Uber France offered a promotion that asked “Who said women don’t know how to drive?”, then offered rides with “Avions de chasse” — French slang for attractive women (roughly, “hot chicks”). In admitting the problem, Uber tweeted that “we misjudged the situation” in offering this promotion.
Ignored early complaint from San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
In 2010, when Uber operated only in San Francisco and only with black cars, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency sent it a cease and desist order alleging that the company was violating existing transportation regulations. CEO Travis Kalanick was firm in his decision about how to respond to the cease and desist order: “We ignore it.”
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped, p.91-92
Garrett Camp intentionally booked duplicative taxi rides
Frustrated with unreliable San Francisco taxis, Garrett Camp (later co-founder of Uber) used a “trick” of calling all major taxi services in San Francisco to ask for a pickup. He would use whichever taxi came first, meaning the rest would drive over and find no customer.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped, p.69 (calling this “a dick move”)
Improper finance practices at Kalanick’s prior company Red Swoosh
At Travis Kalanick’s prior company Red Swoosh, there were multiple improper finance practices: Engineers went months without pay (contrary to obligations to pay promptly). The company used payroll tax withholding as liquidity to fund operations. Fucked Company featured Red Swoosh’s problems, including all engineers resigning, on its front page.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped pp.53-55.
Kalanick sought “revenge” after collapse of Scour
After the collapse and bankruptcy of his Scour business, Travis Kalanick envisioned what he called his “revenue business,” designed to get back at the audio and video trade associations that sued his investors and destroyed Scour.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped pp.52
Kalanick’s prior company, Scour, helped users download illegal files, and ended in bankruptcy
After dropping out of college, Travis Kalanick started a company called Scour, which helped users find online files to download. Scour was primarily used to help download illegal files. Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped reports: “Soon, Scour was competing head-to-head with Napster for file-sharing dominance.” Later, Scour’s investors announced being “uncomfortable” with “the copyright implications” of Scour’s business, leading the company to be sold for parts in bankruptcy court. (pp.45-49)
Burnout among employees
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped describes “burnout at all levels of the company” because “Uber employees were always sprinting.” He continues: “They kept working even after they went home, terrified of both their competitors and their bosses. … [S]ome engineers and designers were seeing therapists to deal with the strain.” (p.36)
Excesses at Las Vegas party
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped reports excesses at an Uber employee event in Las Vegas. Total cost exceeded $25 million in cash plus $6 million of stock to performer Beyonce. In addition to transportation and lodging payments, each employee received a prepaid Visa card with additional spending money. An employee called the event “baller as fuck.”
Yet Uber’s communications leaders realized the risk to the company of such a lavish celebration. Employees were banned from wearing Uber apparel, and the Uber logos on corporate email accounts were removed so that a bystander glancing at devices would not know which company was spending so freely.
(pp. 26-29)
Employee stole a party transportation shuttle
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped reports that an employee stole a party transportation shuttle and joyrode it with other Uber employees who wanted a good time (p.27).
Employees hired a prostitute at a company event, leading to theft of work laptops
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p.27) describes occurrences at an Uber employee event in Las Vegas:
One employee hired a pair of prostitutes to join him in his hotel room. The next morning, he and his roommate woke up with all of their belongings stolen, including their work laptops.