what is uber presentation

This free eBook goes over the 10 slides every startup pitch deck has to include, based on what we learned from analyzing 500+ pitch decks, including those from Airbnb, Uber and Spotify.

The Pitch Deck Uber Used to Raise $200K

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As of 2022, ride-hailing service Uber operates in approximately 72 countries and 10,500 cities around the world, but the company didn’t get to this point overnight.

As with most successful startups, Uber began its journey with a pitch deck that founders Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick created all the way back in 2008 and used to raise their first round of funding the following year.

Uber has changed a lot from its conception and early days — it was originally envisioned and pitched as a luxury alternative to traditional cabs —  and is now the world’s largest ride-sharing app, which also offers food and package delivery services and other transportation services.

Because of its vast success, many startups today use the Uber pitch deck as a template for their pitches. This article will go over the deck slide by slide and provide a brief analysis of the content, so you can take away some learnings to apply to your fundraising pitch deck.

The First Uber Pitch Deck from 2008

Uber pitch deck slide 1: title.

The first thing you’ll notice on slide one of the pitch deck is that Uber was originally known as UberCab.

Below the company’s original name is an image of a black Mercedes Benz, flanked on either side by an iPhone and a Blackberry. These images subtly allude to the original intention behind Uber, which was to create a luxury taxi alternative targeted at business professionals.

The last thing on Uber’s original pitch deck’s first slide is the phrase “Next-Generation Car Service,” a tagline about what the service was aiming to be to give potential investors an idea of what was to come in the following slides.

Uber Slide 2: Problem

The second slide in Uber’s pitch deck starts to explain the problems with taxi services in 2008. It mentions aging fleets and inefficient technology, including reliance on radio dispatch technology and the need to hail a taxi by calling a dispatch or flagging one down by hand.

The slide also mentions problems faced by cab drivers, including the lack of any type of GPS coordination for pickups and the significant amounts of dead time spent without any fares.

Ride-sharing services like Uber and those that came after it have drastically changed the face of ride hailing over the last 10+ years, but try to think back to how much more complicated getting a cab was in 2008. This slide laid out the problems with taxis in simple terms that most potential investors could easily relate to back then.

Uber Slide 3: Problem Continued

Uber’s third slide continued explaining the problems with taxi services, specifically how taxi monopolies reduced the quality of cab services, how expensive it was for new drivers to get into the industry, and how little drivers were paid. It also mentioned how there were no incentives for either customers or cab drivers to hold them accountable during rides.

The last sentence on the slide coins a term that would foreshadow what was to come: “Digital Hail,” or a new way to hail cabs digitally and avoid the need to do so in the street. You can see that, by only the third slide, potential investors should have now been very keen to find out what Uber’s solutions to these problems within the ride hailing sector were going to be.

Uber Slide 4: Concept

With potential investors now ready to hear about how Uber planned to disrupt the taxi industry, the next slide in the pitch deck introduced the company’s concept in detail.

The founders pitched Uber as “a fast & efficient on-demand car service,” as well as introduced their target market as professionals in American cities, starting with San Francisco and New York.

The fourth slide also goes on to start explaining how the service will solve some of those previously mentioned problems, including shortening wait times and incentivizing drivers.

You can see in this slide that Uber was originally really focused on pitching a luxury service, similar to what Uber Black is today, to provide a chauffeur-like experience with the convenience of an on-demand cab. Though the initial concept didn’t stick, this would have been interesting to potential investors, as nothing like this existed at the time.

Uber Slide 5: Concept Continued

The next Uber pitch deck slide continued to explain the concept, providing easily-digestible details about how the service would actually work.

The information on this slide directly addresses more of the problems that the deck already mentioned, stating how Uber would be a members only service and establish high levels of trust between clients and drivers, while allowing drivers to work without the high costs associated with driving traditional taxis.

Overall, the length of the information in the pitch deck about Uber’s solution runs a little long. They could have condensed slides four and five into one shorter slide and still gotten the point across.

According to Y Combinator , seed round pitch decks should explain what your company does very clearly, in as few words as possible, and describe the concrete benefits your concept provides. The Uber deck’s slides on their solution are slightly too wordy and could have provided a briefer, more high-level look at the concept.

Uber Slide 6: Key Differentiators

On the sixth slide, Uber’s founders used short bullet points to lay out their concept’s key differentiators in a way potential investors could easily digest. Specifically, the Uber founders are comparing their company to traditional cab companies.

When you’re pitching an idea for a startup to raise funding, slides like this are incredibly important because they allow your audience to skim them and gain a quick understanding of what your idea is and how it is different compared to competitor businesses in the same niche.

Uber Slide 7: Operating Principles

The seventh slide is a place where Uber’s pitch starts to look a little dated. This slide also uses bullet points, but they make somewhat general claims about how the service will operate with no supporting information to back them up.

Phrases like “statistically optimized response time” and the “the best end-user experience possible” show that Uber’s founders had big ambitions, but they fall a little flat here without any elaboration. This was probably an unnecessary slide, or at least one that could have been executed better.

Uber Slide 8: Uber App

The next slide states that Uber will work using a 1-click request app from geo-aware devices, such as those pictured below the text. This slide also says that you would be able to send an SMS text to request a pickup from any phone, which is something that never manifested.

Another thing to note about slide eight is that it doesn’t include real mockups of what the Uber app would look like. If you’re going to include images of devices that an app is going to function on, the best practice is to edit them to show a mockup of one or more screens of the app.

Uber Slide 9: Uber Website

The ninth Uber pitch slide explains how the services website would work, stating that you would be able to book pre-scheduled trips and set default pickup locations, such as “home” and “work.”

At the time, these would have been exciting features for potential investors to hear about because there were no other online services that allowed people to schedule rides and store GPS information about their locations for ease of use. 

The image on this slide also gave the audience a sneak-peak of how users could view the locations of nearby Uber fleet drivers, which was a nice visual touch.

Uber Slide 10: Use Cases

Next, we see another text-only slide that uses clear, concise bullet points to illustrate potential use cases for Uber. There’s nothing too surprising here, and the use cases are all pretty plausible, other than the bullet point about working while commuting with in-car WiFi — this is another feature from the original luxury ride concept for Uber that never came to life.

Other than the WiFi, all the use cases on this slide are things people use Uber for today. Use cases like these are very important to include in any pitch deck to help potential investors envision where your product can fit into the market and how people will actually use it.

Uber Slide 11: User Benefits

The 11th slide in Uber’s original pitch deck is a bit confusing. It starts off with saying “cabs don’t guarantee pickup,” which doesn’t seem like it’s necessarily true. After all, if you call a cab service and request a pickup, they will dispatch a car to you, though it’s true that it can take a long time for them to arrive.

The other points about car services being slow and expensive are true enough, and the slide concludes by framing Uber as a sort of happy medium between a taxi and a limo service. Overall, this is another slide that could have probably been left out or done differently, as the user benefits should have already been pretty clear from earlier slides.

Uber Slide 12: Environmental Benefits

In slide 12, Uber’s founders emphasize how Uber will have a positive effect on the environment. They stated that, since drivers don’t have to drive around searching for fares, vehicle resources would be used more efficiently. The slide also mentions the use of more efficient hybrid vehicles and the option to carpool with other riders to reduce carbon footprints.

This is all good information to include in a pitch deck, as many prospective investors want to know what the environmental impact of your business could potentially be. Concern about the environment has certainly grown since 2009, too, so environmental impact info is more important than ever.

Uber Slide 13: Fleet Info

Moving on to slide 13, we see some information about the cars Uber originally intended to use for their fleet, which also supports some of the environmental information from the previous slide by showing the fuel efficiency of the cars.

It seems that Uber’s founders originally intended to own their driver’s cars, or at least regulate what types of cars they could use. As you probably know, Uber vehicles now come in all shapes and sizes, so this is another initial plan that didn’t come to fruition. This slide was perhaps a little too specific and didn’t really seem to add a lot to the pitch.

Uber Slide 14: Initial Service Area

There’s not a lot to take in on the 14th slide. It includes important information about where Uber would operate initially, which was to be San Francisco followed by New York. This is important information for investors to know because it’s a common practice for startups to test their product in a specific niche or market before growing to others, and the market or niche they choose can affect investors’ decisions.

In the case of Uber, opting to start out in major US cities on the East and West Coasts, both of which have large potential customer bases of business people, was a well-calculated decision that surely contributed to the company’s initial success.

Uber Slide 15: Technology

On slide 15, the Uber pitch deck elaborates a bit more on the technology the company planned to use. Though the bullet points are kind of vague, this slide likely provided some important talking points for the presenters. 

However, it’s a good practice for pitch decks to only contain information that can be understood at a glance, without requiring it to be presented by founders. Pitch decks generally get shared between and referred back to by investors and other stakeholders, so it’s important that all the information in them makes sense without someone talking about them and providing context and explanations.

Uber Slide 16: Demand Forecasting

This slide offers some more technological information about how Uber’s fleet cars would sit in optimal locations to minimize expected pickup times based on things like the day, time, weather, and traffic conditions. This is another thing that changed, since Uber doesn’t control where their drivers wait to pick up fares, but it was likely an interesting concept to investors, since traditional taxi companies did not employ any such AI-based tech.

Uber Slide 17: Market Info

Uber’s 17th slide provides information about the size of the taxi and limousine service market’s revenue.

The idea with a slide such as this one is to convince investors that your startup is in a large enough market for it to at least grow into a unicorn (a company valued at $1B+), which is what most venture capitalists are interested in investing in.

The numbers here are just an estimate of the market size and they will almost never be 100% accurate, but the main point is to tell investors a data-backed story about the market in which your startup business operates ( here’s a short guide on how to estimate market size).

Uber Slide 18: Market Info Continued

The next slide shows a pie chart breaking down the percentage of rides to the airport vs. those not to the airport, and the percentage of those that are for retail vs. business. It’s not clear how this affected Uber’s concept, so this perhaps wasn’t a particularly necessary slide.

If you’re going to include a slide like this in your pitch deck, it’s better to at least have a couple of bullet points explaining how the data relates to your project and opportunities. Remember that you want anyone who skims through your deck to understand it without needing you to give them an explanation.

Uber Slide 19: Target Cities

On slide 19, the Uber pitch deck repeats that the initial target cities were intended to be SF and NYC. The slide then lists a few other major cities to expand to. This slide could have easily been combined with the Initial Service Area slide from earlier in the pitch for conciseness.

Uber Slide 20: Potential Outcomes

The 20th slide of Uber’s pitch deck lists potential outcomes of the company’s business model. 

The best-case scenario that the founders speculated on was that the company would become a market leader and make $1B+ in annual revenue. The worst-case scenario was that the company wouldn’t achieve its goal of expanding beyond San Francisco, and that it would remain a small, high-end transportation service for executives in the city.

This is an important slide for investors to see because it gives them some realistic possibilities for what can happen if they invest, helping them to make a decision about backing the startup.

Though it took until 2015 to start earning over $1B in annual revenue, Uber now pulls in more than $14B annually. So it’s safe to say their best-case scenario eventually came true.

Uber Slide 21: Smartphone Info

The next slide shows a couple of charts about smartphone usage in the US as of August 2008. This just provided potential investors some relevant stats about the ever-growing opportunities for mobile apps.

From today’s perspective, you might think this is another unnecessary slide. But, you have to remember that when Uber was conceived, in 2008, it was far less common for people to order things like cabs through their smartphones. 

Uber’s founders added this slide to show how smartphone usage was growing back then, as a way to back their market size and potential outcome estimations to investors.

Uber Slide 22: Future Optimizations

On slide 22, the deck goes into some ideas for optimizing the Uber app down the road. This is extra information that some investors may have appreciated, but it feels like it could have been left out of Uber’s first pitch deck and saved for a later funding round when the app was actually up and running.

Uber Slide 23: Marketing Ideas

On the following slide, we see some potential ideas for how to market Uber’s service. This slide feels a bit like a sheet of notes from a brainstorming session. It probably would have been better to include concrete marketing activities planned for the app’s launch.

Showing investors some of the different ideas you have for growing an early-stage business isn’t a bad idea, but it would work better if you’re able to show them active growth strategies and channels, instead of a random assortment of unconnected marketing ideas.

Uber Slide 24: Location-Based Service

The second-to-last slide in Uber’s pitch deck states their plans to eventually expand the app’s infrastructure to other location-based services, such as delivery. If you’ve ever used Uber Eats, you know this is something that came true! This is a good slide to include at the end of a pitch because it leaves investors thinking about the company’s potential for growth.

Uber Slide 25: Progress to Date

Last but not least, we have a slide with some bullet points listing everything Uber had done to date to bring its vision to life. This is definitely important information to show potential investors, who want to see progress being made in order to actually commit money to a project.

Missing Slides in Uber’s Pitch Deck

Business model.

Uber’s founders didn’t include any type of slide in their original pitch deck about the business model, with concrete details about pricing, operating costs, profit margins, and other information investors like to know. Even if they’re just initial estimates, it’s good to include a slide with at least some of this information in your startup pitch.

These days, it’s a best practice to include a slide with a brief summary of the key team members, including the founders and anyone else vital to the development of the project. This puts a face to the company for investors and gives them a better idea of how qualified the team is to solve the problem they claim to be able to solve.

A slide with info about deal terms isn’t necessarily a standard slide to include in pitch decks, but some investors appreciate having this information during a presentation. Deal terms can include things like how much money your company needs initially to kickstart it and what investors could expect in return.

Uber Pitch Deck Templates

If you like the way Uber’s original pitch deck worked and think you could try something similar for your next startup fundraising pitch, you can try using one of the editable Uber pitch deck PDF templates below:

• Slidebean’s template
• Beautiful.ai’s template
• Venngage’s template

If you do try out one of the pitch deck templates above, consider removing and/or combining some of the slides to cut down the overall length of the presentation and make the info more concise. 

In 2022, there are more startups than ever for investors to choose from, so you really want to make your first pitch pack a punch in a short amount of time and include only the most relevant information.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Uber’s pitch deck did lots of things well, though it could have been shorter — the recommended length for startup pitch decks is 12 to 14 slides, and Uber’s deck was a whopping 25 slides long.

Where Uber’s founders could have really cut down the length of the deck was in the slides about the company’s app and solution. They should have described the solution and the user benefits of using Uber vs. traditional cabs in two or three slides, instead of in six plus as they did.

That being said, the deck was thorough and included all the key information potential investors would have wanted to know for an early-stage startup. And, investors at Uber’s first pitch deck presentation liked it well enough to offer the company an initial round of seed funding, totaling $200K.

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We reimagine the way the world moves for the better

Movement is what we power. It’s our lifeblood. It runs through our veins. It’s what gets us out of bed each morning. It pushes us to constantly reimagine how we can move better. For you. For all the places you want to go. For all the things you want to get. For all the ways you want to earn. Across the entire world. In real time. At the incredible speed of now.

We are Uber. The go-getters. The kind of people who are relentless about our mission to help people go anywhere and get anything and earn their way. Movement is what we power. It’s our lifeblood. It runs through our veins. It’s what gets us out of bed each morning. It pushes us to constantly reimagine how we can move better. For you. For all the places you want to go. For all the things you want to get. For all the ways you want to earn. Across the entire world. In real time. At the incredible speed of now.

We are a tech company that connects the physical and digital worlds to help make movement happen at the tap of a button. Because we believe in a world where movement should be accessible. So you can move and earn safely. In a way that’s sustainable for our planet. And regardless of your gender, race, religion, abilities, or sexual orientation, we champion your right to move and earn freely and without fear. Of course, we haven’t always gotten it right. But we’re not afraid of failure, because it makes us better, wiser, and stronger. And it makes us even more committed to do the right thing by our customers, local communities and cities, and our incredibly diverse set of international partners.

The idea for Uber was born on a snowy night in Paris in 2008, and ever since then our DNA of reimagination and reinvention carries on. We’ve grown into a global platform powering flexible earnings and the movement of people and things in ever expanding ways. We’ve gone from connecting rides on 4 wheels to 2 wheels to 18-wheel freight deliveries. From takeout meals to daily essentials to prescription drugs to just about anything you need at any time and earning your way. From drivers with background checks to real-time verification, safety is a top priority every single day. At Uber, the pursuit of reimagination is never finished, never stops, and is always just beginning.

A letter from our CEO

Read about our team’s commitment to provide everyone on our global platform with the technology that can help them move ahead.

• Sustainability

Uber is committing to becoming a fully electric, zero-emission platform by 2040, with 100% of rides taking place in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micromobility. It is our responsibility as the largest mobility platform in the world to more aggressively tackle the challenge of climate change. We will do this by offering riders more ways to ride green, helping drivers go electric, making transparency a priority and partnering with NGOs and the private sector to help expedite a clean and just energy transition.

Rides and beyond

In addition to helping riders find a way to go from point A to point B, we're helping people order food quickly and affordably, removing barriers to healthcare, creating new freight-booking solutions, and helping companies provide a seamless employee travel experience. And always helping drivers and couriers earn.

Your safety drives us

Whether you’re in the back seat or behind the wheel, your safety is essential. We are committed to doing our part, and technology is at the heart of our approach. We partner with safety advocates and develop new technologies and systems to help improve safety and help make it easier for everyone to get around.

Company info

Who's driving uber.

We’re building a culture within Uber that emphasizes doing the right thing, period, for riders, drivers, and employees. Find out more about the team that’s leading the way.

Getting diversity right

It’s our goal to create a workplace that is inclusive and reflects the diversity of the cities we serve—where everyone can be their authentic self, and where that authenticity is celebrated as a strength. By creating an environment where people from every background can thrive, we’ll make Uber a better company—for our employees and our customers.

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Uber's Ethics & Compliance Program Charter outlines our commitment to integrity at the highest levels within the company. Transparency is critical to an ethical culture; we achieve this through our Integrity Helpline and suite of scalable and effective compliance initiatives.

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Uber : How did this Ride-Hailing Giant Make It To The Top?

Chayanika Goswami , Manisha Mishra

The transportation industry saw a significant transformation in the 21st century due to the surge in demand for travel experiences that were both convenient and efficient. Innovations opened the door for revolutionary shifts that enabled businesses to completely change the way people travel.

In this context, Garrett Camp , Oscar Salazar , and Travis Kalanick launched Uber Technologies, Inc. in 2009 , skillfully incorporating technology to not only meet but also surpass the constantly changing expectations of travelers across the globe.

Uber, originating in the United States, began as a major player in ride-hailing before diversifying into food delivery, micro-mobility (including bikes and scooters), and peer-to-peer ride systems.

Uber has become increasingly popular due to its emphasis on convenient and efficient travel experiences. The company has over 131 million active monthly users . Uber's position as the go-to option for a wide range of transportation needs has been cemented by this multidimensional strategy, establishing its prominence in the market.

In this article, let's explore the world of Uber—its founders, business model, revenue model, funding, marketing strategy, and more.

Uber - Company Highlights

Uber - About Uber - Industry Uber - Founders and Team Uber - Startup Story Uber - Mission and Vision Uber - Name, Tagline, and Logo Uber - Business Model Uber - Revenue Model Uber - USP Uber - Challenges Faced Uber - Funding and Investors Uber - Investments Uber - Mergers and Acquisitions Uber - Growth Uber - Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns Uber - Competitors Uber - Future Plans

Uber - About

Uber, established in 2009 as Ubercab, has significantly shaped the sharing economy, leading to the popular term " uberization ." The company has emerged as a major force in the food delivery industry, holding a significant 24% share through Uber Eats in 2018 and an amazing 67% market share in the U.S. ride-hailing sector in 2019 .

Since its first national launch in 2011—which brought Uber to every corner of New York—Uber has experienced a decade of triumphs, setbacks, and international growth. Uber offers a vast range of transport alternatives, from affordable trips to two-wheelers, cars to SUVs, and operates in several countries, making it a popular and practical option for customers globally.

Uber - Industry

The global transportation services market, as per an analysis report from Precedence Research, displayed a substantial size of $7.31 trillion in 2022 . Forecasts show an impressive development trajectory, with estimates to reach roughly $15.94 trillion by 2032 . This is an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.11% throughout the 2023–2032 prediction period .

Remarkably, in 2022, the Asia-Pacific area was the biggest contributor to the transport services industry. This strong growth is a sign of the growing need for effective and varied transportation options on a worldwide level. The industry is poised to play a significant role in determining the direction of global communication and commerce as it continues to develop and adopt new technologies.

Uber - Founders and Team

Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar, and Travis Kalanick are the co-founders of Uber .

Garret Camp

Garrett Camp, co-founder and Chairman of Uber , holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Software Engineering and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary. Beyond his academic achievements, Camp is a serial entrepreneur and billionaire, having founded successful ventures such as Expa and the web discovery platform 'StumbleUpon' (later known as 'Mix.com').

Travis Kalanick

Travis Kalanick, the co-founder and former CEO of Uber , is a renowned entrepreneur with a history marked by the creation of Scour.net and Red Swoosh. After studying Computer Engineering and Business Economics at UCLA, his leadership at Uber ended in 2017 due to controversies. Following his exit, Kalanick assumed the role of CEO at CSS and 10100, seamlessly transitioning into new ventures in the tech industry.

Oscar Salazar

Oscar Salazar, the co-founder and founding CTO of Uber is the one who created the initial prototypes for Uber’s customer app, driver app, and dispatch engine. He was on board with Uber from 2009 to 2011.

The Uber team operates with 10,000+ employees, as per LinkedIn.

Uber - Startup Story

It was in 2008 when Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp were attending a conference in Paris. One night during the conference, the duo was looking for a cab, but they could not find any, which made them realize that finding a ride when needed is quite a hassle, and any technology that will ease the process will surely be a hit. However, the initial idea was that of a timeshare limo service, where a limousine (a luxury sedan car) will be owned by many owners on a time-sharing basis.

After Camp came back to San Francisco, he kept contemplating the idea and even bought the domain name UberCab.com. Till mid-2009, Camp along with his friends Oscar Salazar and Conrad Whelan built the very first prototype of UberCab. Camp then approached Kalanick to join UberCab. In early 2010, UberCab's service was first tested in New York with just 3 cabs . In May 2010, UberCab was officially launched in San Francisco.

Travis Kalanick at Stanford Technology

Uber - Mission and Vision

Mission - Uber mission statement says, "Movement is what we power. It’s our lifeblood. It runs through our veins. It’s what gets us out of bed each morning. It pushes us to constantly reimagine how we can move better. For you. For all the places you want to go. For all the things you want to get. For all the ways you want to earn. Across the entire world. In real time. At the incredible speed of now. "

Vision - The vision of Uber is " We ignite opportunity by setting the world in motion."

Uber - Name, Tagline, and Logo

The name Uber is derived from the German word meaning "above all the rest" a principle Kalanick and Camp wanted for their fledgling company.

Uber Tagline is " We reimagine the way the world moves for the better. "

Uber - Business Model

Uber has revolutionized the transportation industry with its transparent and innovative business model . Uber acts as a middleman between independent drivers who operate their own cars and consumers looking for taxi services, all through a digital platform. Uber matches drivers and riders via special apps, and an algorithm is used to match the two parties . Notably, Uber charges an average of 15% to 30% commission from each booking and runs on a commission-based business model rather than owning any cars.

This creative approach has established it as a front-runner and industry leader, serving as an inspiration for the creation of Uber-like business platforms in a multitude of sectors. Its ride-sharing services' effectiveness is enhanced by a dynamic pricing structure that adapts to supply and demand. Essentially, Uber's transparent business approach has transformed transportation and established a benchmark for the larger sharing economy.

Uber - Revenue Model

Uber makes revenue from different sources. Some of them are listed below:

Rides Commission:

• Uber's main source of revenue is the commission it receives from each ride. The commission ranges , on average, from 15% to 30% , depending on the national model.

Surge Prices:

• Uber uses surge pricing during rush hours, raising fares to keep up with increased demand.
• Both drivers and Uber gain from this dynamic pricing structure, which increases revenue during peak hours.

Ride Cancellation Charges:

• Uber has a strict policy on ride cancellations; cancellations made closer to the scheduled trip time will result in greater fines.

Premium Rides:

• Uber charges extra for these upmarket services, including luxury rides in branded, high-end taxis.
• Uber makes more money when it offers premium rides.

Advertising and Promotions:

• Uber uses the aesthetics of its platform to promote itself by displaying sponsored content from other companies.
• Taking advantage of Uber's strong brand recognition, this advertising model has grown to be a substantial source of revenue.

Other Services :

Uber has expanded into a number of industries beyond its primary ride-hailing service, such as food delivery through Uber Eats and freight shipment through Uber Freight.

• Uber Eats: This service involves bringing customers' meals from nearby eateries. Uber collects fees from patrons and eateries, which is one of its sources of income.
• Uber Freight: Uber Freight specializes in freight shipment and charges shippers and carriers a fee for effectively connecting them via its platform.

To start with, people don't have to wait for their rides anymore; it's just a one-tap thing now. Also, users get a chance to navigate their journey, and payment is also eased with the facilities of the Uber application. Certain highlights help Uber grab greater revenues.

A Car For Every Choice - With segments like Uber X, Uber Black, Uber Taxi, Uber Pool, Uber Comfort, and Uber SUV, they got a choice for everyone.

Price Surge Technology - The price for the ride varies keeping certain parameters such as demand increase, number of drivers available, number of requests made, etc.

Rides Other Than Cars - Uber has not limited itself to just cars. They have taken their game a notch higher by adding boats, helicopters, as well as some other Vehicles to their List. They have a motorcycle pickup service in Paris, a delivery service(San Francisco), and an ice-cream truck delivery service too. But, these options are available in selected geographical locations but it has led them to add new streams of revenue to their business model.

Uber - Challenges Faced

Like any other business, Uber has a number of challenges to overcome that could have an impact on its operations, bottom line, and general success. The following are some of the major challenges of Uber:

Regulatory Hurdles:

Due to numerous governments' and authorities' claims that Uber's business model violates current regulations, the company is facing significant regulatory obstacles that could result in prohibitions and limits in some areas.

Legal Difficulties:

Drivers are suing Uber in order to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, leading to legal disputes. Legal complexity is increased by lawsuits pertaining to safety-related issues, such as claims of inadequate protections against harassment and assault.

Safety Concerns

For Uber, ensuring the safety of drivers and passengers is a significant concern. The corporation has revised policies and processes in response to criticism regarding insufficient safety precautions.

Financial Struggles:

Uber struggles with profitability even with its high valuation. Its cost structure and business strategy have undergone strategic changes as a result of investor demand to demonstrate sustained profitability.

Impact of COVID-19:

Uber's ride-hailing company has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak because of travel restrictions and lockdowns. Rider and driver safety concerns have grown more intense, adding another level of difficulty for the corporation.

Uber - Funding and Investors

Uber has witnessed a total of 33 funding rounds and has accumulated a total funding of $25.2 billion .

Here are some of the funding details for Uber:

Uber - Investments

Uber has made a total of 24 investments. Here's a look at the some of the investments of Uber:

Uber has exited from five companies: Aurora, Uber, Joby Aviation, Uber China, and Xchange Leasing.

Uber - Mergers and Acquisitions

Uber has made 13 acquisitions to date.

Here are the acquisition details:

Uber - Growth

Some major growth milestones achieved by Uber are -

• Uber is operating in 10,000+ cities as of 2023.
• It has access to rides at 700+ airports as of 2023.
• There are 5.4 million Uber drivers worldwide as of 2023.
• Each day, 23 million Uber trips are completed as of December, 2023.
• Uber's valuation was $72 billion in 2018, which stands at around $130 billion as of 2023 .
• It has completed 10 billion trips worldwide as of July 2018.
• Uber went public on May 9th, 2019, and Uber's stock is one of the best performers on the NYSE.

Uber - Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

Uber Campaign

In September 2023, Uber celebrated its remarkable ten years in India with a touching campaign that touched its loyal drivers. The campaign, which was conceived by Dentsu Creative and executed by Gan.ai, adopted a customized strategy by showcasing actor Sonu Sood. Uber celebrated its milestone in a very special way by giving drivers, passengers, and staff personalized and carefully crafted movies.

This was a kind way to show appreciation for everyone who has contributed to the company's national success. The event was made even more remarkable and unforgettable by this creative campaign, which not only recognized the drivers' contributions but also emphasized the close relationship that Uber has built with its community over the previous ten years.

Uber - Competitors

Uber has numerous competitors when it comes to its core business as a mobility service provider. Some of the Uber competitors include:

• Didi Chuxing

Uber - Future Plans

While ride-hailing will remain the core business of Uber for the nearing years, Dara Khosrowshahi sees a potential world outside cars too. They are aiming at adding buses and trains to their vehicles list too. The pilot project started in Denver back in January 2019, where people are able to see bus and train timings via the Uber app and also buy tickets through the app.

Uber Elevate is another vision that company has, which is an aerial ride-sharing system that Uber is planning to introduce in the future as per news report of 2020. Overall Uber is putting in extra efforts to become true partners of the cities for the long term. With great planning and an awesome team, Uber is surely bound to go places!

Uber India has grown considerably throughout these years that Uber has been operational in the country. The Indian subsidiary of Uber is expected to become a fast-growing and profitable one soon, mentioned Pradeep Parameswaran as per news report of August 2022. Uber's regional general manager for Asia-Pacific wasn't able to specify any timeline for the profitability of Uber's Indian entity but he mentioned that it was not that far away either.

Who is Uber Founder?

Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar, and Travis Kalanick are the founders of Uber.

When was Uber Founded?

Uber was founded in 2009.

How much is Uber Revenue?

Uber's revenue in FY22 was recorded at $32 billion, which was recorded $17.4 billion in FY21.

Who is Uber Owner?

Uber's Parent Company is Uber Technologies, Inc. It was founded by Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar, and Travis Kalanick.

Who are the competitors of Uber?

The Uber competitors are:

How to start your own Uber business?

Starting your own Uber business is really easy. No matter where you belong from, if your area is serviceable, then you can certainly make a business for yourself out of the Uber services. You can either serve as an Uber driver-partner, lend your own car to Uber or operate as a fleet operator.

What is the Uber trading name?

The Uber trading name is Uber Technologies Inc.

Must have tools for startups - Recommended by StartupTalky

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Exploring the Benefits of Cloud Computing

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VAP Group Set to Host Second Edition of Global AI Show in Dubai

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Uber’s Strategy for Global Success

How can Uber adapt its business model to compete in unique global markets?

• Apple Podcasts

As Uber entered unique regional markets around the world – from New York to Shanghai, it has adapted its business model to comply with regulations and compete locally. As the transportation landscape evolves, how can Uber adapt its business model to stay competitive in the long term?

Harvard Business School assistant professor Alexander MacKay describes Uber’s global market strategy and responses by regulators and local competitors in his case, “ Uber: Competing Globally .”

HBR Presents is a network of podcasts curated by HBR editors, bringing you the best business ideas from the leading minds in management. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harvard Business Review or its affiliates.

BRIAN KENNY: The theory of disruptive innovation was first coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen in his 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma . The theory explains the phenomenon by which an innovation transforms an existing market or sector by introducing simplicity, convenience, and affordability where complication and high cost are the status quo. Think Netflix disrupting the video rental space. Over the years, the term has been applied liberally and not always correctly to other examples, but every so often, an idea comes along that really fits the bill. Enter Uber, the ridesharing behemoth that turned the car service industry on its head. In a few short years after launching in 2010, Uber became the largest car service in the world, as measured in ride count. Last year, Uber drove 6.2 billion riders. Today’s case takes us to London in 2019, where Uber is facing the latest in a long list of challenges from regulators threatening their ability to continue operating in that important market. In this episode of Cold Call , we welcome Alexander MacKay to discuss the case entitled, “Uber: Competing Globally.” I’m your host, Brian Kenny, and you’re listening to Cold Call on the HBR Presents network.

Alexander MacKay is in the strategy unit at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on matters of competition, including pricing, demand, and market structure. Alex, thanks for joining us on Cold Call today.

ALEX MACKAY: Thank you, Brian. Very happy to be here.

BRIAN KENNY: The idea of Uber seems so simple, but it was revolutionary in so many ways. And Uber has been in the headlines many times for both good and bad reasons in its decade of existence. So we’re going to touch on a lot of those things today. So thanks for sharing the case with us.

ALEX MACKAY: Brian, I’m very happy to. It’s a little funny, we’ve actually started to see the first few students who have never hailed a traditional taxi in our classrooms. So I think increasingly, the contrast between the two is going to be pretty difficult for people to fully understand.

BRIAN KENNY: Let me ask you to start by telling us what your cold call would be when you set up the class here.

ALEX MACKAY: The case starts off with the current legal battle going on in London. And so the first question I just ask to start the classroom is: What’s the end game for Uber in London? What do they look like 10 years from now? In the midst of this ongoing legal battle, there has been back and forth, some give and take from both sides, Transportation for London, and also on the Uber side as well. And there’s actually a recent court case that has allowed Uber to have a little more time to operate. They bought about 18 more months of time, but this has been also brought with additional, stricter scrutiny, and 18 months from now, they’re going to be at it again trying to figure out exactly what rules Uber’s allowed to operate under.

BRIAN KENNY: It seems like 18 months in the lifetime of Uber is like a decade. Everything seems to happen so quickly for this company. That’s a long period of time. What made you decide to write this case? How does it relate to the work that you’re doing in your research?

ALEX MACKAY: A big focus of my research is on competition policy, particularly the realms of antitrust and regulation. And here we have a company, Uber, whose relationship with regulation has been really essential to its strategy from day one. And I think appreciating the effects of regulation and how its impact Uber’s performance in different markets, is really critical for understanding strategy and global strategy broadly.

BRIAN KENNY:  Let’s just talk a little bit about Uber. I think people are familiar with it, but they may not be familiar with just how large they are in this space. And the space that they’ve sort of created has also blown up and expanded in many ways. So how big is Uber? Like what’s the landscape of ridesharing look like and where does Uber sit in that landscape?

ALEX MACKAY: Uber globally is the biggest ridesharing company. In 2018, they had over $10 billion in revenue for both ridesharing and their Uber Eats platform. And you mentioned in the introduction, that they had over 6 billion rides in 2019. That’s greater than 15 million rides every day that’s happening on their platform. So really, just an enormous company.

BRIAN KENNY: So they started back in 2010. It’s been kind of an amazing decade of growth for them. How do you explain that kind of rapid expansion?

ALEX MACKAY: They were financed early on with some angel investors. I think Kalanick’s background really helped there to get some early funding. But one of the critical things that allowed them to expand early into many markets that helped their growth was they’re a relatively asset light company. On the ground, they certainly need sales teams, they need translation work to move into different markets, but because the main asset they were providing in these different markets was software, and drivers were bringing their own cars and riders were bringing their own phones, the key pieces of hardware that you need to operate this market, they really didn’t have to invest a ton of capital. In fact, when they launched in Paris, they launched as sort of a prototype, just to show, “Hey, we can do this in Paris without too much difficulty,” as their first international market. So being able to really scale it across different markets really allowed them to grow. I think by 2015, their market cap was $60 billion, five years after founding, which is just an incredible rate of growth.

BRIAN KENNY: So they’re the biggest car service in the world, but they don’t own any cars. Like what business are they really in, I guess is the question?

ALEX MACKAY: They’re certainly in the business of matching riders to drivers. They’ve been able to do this in a way that doesn’t require them to own cars, just through the use of technology. And so what they’re doing, and this is I think pretty well understood, is that they’re using existing capital, people who have cars that may be going unused, personal cars, and Uber is able to use that and deploy that to give riding services to different customers. Whereas in the traditional taxi model, you could have taxis that you didn’t necessarily own, but you leased them or you rented them, but they had the express purpose of being driven for taxi services. And so it wasn’t using idle capital. You kind of had to create additional capital in order to provide the services.

BRIAN KENNY: So you mentioned Travis Kalanick a little bit earlier, but he was one of the co-founders of the company, and the case goes a little bit into his philosophy of what expansion into new markets should look like. Can you talk a little bit about that?

ALEX MACKAY: Certainly. Yeah. And I think it might even be helpful to talk a bit about his background, which I think provides a little more context before Uber. He dropped out of UCLA to work on his first company, Scour, and that was a peer-to-peer file sharing service, a lot like Napster, and actually predated Napster. And where he was operating was sort of an evolving legal gray area. Eventually, Scour got sued for $250 billion by a collection of entertainment companies and had to file for bankruptcy.

BRIAN KENNY: Wow.

ALEX MACKAY: He followed that up with his next venture, Red Swoosh, and that was software aimed at allowing users to share network bandwidth. So again, it was a little bit ahead of its time, making use of recent advances in technology. Early on though, they got in trouble with the IRS. They weren’t withholding taxes, and there were some other issues with his co-founder, and there was sort of a bad breakup between the two. Despite this, he persevered and ended up selling the company for $23 million in 2007. And after that, his next big thing was Uber. So one thing I just want to point out is that at all three of these companies, he was looking to do something that leveraged new technology to change the world. And by nature, sometimes businesses like that operate in a legal gray area and you have very difficult decisions to make. Some other decisions you have to make are clearly unethical and there’s really no reason to make some of those decisions, like with the taxes and with some other things that came out later on at Uber, but certainly one of the things that any founder who’s looking to change the world with a big new technology company has to deal with, is that often, the legal framework and the regulatory framework around what you’re trying to do isn’t well established.

BRIAN KENNY: Obviously drama seems to follow Travis where he goes. And his expansion strategy was pretty aggressive. It was almost like a warlike mentality in terms of going into a new market. And you could sort of sum it up as saying ask forgiveness. Is that fair?

ALEX MACKAY: Yeah. Yeah. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. I think they were really focused on winning. I think that was sort of their ultimate goal. We describe in the case there’s this policy of principle confrontation, to ignore existing regulations until you receive pushback. And then when you do receive pushback, either from local regulators or existing sort of taxicab drivers, mobilize a response to sort of confront that. During their beta launch in 2010, they received a cease-and-desist letter from the city of San Francisco. And they essentially just ignored this letter. They rebranded, they used to be UberCab, and they just took “Cab” out of their name, so now they’re Uber. And you can see their perspective in their press release in response to this. They say, “UberCab is a first to market cutting edge transportation technology, and it must be recognized that the regulations from both city and state regulatory bodies have not been written with these innovations in mind. As such, we are happy to help educate the regulatory bodies on this new generation of technology and work closely with both agencies to ensure compliance.”

BRIAN KENNY: It’s a little arrogant.

ALEX MACKAY: Yeah, so you can see right there, they’re saying, what we’re operating in is sort of this new technology-based realm and the regulators don’t really understand what’s going on. And so instead of complying with the existing regulations, we’re going to try to push regulations to fit what we’re trying to do.

BRIAN KENNY: The case is pretty epic in terms of it sort of cuts a sweeping arc across the world, looking at the challenges that they faced with each market they entered, and none more interesting I think the New York City, which is obviously an enormous market. Can you talk a little bit about some of the challenges they faced going into New York with the cab industry being as prevalent as it was and is?

ALEX MACKAY: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it’s pretty well known for people who are familiar with New York that there were restrictions on the number of medallions which allowed taxis to operate. So there was a limited number of taxis that could drive around New York City. This restriction had really driven up the value of these medallions to the taxi owners. And if you had the experience of taking taxis in New York City prior to the advent of Uber, what you’d find is that there were some areas where the service was very, very good. Downtown, Midtown Manhattan, you could almost always find a taxi, but there are other parts of the city where it was very difficult at times to find a cab. And when you got in a cab, you weren’t sure that you were always going to be given a fair ride. And so Uber coming in and providing this technology that allowed you to pick up a ride from anywhere and sort of track the route as you’re going on really disrupted this market. Consumers love them. They had a thousand apps signups before they even launched. Kalanick mentioned this in terms of their launch strategy, we have to go here because the consumers really want us here. But immediately, they started getting pushback from the taxicab owners who were threatened by this new mode of transportation. They argued that they should be under the same regulations that the taxis were. And there were a lot of local government officials that were sort of mobilized against Uber as well. De Blasio, the Mayor of New York, wrote opinion articles against Uber, claiming that they were contributing to congestion. There was a lot of concern that maybe they had some safety issues, and the taxi drivers and the owners brought a lawsuit against Uber for evading these regulations. And then later on, and this was the case in many local governments, de Blasio introduced a bill to put additional restrictions on Uber that would make them look a lot more like a traditional taxi operating model, with limited number of licenses and strict requirements for reporting.

BRIAN KENNY: And this is the same scenario that’s going to play out almost with every city that they go into because there is such an established infrastructure for the taxi industry in those places. They have lobbyists. They’re tied into the political networks. In some instances, it was revealed that they’ve been connected with organized crime. So not for the faint of heart, right, trying to expand into some of the biggest cities in the United States.

ALEX MACKAY: Absolutely. Absolutely. And what’s sort of fascinating about the United States is it’s actually a place where a company can engage in this battle over regulation on the ground. And de Blasio writes his opinion article and pushes forward this bill. Uber responds by taking out an ad campaign, over $3 million, opposing these regulations and calling out de Blasio. So again, we sort of have this fascinating example of Uber mobilizing their own lobbyists, their lawyers, but also public advertising to sort of convince the residents of New York City that de Blasio and the regulators that are trying to come down on them are in the wrong.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. And at the end of the day, it’s consumers that they’re really making this appeal to, because I guess my question is, are these regulations stifling innovation? And if they are, who pays the ultimate price for that, Uber or the consumer?

ALEX MACKAY: Consumers definitely loved Uber. And I don’t think any of the regulators were trying to stifle innovation. I don’t think they would say that. I think their biggest concern, their primary concern was safety, and a secondary and related concern here was losing regulatory oversight over the transportation sector. So this is a public service that had been fairly tightly regulated for a long time, and there was some concern that what happens when this just becomes almost a free market sector. At the same time, these regulators have the lobbyists from the taxicab industry and other interested parties in their ear trying to convince them that Uber really is like a taxi company and should be regulated, and really emphasizing the safety concerns and other concerns to try to get stricter regulations put on Uber. And part of that may be valid. I think you certainly should be concerned about safety and there are real concerns there, but part of it is simply the strategic game that rivals are going to play between each other. And the taxicab industry sees Uber as a threat. It’s in their best interest to lobby the regulators to come down on Uber.

BRIAN KENNY: And what’s amazing to me is that while all this is playing out, they’re not turning their tails and running. They’re continuing to push forward and expand into other parts of the world. So can you talk a little bit about what it was like trying to go into countries in Latin America, countries in Asia, where the regulations and the regulatory infrastructure is quite different than it is in the US?

ALEX MACKAY: In the case, we have anecdotes, vignettes, one for each continent. And their experience in each continent was actually pretty different. Even within a continent, you’re going to have very different regulatory frameworks for each country. So we sort of pick a few and focus on a few, just to highlight how the experience is very different in different countries. And one thing that’s sort of interesting, in Latin America, we focus on Bogota in Colombia, and what’s sort of interesting there is they launched secretly and they were pretty early on considered to be illegal, but they continue to operate despite the official policy of being illegal in Colombia. And they were able to do that in a way that you may not be able to do it so easily in the United States, just because of the different layers of enforcement and policy considerations that are present in Colombia and not necessarily in the United States. Now, when I talk about the current state of Uber in different countries, this is continually evolving. So they temporarily suspended their operations early in 2020 in Columbia. Now they’re back. This is a continual back and forth game that they’re playing with the regulators in different markets.

BRIAN KENNY: And in a place like Colombia, are they not worried about violence and the potential for violence against their drivers?

ALEX MACKAY: Absolutely. So this is true sort of around the world. I think in certain countries, violence becomes a little bit more of a concern. And what they found in Colombia is they did have more incidents where taxi drivers decided to take things into their own hands and threaten Uber drivers and Uber riders, sometimes with weapons. Another decision Uber had to make that was related to that was whether or not to allow riders to pay in cash. Because in the United States, they’d exclusively used credit cards, but in Latin America and some other countries like India, consumers tended to prefer to use cash to pay, and allowing that sort of opened up this additional risk that Uber didn’t really have a great system in place to protect them from. Because when you go to cash, you’re not able to track every rider quite as easily, and there’s just a bigger chance for fraud or for robbery and that sort of thing popping up.

BRIAN KENNY: Going into Asia was also quite a challenge for them. Can you talk a little bit about some of the challenges they faced, particularly in China?

ALEX MACKAY: They had very different experiences in each country in Asia. China was a unique case that is very fascinating, because when Uber launched there, there were already existing technology-based, you might call them, rideshare companies, that were fairly prominent, Didi and Kuaidi, And these companies later merged to be one company, DiDi, which is huge. It’s on par with Uber in terms of its global presence as a ridesharing company. When Uber launched there, they didn’t fully anticipate all the changes they would have to make to going into a very different environment. In China, besides having established competitors, Google Maps didn’t work, and they sort of relied on that mapping software to do their location services. So they had to completely redo their location services. They also, again, relied on credit cards for payments, and in China, consumers increasingly used apps to do their payments. And this became a little bit of a challenge because the main app that Chinese customers used, they used WeChat and Alipay primarily, they were actually owned by parent companies of the rival ridesharing company. So Uber had to essentially negotiate with its rivals in order to have consumers pay for their ridesharing services. And so here are a few sort of localization issues that you could argue Uber didn’t fully anticipate when they launched. The other thing about competing in China that’s sort of interesting is that Chinese policy regarding competition is very different from policy in the United States and much of Europe. For the most part, there’s not the traditional antitrust view of protecting the consumers first and foremost. That certainly comes into play, but the Chinese government has other objectives, including promoting domestic firms. And so if you think about launching into a company where there’s a large established domestic rival that certainly increases the difficulty of success, because when push comes to shove, the government is likely to come down on the side of your rival, which is the domestic company, and not the foreign entrant.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah, which is understandable, I guess, to some extent. This sounds exhausting, to be sort of fighting skirmishes on all these fronts in all these different places in the world. How does that affect the morale or tear at the fabric maybe of the culture at a company like Uber, where they’re trying to manage this on a global scale and running into challenges every step of the way?

ALEX MACKAY: It certainly has an effect. I think Uber did a very good job at recruiting teams of people who really wanted to win. And so, if that’s the consistent message you’re sending to your teams, then these challenges may be actually considered somewhat exciting. And so I think by bringing in that sort of person, I think they actually fueled this desire to win in these markets and really kept the momentum going. One of the downsides of this of course is that if you exclusively focus on winning and getting around the existing regulations, there does become this challenge of what’s ethical and what’s not ethical? And in certain business areas, there actually often is a little bit of a gray line. I mean, you can see this outside of ridesharing. It’s a much broader thing to think about, but regulation of pharmaceuticals, regulation of use of new technologies such as drones, often the technology outpaces the regulation by a little bit and there’s this lag in trying to figure out what actually is the right thing to do. I think it’s a fair question whether or not you can disentangle this sort of principle of confrontation that’s so pervasive throughout the company culture when it comes to regulation from this principle confrontation of other ethical issues that are not necessarily business driven, and whether or not it’s easy to maintain that separation. And I think that’s a fair question, certainly worthy for debate. But what I think is important is you can set up a company where you are abiding by ethical issues that are very clear, but you’re still going to face challenges on the legal side when you’re developing a new business in an area with new technology.

BRIAN KENNY: That’s a great insight. I mean, I found myself asking myself as I got through the case, I can’t tell if Uber is the victim or the aggressor in all of this. And I guess the answer is they’re a little bit of both.

ALEX MACKAY: Yeah. I think it’s fair to characterize them as an aggressor, and I think you sort of need to be if you want to succeed and if you want to change the world in a new technology area. In some sense, they’re a victim in that we’re all the victim as consumers and as firms of regulations that are sometimes difficult to adapt in real time to changing market conditions. And there’s a good reason why they are sticky over time, but sometimes that can be very costly. Going back to something we talked about earlier, I think there are hardly any consumers that wanted Uber kicked out of New York City. I think everyone realized this was just so much superior to any other option they had, that they were really willing to fight to keep Uber around in the limited ways they could.

BRIAN KENNY: So let’s go back to the central issue in the case then, which is, how important is it to them, in terms of their global strategy, to have a presence in a place like London? They’re still not profitable by the way, we should point that out, that despite the fact that they are the largest in the space, they haven’t turned the corner to profitability yet. I would imagine London’s kind of important.

ALEX MACKAY: Absolutely. London is a key international city, and a presence there is important for Uber’s overall brand. So many people travel through London, and it’s a real benefit for anyone who travels to be able to use the same service at any city you stop in. At the same time, they’re facing these increasing regulatory pressures from London, and so it’s a real question whether or not, 10 years from now, they look substantially different from the established taxi industry that’s there. And you can kind of see this battle playing out across different markets. As another example, in Ghana. When they entered there, they actually entered with a framework for understanding. They helped build the regulations for ridesharing services in Ghana when they entered. But over time, that evolved to additional restrictions as the existing taxi companies pushed back on them. So I think a key lesson here in all of this is that the regulations that you see at any given point in time aren’t absolutely fixed, for anyone starting a technology-based company, there will be regulations that do get created that affect your business. Stepping outside of transportation, we can see that going on now with the big tech firms and sort of the antitrust investigations they’re are under. And the policymakers in the US and Europe are really trying to evolve the set of regulations to reflect the different businesses that Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google are involved in.

BRIAN KENNY: One thing we haven’t touched on, and it’s not touched on in the case obviously because it just sort of started fairly recently, is the pandemic and the implications of the pandemic for the rideshare industry as fewer people find themselves in need of going anywhere. Have you given any thought to that and whether that’s going to have any effect on the regulations?

ALEX MACKAY: It certainly could. Uber is in a somewhat fortunate position, at least if you judge by their market capitalization, with respect to the pandemic. Initially their stocks took a pretty big hit, but rebounded pretty quickly, and part of this is because the primary part of their business is the transportation through Uber X, but they do also offer the delivery services through Uber Eats, and that business has really picked up during this pandemic. There’s certainly a mix of views about the future, but I think most people do believe that at some point we’ll get back to business as usual, at least for Uber services, when we come up with a vaccine. I think most people anticipate that they’ll be resuming use of Uber once it becomes safe to do so. And I think, to be frank, a lot of people already have resumed using Uber, especially people who don’t have cars or who see it as a valuable alternative or a safer alternative to public transit.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah, that’s a really good point. And the Uber Eats thing is interesting as another example of how it’s important for businesses to re-imagine the business that they’re in because that, in many ways, may be helping them through a really tough patch here. This has been a really interesting conversation, Alex, I want to ask you one final question, which is, as the students are packing up to leave class, what’s the one thing you want them to take away from the case?

ALEX MACKAY: So I would hope the students take away the importance of regulation in business strategy. And I think the case of Uber really highlights that. And if you look at the conversation around Uber I’d say for the first 10 years of their existence, it was essentially around the superiority of their technology and not so much how they handled regulation. If you think back to the cease-and-desist letter that San Francisco issued in 2010, if Uber had simply stopped operations then, we wouldn’t have the ridesharing world that we have today. So their strategy of principle confrontation with respect to regulation was really essential for their future growth. Again, this does raise important ethical considerations as you’re operating in a legal gray area, but it’s certainly an essential part of strategy.

BRIAN KENNY: Alex, thanks so much for joining us on Cold Call today. It’s been great talking to you.

ALEX MACKAY: Thank you so much, Brian.

BRIAN KENNY: If you enjoy Cold Call, you might like other podcasts on the HBR Presents Network. Whether you’re looking for advice on navigating your career, you want the latest thinking in business and management, or you just want to hear what’s on the minds of Harvard Business School professors, the HBR Presents Network has a podcast for you. Find them on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. I’m your host, Brian Kenny, and you’ve been listening to Cold Call , an official podcast of Harvard Business School on the HBR Presents Network.

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What is Uber?

• Rahul Awati

Uber is a transportation and ride-sharing technology company that allows passengers to book rides and drivers to charge fares and get paid via a smartphone app. By hiring independent contractors as drivers, Uber created a new business model that changed the way traditional transportation companies operated. Since its inception, Uber's services have contributed to the expansion of the sharing economy , supplying a means of connecting existing resources (cars and drivers) with buyers (passengers) without the company having to own any of the physical resources facilitating those services.

Uber history

Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded Uber in 2009. Kalanick replaced Ryan Graves as CEO in December 2010 and held the position until 2017, after which he was replaced by Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Khosrowshahi remains Uber's CEO as of August 2024.

Kalanick and Camp formed the company around a simple idea: What if anyone could book a "cab" ride from any location to any location through their phones? In March 2009, the two entrepreneurs developed an app to help people do exactly that. However, it wasn't until July 2010 that the first ride was booked with the Uber app by a passenger who requested a ride across San Francisco. In December 2011, Uber started its international operations; it remains based in San Francisco.

By 2014, Uber connected riders to drivers in 100 cities worldwide and continued to expand widely over the next several years. By 2015, the company had reached 1 billion trips, surpassing 5 billion trips by May 2017 and 10 billion trips by June 2018.

Between 2013 and 2018, Uber launched various social initiatives in the United States and elsewhere to support the LGBTQ+ community. It also launched a self-driving pilot program in Pittsburgh in 2016 that reached 2 million autonomous miles in its first 100 days, a freight trucking program in 2017 to connect trucking companies and drivers directly with shippers, and a Fund for Sustainable Mobility in 2018 to campaign for future-focused mobility policies . Following numerous scandals -- including the death of a woman -- and lawsuits, Uber sold its self-driving division to Aurora, a San Francisco-based startup in 2020.

As of 2024, Uber is available in 10,000-plus cities in 70-plus countries worldwide. In Q4 2023, Uber had completed 2.6 billion trips worldwide compared to 2.1 billion in Q1 of the same year. In Q2 2024, Uber reported that its gross bookings had grown by 19% year over year (YoY) and 21% YoY on a constant currency basis. Also in this period, Uber's YoY revenues grew 17% to $10.7 billion, with income from operations up $470 million YoY to $796 million.

How does Uber work?

Uber links passengers with drivers using the Uber app, which works on almost every smartphone .

Generally, the drivers own their own car, and Uber receives a commission from each booking. Passengers can request rides from drivers and pay the fare that's set by Uber's computer algorithm based on multiple factors like distance, driver supply and passenger demand.

In addition, Uber's software locates drivers that are closest to the passenger's location, allowing the two parties to connect quickly and initiate a ride with minimal waiting on either side. The waiting time might be more in rural areas and in places where passenger demand outstrips driver supply.

Besides ride-sharing, Uber also offers these services:

• Car rentals or leases through vehicle partners like Hertz, Getaround and Avis.
• Uber Eats on-demand food delivery.
• Uber Freight that matches carriers with shippers.
• Uber for Business with automated billing, expensing and reporting services.
• Uber Fleet for Uber partners who manage squads of drivers and cars.

Customers can access most of these services via's Uber's apps on smartphones.

Uber pricing model

Uber offers rides under a surge pricing model for both drivers and passengers. Also known as peak pricing, this model automatically adjusts prices so ride payments depend on local demand. Passengers needing a ride can use Uber's app to hail a driver with an estimated price that depends on their destination and demand at the time. As more rides are requested through the app, prices go up. This means riders pay more at busy times, which helps ensure that the required number of drivers are available to match demand.

By paying drivers more during peak demand times, Uber incentivizes them to pick up more fares during those hours. Passengers can also expect to pay higher prices during holidays, such as New Year's Eve, when demand for taxi services usually surges, especially in urban areas. The advantage of paying more is that passengers can expect that the price will attract a driver as opposed to a regular taxi that might never show up in isolated areas or during late hours.

Benefits of Uber

Using Uber's ride-sharing app provides several benefits to passengers. For one, Uber's dynamic surge pricing model attracts drivers to certain areas, making it more likely a car will be available for a passenger when they really need it. The app also allows them to view the available drivers in that area on a map. After choosing a driver, they can track their driver in real time as they navigate to the pick-up location, and even get real-time updates on estimated time of arrival. This allows for ultimate convenience when booking a ride.

Another benefit is that passengers no longer have to waste time or effort hailing a cab on the road. All they need to do is book a ride via Uber's simple app and have the car reach them at their location in just a few minutes. They can also choose to make cashless payments , which can be a great option for ride-hungry but cash-strapped passengers.

Uber works consistently to maintain a fleet of skilled, polite drivers whose identities are verified , which minimizes the potential for passenger-driver conflict and maximizes passenger safety. Most drivers own the cars they drive and are therefore invested in keeping the vehicle clean and well-maintained. Also, customers and drivers both rate each other in the app. Drivers with a consistently low rating might be removed from Uber's rolls while passengers with a consistently low rating might find their accounts deactivated. In this way, Uber tries to foster positive experiences for both drivers and passengers.

Uber's ride-sharing model also benefits drivers. It allows car owners to convert their cars into a source of income. Moreover, they can choose their own working hours and earn money on their own terms.

Like other companies that participate in the sharing or gig economy, Uber can -- at least in theory -- more efficiently use underutilized assets (cars) and make a profit by balancing supply with demand.

Challenges of Uber

Although Uber generally increases the convenience and efficiency of ride-sharing using its app, there are ways in which this method of offering and getting rides can create new challenges for passengers and drivers alike.

For one, passengers need access to an app-capable device and an internet connection to hail a ride. They cannot hail an uber directly from the street. (To serve passengers who lack a smartphone or space on their phone for the Uber app, or who need to book a ride from a nonmobile device, such as a PC, Uber lets them request a ride online via m.uber.com. They must first create an account and register their contact details.)

Another challenge is that although Uber drivers must pass a background check to become a driver, the check process is not perfect. Also, Uber does not always test driver skills during the hiring process. These gaps result in inconsistencies in driver quality, resulting in customer complaints and, in the worst cases, security issues like accidents. Furthermore, it's nearly impossible for the company to properly handle incidents because it operates in so many countries and cities, and because driver employment and rides are managed remotely.

Uber's surge pricing model can also cause difficulty for drivers who rely on Uber as their primary source of income. Because fares can change quickly and changes are difficult to predict, they might not earn as much as they expect, especially if they prefer to work during nonpeak hours when demand and therefore prices are lower. Lower earnings can demotivate some drivers to maintain high standards of vehicle cleanliness, professional behavior or passenger safety, resulting in passenger complaints and potentially damaging Uber's reputation .

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