the story. I also love the way Adam wraps up each chapter with an exciting turn of events, tempting me to read more and more about how Uber developed along the way. I also learned a lot of important figures in Uber's rise and fall, which I am very happy to learn about. I had a great time understanding the complexities of founding a company, raising funds, and managing the company through threats served by the government legal, public perceptions, competition, the future of the industry, and so much more. Though it is kind of unfortunate that this book does not cover their IPO effort and TK stepping down moment. Will definitely try to get the Super Pumped book afterward.

I highly recommend this to those who want to learn more about Uber and the start-up world. A great read for those who want to improve their business acumen too.

[Tensy (bookdoyen) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you live in suburbia your exposure to the car ride-sharing company, Uber, may be limited, but if you live in large cities in the US and globally, then Uber is your transportation hub. In this book, Lashinsky describes the launching of the company and the personal history of Travis Kalanick, its often controversial founder. The company has grown exponentially in a short time and now finds itself in the center of much controversy. However, Lashinky gives insights into what makes Kalanick, and most famous entrepreneurs, tick. With lofty ideas, that reflect his love of science fiction, Kalanick created a company that disrupted the way we use cars and taxi services. He may do the same for driverless cars and even flying cars in our near future. This past week, a new CEO to replace Kalanick was hired by Uber's board. It will be interesting to see where the company goes from here, but I imagine it will continue to be a wild ride.

[Tai Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

Một cuốn sách khá thú vị trong quá trình phát triển của Uber, cách những người sáng lập đưa ra ý tưởng và phát triển ý tưởng đó. Các ý tưởng để mở rộng Uber thành một ứng dụng có tầm ảnh hưởng cao rất ấn tượng, đặc biệt là Uberpool - ứng dụng dùng chung xe - tiết kiệm được tiền bạc và hạn chế ùn tắc trong giờ cao điểm. Các quyết định khôn ngoan của Travis Kalanick và các cộng sự để khiến Uber có trải nghiệm tốt hơn và tránh lãng phí vào các thị trường mới.
Và đằng sau sự hào nhoáng ấy là nhiều vấn đề chưa được giải quyết, sự cạnh tranh của các ứng dụng với trải nghiệm tương tự, tình trạng phân biệt giới tính và cưỡng bức, mức lương của tài xế cũng chưa được giải quyết.
Một kỳ lân startup được định giá 70 tỷ dollars, họ xứng đáng là những người tiên phong trong việc mang dịch vụ chia sẻ tài sản (xe) cho thế giới hiện nay.

[Mitchell Wakefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting behind the scenes look at the origin and growth of one of America's most disruptive, successful and controversial companies. Adam Lashinsky does a great job unpacking the personal story of Travis Kalanick and his journey within the Silicon Valley ecosystem, trials and tribulations in building companies, and rocketship rise in creating Uber.

With Kalanick being a lightning rod of controversy it was an interesting read in retrospect of him stepping down as CEO shortly after the book release. It should be interesting to see how Uber takes on the next chapter of company strategy.

Anyone interested in Uber, or just interested in seeing how unprepared a startup company can be when taking on hyper-growth once finding product market fit, is sure to enjoy this book.

[Todd Benschneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and entertaining look inside Uber, the nations most valuable privately owned company despite having yet to turn a profit.

Unlike many other books of this type, the author really seems to present a fair portrayal of the company founder Travis Kalanick and his evolution throughout the company history.

I never once got the impression that the author Lashinsky was compensated to paint the company founders in a favorable light or instead been funded by opponents to publish the behind the scenes dirt. However, the book has very little information about the other Uber founders or key employees which would have helped paint a clearer picture in a broader context.

Valuable book for everyone interested in disruptive innovation or economics.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read and informative narrative about the cofounder of Uber, Travis Kalanick, as well as the rise of the company itself. One slight is that the author seems to have had to sacrifice more direct and sustained criticism of Kalanick in order to gain approval and direct access to him and his company. The succinctness of the book perhaps increases the ease of digesting the information, but it seems like there is much left unsaid and unlearned.

Most notably and unfortunately, the book was published about a month before Kalanick was forced to leave Uber amid allegations of rampant sexual harassment at the company. Oops.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise, well-written, easy to read book, which provided insight into an industry giant & its CEO. Shedding light on the perceived value of this emerging industry & providing perspective of the personality of the industry leading company & its CEO.
One particularly interesting topic is that of the self-driving cars, the vested interest of large influential organisations & the perceived eminence by respected individuals.

[Emily Jurlina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written and a quick read but, in my opinion, a bit overly sympathetic to Travis Kalanick. I would have liked to hear more from people who are also critical of him. The author interviews a lot of Kalanick's business associates and also Kalanick himself, but none of Uber's critics.

I also would have preferred that the author spent more time with Uber drivers than including an unnecessary section about becoming an Uber driver for a few weeks.

[Anirudh Ramanathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced and a compelling narrative of Uber's transformation from a luxury car service to the ubiquitous ride hailing, sharing and food delivery service. The book presents a history of Travis Kalanick's previous ventures, philosophy, major decisions and various missteps. Although parts of the book rehashed well known events, it has a detailed behind the scenes take on the early years of hypergrowth at Uber.

[Alecsphys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book that shows lights and shadows of one of the most famous person of modern world, the face of Uber, its CEO. What most interested me was not the life of Kalanick but the fast evolution of his company that in few years conquered the world despite millions of critics, attacks, legal failures. Uber is not just as perfect as you could imagine, people love and hate it, exactly the mirror of its CEO. We can't neglect the power of both the visionary Kalanick and the established Uber service.