As much as I'd love to give everybody a really cheap option, it's just simply not possible in certain sorts of extreme events... I guarantee that our strategy on surge pricing is the optimal way to get as many people home as possible.
— Travis Kalanick
Surge pricing only kicks in in order to maximize the number of trips that happen and therefore reduce the number of people that are stranded.
When people start to perceive you as the big guy, you're not allowed to be scrappy, fierce.
We're in the business of delivering cars in five minutes, but once you can deliver cars in five minutes, there's a lot of things you can deliver in five minutes.
There's hundreds of millions of people that are card members at AmEx - all of them should be using Uber.
I think that's where the world is going. People will not own cars; they'll have a service that takes them where they want to go, when they want to go there. And that's what Uber is.
Competition is fun.
Immigration and openness to refugees is an important part of our country's success and, quite honestly, to Uber's.
In my first start-up, I didn't get any salary for four years, so I had to move back with my parents.
I prefer building rather than fundraising.
It was a privilege to meet Rev. Jackson, and I learned a tremendous amount from his insight.
At Uber, we say, 'Always be hustling.' Even if you are an introvert and you haven't got hustle in you, you better get a co-founder who does. And if you haven't got enough hustle to find a co-founder who's got hustle, it's going to be tough. You've got to have a little hustle in you.
If you're operating from strong principles, you can compromise when the person on the other side is operating from principles you respect.
I've never been derogatory towards taxi drivers.
We need to figure out how to merge political progress with actual progress.
Being Uber means being efficient.
You have to be willing to stand up for what you believe in, and the rule of law is one of those things.
There's a harsh reality to situations where demand outstrips supply.
You have to find ways to find that center, to find that balance, to find sanity, because again, we are getting bigger, and people look at us that way. We have to find that new balance.
Acknowledging mistakes and learning from them are the first steps.
The way I try to simplify my job is that I have two lists - I have a list of all the crazy, interesting problems that I get to solve every day or that need to be solved, and I have a crazy list of things I'd like to invent. And I kind of just prioritize them and work my way down, and try to simplify what I do when managing a big company.
There will be a huge, huge positive impact for society when driverless cars become a thing.
If there was a mobility service that's cheaper than owning a car, more reliable, and you get to sit in the back seat instead of being stressed out in the front seat, why would you own a car?
If somebody can offer value at a cheaper price, they should. But that also means Uber should, too.
What we like to say is that the vision for Uber is the cross between lifestyle and logistics.
I've had failures myself before Uber.
We want transportation as reliable as running water.
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does pay for therapy.
I'm a natural-born trust-buster.
I think Uber is just very different; there's no model to copy. It may be the reason why we've been a lightning rod in so many ways, because we don't do anything conventional... And then I think also, as an entrepreneur, I'm a bit of a lone wolf.
We have this culture valued at Uber, which we call the champions' mind-set. And champions' mind-set isn't always about winning. It's about putting everything you have on the field, every ounce of passion and energy you have. And if you get knocked down, overcoming adversity.
There are a lot of rules in cities that were designed to protect a particular incumbent, but not to move a city's constituents, a city's citizens, and the city itself, forward. And that's a problem.
The ability for somebody to put their arm out and get a taxi is fundamentally different then having a 10-minute pickup time. It just is.
Uber is efficiency with elegance on top. That's why I buy an iPhone instead of an average cell phone, why I go to a nice restaurant and pay a little bit more. It's for the experience.
I call it dark energy. If you are unreliable, customers just disappear.
I think the stress will kill me. I think it will be the stress.
In many ways, we look at Uber as the safety net for a city.
Safety is number one at Uber... so we make sure the system is in place so riders get the safest ride possible.
Think of a world where there is no ride-sharing; people are driving themselves to work. You now have 30 people being served by 30 cars. Those 30 cars are only served 4% of the day; 96% of the day, they're stored somewhere. Around 20% to 30% of our land is taken up just storing these hunks of metal that we drive around in for 4% of the day.
Uber riders are the most affluent, influential people in their cities.
Competition is good.
Sports uplift us. It's celebratory, gives us optimism and joy.
Based on my experience, I would say that rather than taking lessons in how to become an entrepreneur, you should jump into the pool and start swimming.
I am from Los Angeles, and my parents are from Los Angeles.
I wake up in the morning with a list of problems, and I go solve them.
Ultimately, progress and innovation win.
There's probably some misunderstanding of who I am and how I roll.
There is a core independence and dignity you get when you control your own time.
Hamilton is my favorite political entrepreneur.
Limos, from the beginning of time, they know who they're picking up, they usually have a credit card on file, they know where the pickup location is, and so there's essentially a prearrangement of sorts, and, of course, the limo customer knows the driver, knows the company, knows the rates. All we've done is make it more accessible.
