Confession: I Don’t Think Uber Is Actually a Great Business (Yet)

Re:Confession: I Don’t Think Uber Is Actually a Great Busine... by ithinkinstereo on Saturday December 10, 2016 @09:53PM (#13149327)

There are significant differences between Uber and FB. Two very important ones:

1) Moat - barriers for entry in the ride-"sharing" space are low. See Austin for example.

2) Economies of scale - the costs for FB to add each incremental user got increasingly cheaper due to cost savings at scale. Not so much for Uber.

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Re:Confession: I Don’t Think Uber Is Actually a Great Busine... by beambot on Saturday December 10, 2016 @10:03PM (#13149366)

1) People said the same about FB wrt Myspace.

2) Even if Uber's CAC doesn't decrease, it could have a vastly-higher CLV to justify the crazy spending to capture market share now. It's a calculated strategic decision -- and it's impossible to say if it's "wrong"; only time will tell.

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Re:Confession: I Don’t Think Uber Is Actually a Great Busine... by ithinkinstereo on Saturday December 10, 2016 @10:45PM (#13149486)

2) CLV depends on customer loyalty. In the case of the ride-sharing market, this ultimately comes down to the cost of service. Plus remember that Uber has to satisfy both sides of the coin here: drivers + riders. AND they have to be profitable. Tall order here.

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