from Hacker News

Uber’s New CEO

by iKenshu on 8/30/17, 12:55 PM with 3 comments

  • by sctb on 8/30/17, 1:43 PM

  • by lushn on 8/30/17, 1:03 PM

    I would be surprised if this makes much of a difference. Even with Travis gone, the culture is part of the organization, and it would be incredibly difficult to change at this stage, without Uber effectively becoming a completely different company.

    I know many people see long-term growth and potential in Uber, but I don't. They shook up the market which is a good thing, but at this point it feels like they're rearranging chairs on the titanic.

    It might be years while this all plays out, but I see the absolute best case scenario for Uber is a Groupon type of situation - making lots of revenue, but kind of struggling. Without a drastic change to the business model, I can't see them ever having Facebook/Google/Microsoft like margins.

    And as much as some in the tech community see self-driving cars as just around the corner, I would be very surprised if it's a common sight in 10 years. Maybe 20 years. It's not just the technology, but also the political and societal resistance to such a big change.

    And if self-driving cabs is what's going to make Uber actually work for the long-term, well... I personally wouldn't bet on it. But they have, so let's see how that works out for them.