Uber was founded by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick in 2009 to address San Francisco's inefficient taxi industry, which was artificially capped at around 1,500 medallions, creating scarcity and poor service.
The company's valuation growth was explosive, starting with an implied valuation of $5.3 million during its angel round in 2010 and reaching a market cap of approximately $160 billion by the time of this recording.
Uber utilized a "flywheel" strategy where lower prices stimulated demand, which attracted more drivers to the platform, thereby reducing wait times and allowing for further price reductions.
A critical pivot occurred in 2013 when competitors Lyft and Sidecar introduced peer-to-peer ridesharing with non-professional drivers, forcing Uber to launch the lower-cost UberX to avoid being undercut on price.
The company engaged in a massive capital war in China against local rival Didi Chuxing, where both companies burned through $1 billion annually before Uber agreed to sell its China operations in exchange for a roughly 17% stake in Didi.
Travis Kalanick's aggressive leadership style, described as "principled confrontation," was essential for breaking regulatory barriers but eventually led to toxic internal culture scandals and his ouster in 2017.
Early data revealed a phenomenon called "negative churn," where early cohorts of users actually increased their frequency of usage and revenue generation over time rather than dropping off.
The transition from Kalanick to current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi marked a shift from a growth-at-all-costs startup mentality to a focus on corporate maturity, profitability, and expansion into logistics and food delivery.