Why Uber disrupting itself might mean its game will soon be over

The reasons not to use the ride-sharing app are piling up, as the #DeleteUber campaign picks up steam again. Uber is a $69 billion ride-hailing company that is facing heaping evidence its time might be up.

So why does this business story just not die? It's because Uber is doomed. These are the death bells of one of the most aggressive and defiant companies to take our world by storm with "on-demand" momentum that has led to a catastrophic loss of jobs in the taxi industry.

The ride-sharing monopoly is showing signs its stance of "aggressive defiance" took matters too far in any number of areas. How can a company disrupt itself? Read on.

Uber Dying How Could That Be?

Uber is losing money, serious money, faster than you can say Susan Fowler.

Talent Exodus Has Begun

 VP of Product and Growth Ed Baker has resigned, days after Amit Singhal was forced to leave. Ryan Graves, Uber's first CEO, current board member, and its head of operations, has been strangely absent during the crisis and is likely on the way out as well.

By trying to emulate Amazon values, Uber has created a Type A personality culture. Cheating to get ahead is nothing new in business, but Uber is a public service and has had its worst PR week in its history.

Uber Has Been Deceiving Authorities

The New York Times uncovered yet another bombshell story of how Uber has been secretively deceiving authorities for years with a tool called 'Greyball'.

The tool collected data from Uber's app to identify and evade officials in cities like Boston, Paris, and Las Vegas.That's pretty defiant alright.

Greyball is part of a larger program called VTOS, or “violation of terms of service,” that allows Uber to suss out people thought to be targeting the ride-hailing service improperly. Think of it like a black hat technique or "hack" against local authorities.

Uber's Google Lawsuit Could Financially Ruin It

Google is suing Uber on grounds of stealing trade secrets. Waymo vs. Uber (Otto), as former employee steals LIDAR secrets and then Otto is acquired by Uber. By the way Uber, downloading over 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary design files, is not okay.

How inadvertently adding a wrong Email can cost your business big time.

Repeated Failures of Leadership

Travis Kalanick not only failed America on the Trump advisory council, he was caught abusing a driver in a video. No amount of damage control, can help America or the world trust this company any more, because our trust is now at an all-time low.

The video has nearly 4 million views. Here's the part that might be worth watching:

Why Uber is Doomed

You are probably thinking, how could such a disruptive unicorn fail? By trying too hard. The pressure to grow quick meant a lot of corners were cut, both ethically, legally and otherwise not handling issues that arose properly.

Uber is not a bad idea, but it's a replicable business model as we have seen. There will likely be at least half a dozen serious global competitors by 2020, where the first to market advantage will fade.

But in terms of saving face, HR and PR, Travis Kalanick won't resign. The reason he won't bite the bullet for the Uber brand, is because he wants the maximum cash-out. Like we have seen with so many unicorns, greed > trumps leadership. Here's why Uber will fail:

• It burns too much cash. Uber lost over $3 Billion in 2016
• Failure to expand globally. Pulling out of China was just the beginning
• It will lose market share to Lyft and others (already happening in more progressive cities)
• Its reputation has taken a hit with the refresh of the #deleteuber campaign
• It's decentralized autonomy of leadership has meant abuses of power
• Leadership is not truly accountable, even after repeated mistakes (scapegoat firing is not the answer)
• The talent exodus will mirror the lack of trust in the public eye
• The Google lawsuit will not only be expensive, but could cripple its end-game

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Will the on-demand disruptive unicorns be disrupted? Or do they at times shoot themselves in the foot enough times to fail? Where did Uber go wrong?