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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For a brand to successfully enter a new market, the product or service on offer must be premium quality and value for money. If your product doesn't stand out and offer a noticeable difference to the competition, your business will never become an established player.
Every great entrepreneur has a knack for spotting a good business opportunity, and Uber, a software company, has leveraged the incredible growth in smartphone adoption to build a business valued at more than $40 billion (£24bn). Pioneering a new business model and market is a game of constant refinement. There is no blueprint to follow and the company will face constant challenges. The ability to learn from each challenge and constantly improve the product will be the difference between success and failure. It is important that Uber listens to its customers, drivers and other stakeholders.
I have been pleased to see Uber roll out new features over the years, such as more thorough safety checks and in-app safety features. Uber is one of the first purely mobile commerce apps and its integration with Citymapper, Starwood Hotels and other platforms is clever. These integrations not only benefit Uber but also the partners they integrate with. Mobile technology is remaking the transportation sector and has led to a host of innovation from other companies such as Hailo, Sidecar, Lyft and BlaBlaCar. Technology is making consumers the winner because transport is now more convenient and cheaper.
Once a business reaches a certain size, it is impossible for one person to handle everything themselves and lead the company productively, so amassing a fantastic team and delegating responsibility is crucial. It's essential to have somebody focused solely on safety, whose day-to-day responsibility is 100 per cent aimed at achieving this goal. That way passengers will be more reassured than if the CEO tries to tackle multiple goals on their own.
The facts and figures are important but a company or brand must have an authentic story for customers to bond with and stay loyal to. A business's story is one of its biggest differentiators and a chance to tell people what you are working towards and your business values.
As long as you passionately believe your business is solving a problem, and the solution will benefit people, you need to endure the tough times and let your product win customers over. If the competition resorts to underhand or illegal tactics then state your case to the proper authorities. We did this during British Airways' "dirty tricks" campaign and ended up winning compensation for damages at court.
Underhand tactics may get you ahead in the short term, but in the long term the only weapon to help you win is a great product and reputable brand. In this day and age, fighting dirty will come back to haunt you, as there is a clearer digital footprint of all of your activities and a much wider audience to tell.
Time may change the type of businesses created, but it will not change the qualities required to build a successful business. Starting a business is and always will be a huge amount of work. An entrepreneur must believe in their idea passionately and find or convince others to believe in the concept equally. Great business ideas are born out of frustration from a poor product or service. An entrepreneur will always take it upon themselves to change these frustrations themselves and find innovative solutions to the problem. My philosophy for launching a new business is simple -- the product or service must help to make people's lives better.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
