Travis Kalanick at Startup School 2012

Kalanick describes Uber as an app for getting a car, launched in June 2010. At the time of the talk, the company had 120 employees, operated in 17 cities, and owned no cars or employed drivers. He says rides were growing an average of 26% month over month, and half of everyone who had ever ridden had done so in the previous 30 days.

Kalanick says the idea came from co-founder Garrett Camp in Paris: push a button and get a ride. Uber began as a private-car service for a limited group, then expanded as users asked for access. He says launches became more efficient with experience, and that marketplace liquidity improved pickup times, including a reduction in New York’s average from 12 minutes to about five.

Kalanick argues that a city-based service needs process managers alongside product managers, because changes to the service affect both people’s work and the technology. He describes demand and congestion prediction, dispatch, supply positioning, and dynamic pricing as tools for balancing driver utilization with short pickup times. For supply positioning, Uber compared forecast demand with the location of available cars to identify underserved areas.

Kalanick says lower-cost options such as UberX and taxi service could deepen engagement by giving riders choices at different price points. He describes promotions including roses delivered to passengers on Valentine’s Day, pedicabs and barbecue at South by Southwest, and ice cream rides. He also shares examples of drivers expanding from one car to fleets, saying one driver had grown to 20 cars.

Kalanick describes taxi medallions in New York as a major incumbent interest, saying there were 13,000 and that each was worth about $1 million. In Washington, D.C., he says Uber challenged a proposed price rule by mobilizing customers: within 18 hours, the company received 50,000 original emails and 37,000 tweets, and the measure was defeated. He closes by arguing that cities need convenient, accountable transportation options and that founders entering protected industries must be prepared to fight.