What the fastest-growing startup in history has revealed about Silicon Valley
Not long after Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick was forced to step down as CEO following a spate of scandals at his ride-hailing company, one influential venture capitalist tried to convince me that there were no larger lessons to be learned from the debacle. Uber, explained this VC, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity, was not emblematic of some “rottenness” at the heart of Silicon Valley. Rather, Kalanick’s tenure at Uber was simply an “anomaly.”
Across the tech industry, startup founders, employees, and investors have been grappling with how to interpret Kalanick’s stunning rise and fall. Having built Uber into a disruptive force, a global service with more than 14,000 employees in 600-plus cities, and the highest-valued start-up in history (approximately $70 billion)—all in just eight years—Kalanick seemed to embody the best of the startup ethos: what a Valley-style innovator can accomplish when unleashed on a stagnant industry.
His example reverberated across Silicon Valley. Calling your company “the Uber of X,” after all, doesn’t just describe an app that instantly delivers a real-world service; “Uberizing” a business implies adopting an aggressive approach to scaling and a ruthless approach to the competition. (As one Uber employee wrote online of Kalanick in petitioning for his return, “You’ve launched a thousand of us, your disciples, out into Silicon Valley. Let’s fucking do this. Game on.”) Outside tech, giants of industry from retail to food to health care are racing to Uberize themselves before upstarts beat them to it. How, then, could Uber be a mere anomaly?
This story is from the September 2017 edition of Fast Company.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2017 edition of Fast Company.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Reimagining the ways we work and meet
As business leaders rethink their real estate footprint, they're embracing smaller, high-quality, amenity-rich spaces that are more focused on human connection.” In other words, Convene.
10 Trend
From the Most Innovative Companies | Plus 606 Honorees From Advertising to Video
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies
"The 1920s, water went into a generator, and DC Power came out. Now electrons go into a generator, and intelligence comes out."
Orange Crush
Y Combinator was designed to be a supercondensed version of Silicon Valley. Now that it's at full potency, can it maintain its outsider pose while being the ultimate insiders' network?
Hollywood
AI is going to transform Hollywood But it won't be the horror story everyone's afraid of.
Chick-Fil-A's New Testament
Boycotted for years by liberals - and now by conservatives, too - a christian-driven brand is trying to walk the narrow path toward growth. What happens next could be enlightening for businesses everywhere.
The Office You Want
Business leaders want workers back. Workers are loath to resume their commutes. We asked five leading design firms to create plans that might make leaving home seem worthwhile.
Fan With a Plan
Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin parlayed a ski shop in suburban Philly into a $31 billion sports apparel juggernaut. Now, he's adding trading cards, gambling, live events, and more.
The Helpful Hardware Man
Marques Brownlee has rewired the way people shop for gadgets-and how companies sell them. Inside the humble factory with the power to shape the $1 trillion consumer electronics industry.
PIZZA, ROBOTS, and MONEY
THE ZESTY TALE OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST FLOPS IN SILICON VALLEY HISTORY