by Isaac, Mike
Chapter 3: POST-POP DEPRESSION
27a starting price of $25,000: “Where Are They Now: 17 Dot-Com Bubble Companies and Their Founders,” CB Insights, September 14, 2016, https://www.cbinsights.com/research/dot-com-bubble-companies/.
28One fifth of all office space: Matt Richtel, “A City Takes a Breath After the Dot-Com Crash; San Francisco’s Economy Is Slowing,” New York Times, July 24, 2001.
29“Are you frickin’ kidding me?”: BAMM.TV, “FailCon 2011.”
30“VC’s ain’t shit but hos and tricks”: BAMM.TV, “FailCon 2011.”
31he sold Red Swoosh: Liz Gannes, “Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on How He Failed and Lived to Tell the Tale,” D: All Things Digital, November 8, 2011, http://allthingsd.com/20111108/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-on-how-he-failed-and-lived-to-tell-the-tale/.
32“It is in the VC’s nature”: TechCo Media, “Travis Kalanick, Founder & CEO of Uber—Tech Cocktail Startup Mixology,” YouTube video, 34:35, June 14, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrp0me9iJ_U.
Chapter 4: A NEW ECONOMY
33seized control of Fannie Mae: Stephen Labaton and Edmund L. Andrews, “In Rescue to Stabilize Lending, U.S. Takes Over Mortgage Finance Titans,” New York Times, September 7, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/08fannie.html.
3475 percent of American households: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “More than 75 Percent of American Households Own Computers,” Beyond the Numbers 1, no 4 (2010), https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/archive/more-than-75-percent-of-american-households-own-computers.pdf.
34more than half of American adults: John B. Horrigan, “Home Broadband 2008,” Pew Research Center, July 2, 2008, http://www.pewinternet.org/2008/07/02/home-broadband-2008/.
36“nearly killed our company”: John Doerr, interview with the author, April 3, 2018.
37his vision for the iPhone: Rene Ritchie, “The Secret History of iPhone,” iMore, January 22, 2019, https://www.imore.com/history-iphone-original.
39coders like Steve Demeter: Brian X. Chen, “iPhone Developers Go from Rags to Riches,” Wired, September 19, 2008, https://www.wired.com/2008/09/indie-developer/.
40“the appification of the economy”: Interview with author, April 3, 2018.
Chapter 5: UPWARDLY IMMOBILE
44Casino Royale, the 2006 reboot: Brad Stone, “Uber: The App That Changed How the World Hails a Taxi,” Guardian, January 29, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/29/uber-app-changed-how-world-hails-a-taxi-brad-stone.
44flourish on Bond’s cell phone: Stone, Upstarts.
46his personal blog: Travis Kalanick, “Expensify Launching at TC50!!,” Swooshing (blog), September 17, 2008, https://swooshing.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/expensify-launching-at-tc50/.
46a roomful of young engineers: TechCo Media, “Travis Kalanick, Founder & CEO of Uber.”
47“VC’s are trying to axe the founder”: TechCo Media, “Travis Kalanick Startup Lessons.”
48“musings and often controversial aphorisms”: https://twitter.com/konatbone.
49“respectable clientele”: Garrett Camp, “The Beginning of Uber,” Medium, August 22, 2017, https://medium.com/@gc/the-beginning-of-uber-7fb17e544851.
Chapter 6: “LET BUILDERS BUILD”
54“Looking 4 entrepreneurial product”: Travis Kalanick (@travisk), “Looking 4 entrepreneurial product mgr/biz-dev killer 4 a location based service.. pre-launch, BIG equity, big peeps involved—ANY TIPS??,” Twitter, January 5, 2010, 8:14 p.m., https://twitter.com/travisk/status/7422828552.
54“heres a tip. email me”: Ryan Graves (@ryangraves), “@KonaTbone heres a tip. email me :) graves.ryan[at]gmail.com,” Twitter, January 5, 2010, 8:17 p.m., https://twitter.com/ryangraves/status/7422940444?lang=en.
54found him near Ocean Beach: Anita Balakrishnan, “How Ryan Graves became Uber’s first CEO,” CNBC, May 14, 2017, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/14/profile-of-ubers-ryan-graves.html.
54Graves’s Tumblr: ryangraves, Tumblr, http://ryangraves.tumblr.com/.
54One personal favorite: ryangraves, Tumblr, http://ryangraves.tumblr.com/post/516416119/via-fuckyeahjay-z.
55thirty new customers: Brian Lund, “From Dead-End Job to Uber Billionaire: Meet Ryan Graves,” DailyFinance, July 3, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20140707042902/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/uber-billionaire-ryan-graves/.
55small, metallic statue of an ape-man: ryangraves, Tumblr, http://ryangraves.tumblr.com/post/336093270/dpstyles-crunchie-closeup-aka-the-heisman-of.
56Graves posted to his Facebook: Ryan Graves, “Into the Infinite Abyss of the Startup Adventure,” Facebook, February 14, 2010, https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=476991565402.
58“Uber CEO ‘Super Pumped’ ”: Michael Arrington, “Uber CEO ‘Super Pumped’ about Being Replaced by Founder,” TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2010/12/22/uber-ceo-super-pumped-about-being-replaced-by-founder/.
59posed for an Instagram snapshot: Uber HQ (@sweenzor), Instagram Photo, September 18, 2013, https://www.instagram.com/p/eatIa-juEa/?taken-by=sweenzor.
59hailed UberCab’s model: Leena Rao, “UberCab Takes the Hassle Out of Booking a Car Service,” TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2010/07/05/ubercab-takes-the-hassle-out-of-booking-a-car-service/.
59one TechCrunch article by Arrington said: Michael Arrington, “What If UberCab Pulls an Airbnb? Taxi Business Could (Finally) Get Some Disruption,” TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2010/08/31/what-if-ubercab-pulls-an-airbnb-taxi-business-could-finally-get-some-disruption/.
Chapter 7: THE TALLEST MAN IN VENTURE CAPITAL
65“It’s magic”: GigaOm, “Bill Gurley, Benchmark Capital (full version),” YouTube video, 32:48, December 14, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBaYsK_62EY.
65fund returned $250 million: John Markoff, “Internet Analyst Joins Venture Capital Firm,” New York Times, July 14, 1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/14/business/internet-analyst-joins-venture-capital-firm.html.
66worked at the Johnson Space Center: Marissa Barnett, “Former Resident Donates $1M to Dickinson,” Galveston County Daily News, September 6, 2017, http://www.galvnews.com/news/article_7c163944-63ee-5499-8964-fec7ef7e0540.html.
66Lucia spent her spare time: Bill Gurley, “Thinking of Home: Dickinson, Texas,” Above the Crowd (blog), September 6, 2017, http://abovethecrowd.com/2017/09/06/thinking-of-home-dickinson-texas/.
66one of the first relatively inexpensive: “Commodore VIC-20,” Steve’s Old Computer Museum, http://oldcomputers.net.
66he mostly rode the bench: Eric Johnson, “Full Transcript: Benchmark General Partner Bill Gurley on Recode Decode,” Recode, September 28, 2016, https://www.recode.net/2016/9/28/13095682/bill-gurley-benchmark-bubble-uber-recode-decode-podcast-transcript.
66He played for one minute: “Bill Gurley,” Sports Reference, College Basketball (CBB), https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/bill-gurley-1.html and “Bill Gurley Season Game Log,” Sports Reference, College Basketball (CBB), https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/bill-gurley-1/gamelog/1988/.
67he was infatuated: Gabrielle Saveri, “Bill Gurley Venture Capitalist, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners,” Bloomberg, August 25, 1997, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1997-08-24/bill-gurley-venture-capitalist-hummer-winblad-venture-partners.
70“He’s kind of an animal”: Stross, Randall E., EBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work (Crown Publishers, 2000).
71Gurley wrote: Bill Gurley, “Benchmark Capital: Open for Business,” Above the Crowd (blog), December 1, 2008, https://abovethecrowd.com/2008/12/01/benchmark-capital-open-for-business/.
Chapter 8: PAS DE DEUX
72Roughly one third: Artturi Tarjanne, “Why VC’s Seek 10x Returns,” Activist VC Blog (blog), Nexit Adventures, January 12, 2018, http://www.nexitventures.com/blog/vcs-seek-10x-returns/.
74Kalanic
k frequently compared: Amir Efrati, “Uber Group’s Visit to Seoul Escort Bar Sparked HR Complaint,” The Information, March 24, 2017, https://www.theinformation.com/articles/uber-groups-visit-to-seoul-escort-bar-sparked-hr-complaint.
75“Software is eating the world”: Andreessen Horowitz, Software Is Eating the World, https://a16z.com/.
75deals increased by 73 percent: Richard Florida and Ian Hathaway, “How the Geography of Startups and Innovation Is Changing,” Harvard Business Review, November 27, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/11/how-the-geography-of-startups-and-innovation-is-changing.
75billions invested post-2010: Center for American Entrepreneurship, “Rise of the Global Startup City,” Startup Revolution, http://startupsusa.org/global-startup-cities/.
75emerged as the world’s epicenter: Center for American Entrepreneurship, “Rise of the Global Startup City.”
76“to organize the world’s information”: “From the Garage to the Googleplex,” About, Google, https://www.google.com/about/our-story/.
76controversial financial instrument: “The Effects of Dual-Class Ownership on Ordinary Shareholders,” Knowledge@Wharton, June 30, 2004, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-effects-of-dual-class-ownership-on-ordinary-shareholders/.
77“An Owner’s Manual For Google Investors”: Larry Page and Sergey Brin, “2004 Founders’ IPO Letter,” Alphabet Investor Relations, https://abc.xyz/investor/founders-letters/2004/ipo-letter.html.
77$3.5-billion acquisition: “Snapchat Spurned $3 Billion Acquisition Offer from Facebook,” Digits (blog), Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2013, https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/11/13/snapchat-spurned-3-billion-acquisition-offer-from-facebook/.
Chapter 9: CHAMPION’S MINDSET
82Kalanick once said onstage: Liz Gannes, “Travis Kalanick: Uber Is Raising More Money to Fight Lyft and the ‘Asshole’ Taxi Industry,” Recode, May 28, 2014, https://www.recode.net/2014/5/28/11627354/travis-kalanick-uber-is-raising-more-money-to-fight-lyft-and-the.
82“There’s been so much corruption”: Andy Kessler, “Travis Kalanick: The Transportation Trustbuster,” Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2013, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324235104578244231122376480.
83“we’re crushing it”: Alexia Tsotsis, “Spotted! Secret Ubers on the Streets of Seattle,” TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/uber-seattle/.
84“incredibly hot chicks”: Adam Withnall, “Uber France Apologises for Sexist Promotion Offering Men Free Rides with ‘Incredibly Hot Chicks’ as Drivers,” Independent, October 23, 2014, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/uber-france-apologises-for-sexist-promotion-offering-men-free-rides-with-incredibly-hot-chicks-as-9813087.html.
87“Could Uber reach a point”: Bill Gurley, “How to Miss by a Mile: An Alternative Look at Uber’s Potential Market Size,” Above the Crowd (blog), July 11, 2014, http://abovethecrowd.com/2014/07/11/how-to-miss-by-a-mile-an-alternative-look-at-ubers-potential-market-size/.
87In a policy paper published: Travis Kalanick, “Principled Innovation: Addressing the Regulatory Ambiguity Ridesharing Apps,” April 12, 2013, http://www.benedelman.org/uber/uber-policy-whitepaper.pdf.
87“nervous breakdowns”: Swisher, “Bonnie Kalanick.”
88Kalanick would tweet: Travis Kalanick (@travisk), “@johnzimmer you’ve got a lot of catching up to do . . . #clone,” Twitter, March 19, 2013, 2.22 p.m., https://twitter.com/travisk/status/314079323478962176?lang=en.
88“It was intense”: Interview with former Uber executive who worked closely alongside Kalanick.
88Kalanick once admitted: Swisher, “Man and Uber Man.”
89“Shave the ’Stache”: Liz Gannes, “Uber’s Travis Kalanick on Numbers, Competition and Ambition (Everything but Funding),” D: All Things Digital, June 27, 2013, http://allthingsd.com/20130627/ubers-travis-kalanick-on-numbers-competition-and-ambition-everything-but-funding/.
90told friends of the strategy: Background interview with early senior employee, San Francisco, 2018.
Chapter 10: THE HOMESHOW
92a home-run sale: Eric Jackson, “Tellme Is One of the Best Silicon Valley Companies Most People Have Never Heard Of,” CNBC, October 23, 2017, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/23/tellme-is-the-best-tech-company-most-have-never-heard-of.html.
95“negative churn”: Tomasz Tunguz, “Why Negative Churn is Such a Powerful Growth Mechanism,” November 18, 2014, https://tomtunguz.com/negative-churn/.
Chapter 11: BIG BROTHER AND LITTLE BROTHER
106“like big brother and little brother”: Jillian D’Onfro, “Google and Uber were like ‘Big Brother and Little Brother’—Until it All Went Wrong,” CNBC, February 7, 2018, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/07/travis-kalanick-on-google-uber-relationship.html.
107built one of his first robots: Jack Nicas and Tim Higgins, “Google vs. Uber: How One Engineer Sparked a War,” Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-star-engineer-sparked-a-war-between-google-and-uber-1495556308.
109millions into self-driving research: Charles Duhigg, “Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property?,” New Yorker, October 22, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/did-uber-steal-googles-intellectual-property.
109depriving dozens of his colleagues: Nicas and Higgins, “Google vs. Uber.”
110head of the self-driving division: Max Chafkin and Mark Bergen, “Fury Road: Did Uber Steal the Driverless Future from Google?,” Bloomberg, March 16, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-16/fury-road-did-uber-steal-the-driverless-future-from-google.
Chapter 12: GROWTH
112$1 million apiece: Felix Salmon, “Why Taxi Medallions Cost $1 Million,” Reuters, October 21, 2011, http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/why-taxi-medallions-cost-1-million/.
112one fire-sale auction: Winnie Hu, “Taxi Medallions, Once a Safe Investment, Now Drag Owners Into Debt,” New York Times, September 10, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/nyregion/new-york-taxi-medallions-uber.html.
113pulled the trigger: Ginia Bellafante, “A Driver’s Suicide Reveals the Dark Side of the Gig Economy,” New York Times, February 6, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/nyregion/livery-driver-taxi-uber.html.
113“I am not a Slave and I refuse to be one.”: Doug Schifter, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/people/Doug-Schifter/100009072541151.
113more than a dozen: Nikita Stewart and Luis Ferré-Sadurní, “Another Taxi Driver in Debt Takes His Life. That’s 5 in 5 Months.,” New York Times, May 27, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/nyregion/taxi-driver-suicide-nyc.html.
113took their own lives: Emma G. Fitzsimmons, “A Taxi Driver Took His Own Life. His Family Blames Uber’s Influence.,” New York Times, May 1, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/nyregion/a-taxi-driver-took-his-own-life-his-family-blames-ubers-influence.html.
114Milan’s transportation chief: Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Threatening Sign Hung Near Home of Italian Uber Boss,” The Guardian, February 12, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/12/threatening-sign-italian-uber-boss.
114120,000 violations: Andrew Maykuth, “Uber pays $3.5M fine to settle fight with Pa. taxi regulators,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 2017, https://www.philly.com/philly/business/energy/Uber-fine-PA-PUC.html.
114“Uber-ON!”: Text message provided to author by an Uber source.
115hired lobbyists to get laws rewritten: Mike Isaac, “Uber’s System for Screening Drivers Draws Scrutiny,” New York Times, December 9, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/technology/ubers-system-for-screening-drivers-comes-under-scrutiny.html.
115Amazon, Microsoft, and Walmart combined: Borkholder, Montgomery, Saika Chen, Smith, “Uber State Interference.”
116a small, pop-up notification: Fitz Tepper, “Uber Launches ‘De Blasio’s Uber’ Feature in NYC with 25 Minute Wait Times,”
TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/16/uber-launches-de-blasios-uber-feature-in-nyc-with-25-minute-wait-times/.
117as many as seven per second: Rosalind S. Helderman, “Uber Pressures Regulators by Mobilizing Riders and Hiring Vast Lobbying Network,” Washington Post, December 13, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/uber-pressures-regulators-by-mobilizing-riders-and-hiring-vast-lobbying-network/2014/12/13/3f4395c6-7f2a-11e4-9f38-95a187e4c1f7_story.html?utm_term=.4a82cfdcaccd.
117file-folder storage boxes: Anthony Kiekow, “Uber Makes a Delivery to MTC with Hopes of Operating in St. Louis,” Fox2now: St. Louis, July 7, 2015, https://fox2now.com/2015/07/07/uber-says-water-bottles-were-symbolic-of-petitions-for-service-in-st-louis/.
117“make your voice heard”: Alison Griswold, “Uber Won New York,” Slate, November 18, 2015, http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/11/uber_won_new_york_city_it_only_took_five_years.html.
Chapter 13: THE CHARM OFFENSIVE
119“asshole culture”: Sarah Lacy, “The Horrific Trickle Down of Asshole Culture: Why I’ve Just Deleted Uber from My Phone,” Pando, October 22, 2014, https://pando.com/2014/10/22/the-horrific-trickle-down-of-asshole-culture-at-a-company-like-uber/.
119a caricature of a “bro”: Mickey Rapkin, “Uber Cab Confessions,” GQ, February 27, 2014, https://www.gq.com/story/uber-cab-confessions?currentPage=1.
119“face like a fist”: Swisher, “Man and Uber Man.”
120the impending launch of “Uberpool”: “Announcing Uberpool,” Uber (blog), https://web.archive.org/web/20140816060039/http://blog.uber.com/uberpool.
120their corporate blog: “Introducing Lyft Line, Your Daily Ride,” Lyft (blog), August 6, 2014, https://blog.lyft.com/posts/introducing-lyft-line.
