Super Pumped by Mike Issac: The battle for Uber

I loved this book. It has everything. Era defining tech company. Huge personalities. Boardroom dramas. Scandals. It’s all in there.

For me the book is less about a tech entrepreneur building one of the world’s most impactful companies, and much more about how company culture is led from the top and how one individual’s personality can set the tone of the whole organisation. In this case a horrible, destructive, misogynistic, arrogant, bros club (at least that’s what I took from the book).

Company culture has fascinated me ever since I started my career.

When I was working at Rolls-Royce I’d hear at least once a day:

“that’s just the way it’s done at Rolls”.

I didn’t understand what they meant but I’d think:

“But a company is just a collection of people”.

So, what you’re really saying is… “that’s how we do it”.

I’ve lived it.

The CEO is aggressive – the whole organisation is aggressive.

The CEO has no focus - the business becomes a collection of competing fractions.

The CEO talks about the customer – that becomes everyone’s obsession.

In defence of Kalanick, culture is often easier to critique in retrospect than it is to spot in real time. I’m suspect a lot of the faithful Uberites, Uber employees during the Kalanick era, were loved the “Super Pumped” value (that was a real value).

I can’t give you a summary of the full story. Its too good for you not to read. But these are a few of my takeaways as I was reading it:

1)????? Long lists of values: the 14 Kalanick values for Uber to live by…. are way too many. I’m not sure anyone can remember more than 5. But, I do think that if you do it right then they can set the tone. Some of them I really like “Be an Owner, Not a Renter” sets a tone of responsibility in everyone. However, “Inspire Your Teammates” just feels like management jargon. Perhaps they all do.

2)????? Tilt rather than pivot: Uber starts as an executive chauffer company on demand. It’s only when its competitors start to appeal to the masses that it “tilts” its business model to also appear to the wider population. I’ve long liked the idea of tilting (small changes that give huge market size increases), rather than pivoting. I think I may have made it up myself but I could have read it somewhere!

3)????? Being bold with marketing: It’s incredible to think that to get Uber going they built the supply side by giving iPhones, for free, to black car drivers. Building marketplaces is really hard as you need to have both supply side and demand side. Uber is such a lesson in the Big Bold Bet (another value) that you need to make in order to get the market place flywheel going.

4)????? HR vs Culture: the response of the HR teams at Uber on complaints from female employees is quite incredible. Ultimately the lesson I take from this is that you can’t solve poor culture with HR departments. The culture will come from the top and will dictate the behaviours across all departments. Don’t outsource good behaviours.

5)????? Comparing Uber to Virgin: one of my previous book reviews looked at Virgin. It describes how Sir Richard Branson refused to use private investigators even when the British Airways dirty tricks was in full flow, including having his phoned tapped. Compare that to Uber who were quite happy to investigate journalists that they didn’t like! Branson took the high ground (with a bit of cheek) when his adversaries went low. Uber took their bad behaviour and then went lower to cover it up.

6)????? When do you cross the line: I once had a competitor of a company I was involved in lobby the regulators to blow up our company (with no advantage to their own). Fair to say as a Brit I think you see this behaviour and think “it’s not cricket”. But for Uber blowing up the competition was a strategy. Not to out compete them but through dirty tricks to destroy them. Is all fair in love and business? Uber certainly thought so when it came to stealing drivers and creating their app to not only win business but get drivers to prioritise Uber rides. It may have won, but I’d not be proud of how they go there – perhaps I’m too British.

7)????? Always be “husslin” vs doing the right thing: there is a certain type of startup founder who doesn’t believe the rules apply to them and that’s all part of the hustle or “husslin” in Uber speak. But, when this husslin becomes the excuse for doing the wrong thing it quickly becomes the get out clause. Throw a mug at a colleague – it was all part of the hustle. Coverup a massive data leek – just hustling.

8)????? Budget ownership: I’ve decided to end on a positive. Uber is a great lesson in giving leadership not just responsibility but also the budget to carry out that responsibility to make quick decisions. They made managers treat their cities as their own little businesses and gave them the budgets responsibility to make it happen. This then allowed them to expand quickly across the world in a way few businesses ever have done before or after.

I hope I’ve convinced you to read this book. If you’ve any interest in tech, investment, culture, transportation etc. I’d have it at the top of your list. I’m off to be Super Pumped.