Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped describes Kalanick’s attempt to “cripple” Lyft through negative advertising:
Uber found ways to mess with Lyft. All around San Francisco, Uber bought street signs and billboards targeting Lyft. Each billboard showed a large, black disposable razor blade with “Uber” printed on the handle, poised above one of Lyft’s pink, cuddly trademark mustaches. In the text behind the graphic, Uber made its message clear: “Shave the ‘Stache.”
(p.122)
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped describes Kalanick’s attempt to “cripple” Lyft, including by disrupting Lyft marketing events:
He’d send his own employees to the [Lyft] events, where they would show up in jet black T-shirts–Uber’s signature color–carrying plates filled with cookies, each with the word “Uber” written in icing. Each Uber employee had a referral code printed on the back of their T-shirt. The codes were for Lyft drivers to enter when they signed up for Uber, earning them a bonus.
(p.122)
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped describes Kalanick’s attempt to “cripple” Lyft, including by preventing investors from funding both Uber and Lyft. With Uber larger and ahead, many investors chose only Uber. (p.121)
In the period where Uber used properly-licensed black cars but competitors Lyft and Sidecar used ordinary vehicles, Travis Kalanick tried to get regulators to pursue Lyft and Sidecar. Uber leaders met secretly with San Franscisco transportation regulators to flag what they saw as violations. Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 119). In addition, Kalanick personally blogged about the situation.
When Uber later launched UberX, with unlicensed vehicles much like Lyft and Sidecar, Kalanick wrote “We could have chosen to use regulation to thwart our competitors,” which Mike Isaac calls “disingenuous” in that Uber had in fact attempted to do exactly that.
Uber France offered a promotion that asked “Who said women don’t know how to drive?”, then offered rides with “Avions de chasse” — French slang for attractive women (roughly, “hot chicks”). In admitting the problem, Uber tweeted that “we misjudged the situation” in offering this promotion.
In 2010, when Uber operated only in San Francisco and only with black cars, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency sent it a cease and desist order alleging that the company was violating existing transportation regulations. CEO Travis Kalanick was firm in his decision about how to respond to the cease and desist order: “We ignore it.”
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped, p.91-92
Frustrated with unreliable San Francisco taxis, Garrett Camp (later co-founder of Uber) used a “trick” of calling all major taxi services in San Francisco to ask for a pickup. He would use whichever taxi came first, meaning the rest would drive over and find no customer.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped, p.69 (calling this “a dick move”)
At Travis Kalanick’s prior company Red Swoosh, there were multiple improper finance practices: Engineers went months without pay (contrary to obligations to pay promptly). The company used payroll tax withholding as liquidity to fund operations. Fucked Company featured Red Swoosh’s problems, including all engineers resigning, on its front page.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped pp.53-55.
After the collapse and bankruptcy of his Scour business, Travis Kalanick envisioned what he called his “revenue business,” designed to get back at the audio and video trade associations that sued his investors and destroyed Scour.
Source: Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped pp.52
After dropping out of college, Travis Kalanick started a company called Scour, which helped users find online files to download. Scour was primarily used to help download illegal files. Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped reports: “Soon, Scour was competing head-to-head with Napster for file-sharing dominance.” Later, Scour’s investors announced being “uncomfortable” with “the copyright implications” of Scour’s business, leading the company to be sold for parts in bankruptcy court. (pp.45-49)