Goodbye Uber

It has been almost 7 years to the day since I joined Uber.

Back in 2013, I was a recent Seattle transplant in New York City who was looking for a job at a company he was passionate about. Thankfully Andrew Chapin, an old high school friend, reached out to let me know that the guys at Uber were looking for someone to help pass out palm cards in the Laguardia taxi lines to sign up new drivers. I jumped at the chance to work on a product that changed the way that I experienced my city of Seattle. No matter how small the job. 

After a week of walking up and down the taxi lines in ninety-degree New York City heat selling drivers on the dream of Uber, Andrew brought me into the office to make driver profiles with Matt Powers. By the end of that week and a quick interview with Josh Mohrer I was full-time Uber employee number 250.

Over the next seven years I lived my dream life working my dream job with my dream coworkers. Looking back at where we were when we started the journey to where we are now it really does feel like it was all a dream. From learning about New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission regulations and auditing hundreds of vehicles in the Citi Field parking lot, to inspecting cars in weather so cold that I had to use my hand as a hook to open the doors because I couldn’t move my fingers. The hundreds of drivers that we spoke to, helped to get started, laughed with, and assisted with issues. The sleepless nights, the weekends and holidays worked. The actual blood, sweat, and tears that were shed. 

While some paint a jaded picture of those early days of Uber I can tell you firsthand, that was not my experience. The Uber New York City team was a family and spent all their waking hours trying to build a business that they believed would change the world because they believed in that future and in each other. Led by Josh Mohrer’s charisma and vision of Travis Kalanick we couldn’t help but believe that the impossible was possible.

I am thankful for managers like Matt Powers who after a first failed launch attempt in Westchester County and Long Island let me lead the launches of Uber in Connecticut, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and the New York City suburbs. I am thankful for managers like David Fong who convinced me of my potential. I am thankful for the members of my Uber New York City, Uber Connecticut, Uber Territory Management, and JUMP teams for making the journey such a joy and creating friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.

Although my departure is tied to the company’s offloading of the JUMP business, I don’t regret my decision to move to JUMP. My goal when I joined the JUMP team was to apply all of the hustle, grit, and determination from those early days of Uber in order to grow a new business and product line. While we didn’t come out on top in New York City and were severely impacted by the global pandemic, I learned a ton from the process. It allowed me to meet people like Alan Ma, Avra van der Zee, Ryan Rzepecki, and the rest of the early team who built JUMP from the ground up and re-energized the passion for building that I had been missing. It also allowed me to grind, day in and day out, with the JUMP NYC team (Chris Walker, Craig Costantino, and Edy Wilson) and solve problems the company had never seen before.

The timing of my departure is interesting due to how close it falls to the exact timing of my magical start date 7 years ago. During that time I have seen ridesharing become officially legal across the United States, I have taken Uber trips in countries around the world, I have gotten married and have become a father of two. I have grown up with Uber and my kids won’t know a world without it.

Am I sad to be leaving Uber? Yes and no. Yes because Uber has been a part of my blood for over 20% of my life. I have never believed in a company as much as I believed in Uber. I have never loved teammates more than the people that sat alongside me on this journey. And, I’ll do my best, but I most likely will never be on a rocketship ride quite like the one I was privileged to be a part of at Uber. 

That being said, most of my fellow Uber OG’s have been out of the company for years and I have seen them go on to do amazing things. So more than anything I’m excited. I’m excited to feel like I felt back in 2013 when I was just a kid pounding the pavement with a fire in his belly looking for something that he could pour his heart and soul into. I have that same feeling now and I can’t wait for what’s next!

Cheers to all my former Uber and JUMP colleagues and thank you for the amazing ride.

Uber on!

Kyle Thomas “KT”