This article is taken from an exclusive WIRED series, '41 Lessons from Uber's Success', featuring Tim Harford, Rachel Botsman, Nir Eyal, Clayton M Christensen, Josh Elman, Carlo Ratti and Richard Branson. You can find the other articles here.
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It's incredible how fast Uber has grown. Fundamentally, it's a local company: unlike a software company, it requires building a new network in every city. The best growth hacks start with products that people want, spreading through word of mouth. Uber is a great example -- you're meeting a group of people and you show up in a black car. They think you're riding high and you show them that, no, I just ordered it from my phone. Immediately, you've virally spread it to this group. On top of that, the company has found a way to incentivise this -- recommend Uber to a friend and you'll get a reward, too.
The other important thing about Uber is that it's becoming the most efficient way to get around -- cheaper than owning a car. In the early days, it was a simple black-car service. Now, for some, Uber is their primary mode of transportation. That's an incredible leap. Historically, the most successful companies start doing one thing really well and then figure out what the leap is. Facebook began as a private social network at colleges, then later it realised the news feed could help propel Facebook into a massive multi-billion-user, multi-billion-dollar company. Uber was the same thing: it moved from a black-car experience to being so effective and inexpensive -- via UberX and UberPOOL -- that users don't need a car any more. It's that second leap that's really important and exciting.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
