At a recent conference, CEO Travis Kalannick admitted that Uber's controversial “at all costs” business approach was no longer effective as the company continued expanding.
“When you are the underdog but tough, a ruthless startup strategy that stops at nothing can be highly successful. But once your company becomes too successful, that strategy can easily lead you in the wrong direction.”
Kalanick, Uber's CEO, believes this is what turned him into “a demon” over the 2 years in which Uber reached a valuation of 18.2 billion USD.
In his speech this Monday in San Francisco, USA, at the TechCrunch Disrupt event attended by around 3,500 people, he said:
“When people see you as a large company, you cannot act too aggressively or ruthlessly. If you are a small company, however, the same actions may be praised; some people may even call it a heroic startup story.”
Arrington, TechCrunch's founder, likened Kalanick to “Darth Vader” (a villain in the film Star War) when discussing the startup battlefield. Over the years, business circles have also circulated many stories about Kalanick's attitude and the “aggressive” strategy he used with Uber.
For example, Kalanick was accused of “impulsive” behavior in his dealings with regulators during the company's early years.
In addition, over the past year, Uber was reported to have “poached” drivers from New York rival Gett by repeatedly booking rides and then canceling them. “Once a ride was booked, Uber employees obtained the Gett driver's information and texted them to recruit them,” according to an Inc. report.
Some call it sabotage; Kalanick describes it as tough action and ‘unusual perfectionism.’ He explains that his approach to building Uber was inspired by his first venture, a networking software company in 2000.
Kalanick recalled going broke so many times that he had to move back in with his parents. “It trained me to become an abnormally exacting perfectionist and unusually tough, because of the one-inch difference between living with my parents for another year and living independently in poverty.”
However, he now confirms that this approach is no longer viable because Uber has reached a new level.
“You must find another communication channel. You need to understand that you are now a large company.”
Arrington cited Uber's hiring of David Plouffe, former campaign manager for US President Obama, to reshape its image as evidence that its business strategy was changing. He also emphasized that Kalanick's responses had changed, becoming “softer” than before.
For his part, Kalanick simply smiled and swore that the change was not the result of any training course.
Phương Linh
Infonet/Inc
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