Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend

Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by taco_emoji on Monday October 03, 2016 @02:09PM (#12629842)

> Can you spot busy periods and increase the fares according to the laws of supply and demand?

And beyond the technical issues: Can you effectively deal with the negative PR that results when you increase fares during a natural disaster or terrorist attack?

Uber isn't just an app, it's also a company and a brand and a service. It's something people understand, it's something that's popular, it's something that people rely on.

So sure, let's say a really good dev could crank out a software engine that does everything Uber does in a month. Now what?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by jcoffland on Monday October 03, 2016 @02:29PM (#12630020)

You seem to be implying that really good devs are just lying around not being used whereas great PR guys and execs are the real value. I don't buy it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by taco_emoji on Thursday October 06, 2016 @03:06PM (#12655156)

I'm not really sure how you got that from the words I wrote. There's tons of work in addition to the tech which leads to a success story like Uber. That doesn't imply that the tech doesn't matter, just that other stuff does also.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by cmdrfred on Monday October 03, 2016 @04:29PM (#12631047)

The evidence of PR being effective is right there if you think about it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by jcoffland on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @01:38PM (#12637447)

The evidence of good tech being important is at your finger tips.

[ Parent | on HN ]