Books: Super Pumped: Battle for Uber

I have struggled to hail a cab in Paris on multiple occasions. If I categorize those nights, it was mainly due to two events. Either there was rain showering the city, or it was immediately after a night of celebration when the city closes a few metro stations. Both these events throw the city into chaos. Later, I experienced high black cab charges in the UK. Uber was fast becoming a force to reckon with when I was in Paris, and it became a formidable force when I was in the UK. But I switched over to Uber when I returned to India in 2018 and didn't buy a car. Instead, I adopted Uber. The commute may be a bit longer, which provided an opportunity to watch streaming videos, songs, podcasts, and kindle books.

Now you might have guessed my interest in this book. This book chronicles the history of Uber and is written by Mike Isaac. Mike Isaac is the technology reporter for the Times's San Francisco bureau. Where Mike operates also makes him the right candidate to cover the Silicon Valley companies. Drawing inspiration from one of the values, namely super pumped, adopted by Uber under Travis Kalanick, the previous CEO of the company, the book takes us through the conception, the disruption in the transportation industry to the stepping down of Travis from the post of CEO.   

As a consumer, we have reaped the benefits in price brought to us by Uber or its competitors. The low price wouldn't have possible if Uber were not able to spread its operation around the world. While we are happy to be paying a reasonable price, we might not be aware of what Uber has to fight against to get us this price. Was their journey follows a righteous path? It remains a question for each one of us. Seemingly an easy question to answer, I assure you that it will not be one. You probably will be conflicted at specific points in the narration. The reverse is also true at times. We will condemn them.

At the end of the day, the book is not about greed but the obsession to change the world. Without this passion, it is difficult to bring a lasting change in society. At the same time, the obsession shouldn't blind you from doing things in the right way. This lesson forms the takeaway from this book.