Written by: Katrina De Leon, Director of Marketing at ProductionHUB
Co-founder and CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, graced the cover of Fast Company this month and it couldn’t help but remind me of hearing him speak at TechWeek a few years ago, back when Uber was just a cute “can’t wait for this to come to my city” app. Now, it’s the verb used to define getting around downtown, and Travis is getting his deserved props for contributing to the ‘one-tap economy.’ Loyal fans rally for their cause and everyone is waiting to see what’s next.
I thought it’d be perfect timing to dig up the old notes and see what we can learn from Mr. Uber himself –how can you apply his tips to your production company or freelance video business?
Make mistakes early, but learn from them. He started his first company at age 18 and had to declare bankruptcy. Fun fact – in The Social Network movie, he was actually involved in a scene at the conference table, but another character in the film took his place.
Be fearless. Travis said he had been sued by 33 of the world’s biggest media companies for the amount that equaled the GOP of Sweden (at the time).
The best revenge is success. “Money won't pay for happiness, but will pay for therapy.”
Persistence is key. Take it to hoop, get it done, jam pack your life with other like-minded entrepreneurs ‘til the early a.m.
Preemption is bad. VC's attack weakness, and tend to kill founding CEO's. “Fake it 'til you make it" is B.S. You are lying to yourself and others. Tell the truth. Honesty and authenticity pays dividends.
Fear = disease, hustle= antidote. Keep going. Funding doesn't solve all problems. Dollars don’t mean success; the goal is to be a big company. CEO's that survive are the real CEO's.
Get a great partner that compliments you. How Uber started: Paris and San Francisco were the worst cities to catch a cab. They thought, ‘can't we just push button and get a ride?’ Hence "everyone's private driver" was born. Travis stated, “Garret brought classy, I brought efficiency.”
Keep it simple, no matter how complicated your process really is...nobody needs to know that. First, you had to email to get a code for an Uber account, but then it exploded in popularity and that would just be too clunky of a process. Back then, when he had four trips on a Saturday night, he was pumped. (Now of course, there are tons of rides no matter the time--even at 5 a.m. on a Monday).
There are a ton of logistics to make sure cabs are 5 minutes away at all times. Some include math department reports and supply positioning predicts where demand will be. There is surge pricing (huge spike in demand) because there are more drivers. You just want to be reliable, or else you might as well just get a taxi.
When you disrupt old, tired things, people get pissed. Get your business model right, and then move to your ideal market for your niche specialty.
Find your ‘Whoa’ moment and run with it. For Travis, it was the thirst for Predictive Data. They noticed when the Giants won, there was huge spike three hours before the game each time: predictive data in the works!
Give your clients high fives. E.g. On Valentine’s day, Uber drivers gave thousands of roses to all female riders. In Austin at SXSW, they lit up 100 pedicabs with BBQ sandwiches on demand.
Give your customers hugs. One employee named his son after an engineer who introduced him and his wife. Now they have fifteen kids. (Some starting new fleet of Uber cars-haha).
Create a unique work culture. When there are “flare ups” at the office, turn up Regulator’s music.
Travis continues to have resounding success with these tidbits. Apply them to your "next big thing" and see where it can take you. Who knows? Maybe you too, will create a global phenomenon, just like Uber.
