Previously on Super Pumped...
He's just gonna see a guy in his lame jeans
and these fucking shoes.
Yeah, he'll see you're a dung-colored man.
Your ideas will matter. Not your clothes.
-He'll see that. -Grow or die.
-Full access card? -You come and go
at Uber cab as you please.
-One of us? -Full access.
Nice.
Boom! You just got grey-balled, motherfucker!
-Is this illegal?
VCs have a purpose other than just writing a check.
I have a purpose.
Advising, vision shaping.
Really? You're not owed
anything except a return, which I will give you.
I'm the one who put you in here,
I'm the one who can take you out, too.
I say we keep Bill close for now.
But you keep doing what you're doing.
We're killing it.
-TK, this is... -Gabi Holzwarth.
-What did you say to her? -I told her she needed to meet
the next Jeff Bezos.
Hi, what made you choose Lyft instead of Uber?
It's so much cheaper,
and the drivers are super friendly.
We make more money. And we get tips.
These motherfuckers. They're stealing all my shit!
Oh, we're going to fucking war.
, Everyone's a critic Looking back up the river
Every boat is leaking In this town
But I found my place
And it's all right
I got my own way to believe
It's okay
Mine is mine and yours Won't take its place
Now, make your getaway
We had 93% of the market on lock.
We invented this shit.
But now, look at heaven.
Look at what it's telling us.
Our first-mover advantage is dimming.
And what's taking it?
Lyft.
John fucking Zimmer?
This guy's been drafting on our speed the whole Tour de France.
He's always been behind us,
and now he's gonna pretend like he's winning?
I'm the one in the yellow fucking jersey.
We need to just knock these assholes off the road.
Are the drivers the assholes or--?
Lyft, fucker. Lyft.
I am being cucked now. What are we doing about it?
Well, the drivers like the optionality.
We can't stop our guys from double-apping
and driving for both.
We should just buy Lyft. Absorb them.
We don't have the war chest for that.
-Okay, let's get it. - Look, who cares
about John Zimmer's little rideshare company?
You've got a powerful brand. Build it.
Keep your focus on that.
Stop obsessing over Lyft.
You know, Bill, I get your point.
But we are in the war room right now.
And it seems none of you guys want to go to war,
but that's what this is.
And you don't get it done with milk and cookies.
You're quoting Bobby Knight at me?
-Nice. -Look, you are so fucking good,
but this isn't zero-sum like a basketball game is.
That's exactly what it is.
Uber right now is like Google was
at the dawn of search.
One entrant in a crowded pool. What did Google do?
They flattened their competitors,
and now they're fucking Google.
Google did it by being better, not by being Al Capone.
"Don't be evil" ring a bell?
Yeah. Tell that to AltaVista.
It's funny you say Capone, though.
I remember my parents never wanted to get us cable
because they thought we were just, like,
watching MTV all day or something.
But then eventually they caved when I was, like, seven.
And the first weekend we had it,
my dad found The Untouchables,
because he thought it was like history or something.
Because, you know, it is.
Okay, right, so my--
My dad and Cory and me were sitting there
watching this, like, history lesson.
I'd have started you on The Dirty Dozen,
like my dad did me, but sure.
Okay, but De Niro as Capone.
That banquet scene with the bat.
Capone was just like, walking...
talking, and then bam!
Fucking brains that guy.
That shit changed me.
I felt like my skull
that just got hit with a bat.
I couldn't sleep for, like, a week.
I felt horrible for the guy.
I mean, he just gets brained at dinner.
But I saw the point.
He had it coming.
Uh, I don't know if he did.
That's not important.
The point is, that shit worked.
You crack a guy's cranium open
between the soup and the fish dish?
You know, you make an example of somebody,
people start to fall in line.
That is what needs to happen here.
Just to clarify,
you want to beat the drivers into submission?
I want to win.
And disloyalty,
however it shows its face,
that needs to be punished.
Well, we're not the Mob, though.
Okay, but if you don't want to own this whole fucking business,
like it's prohibition and we're the only ones making gin,
then why are we here?
You threatened them with a baseball bat?
No, not them... exactly.
It was a meta--
What I'm saying is,
sometimes fear works.
Not that it-- I don't know.
I don't know what I'm saying.
You make me nervous.
No, I don't, but it's a good line.
Every once in a while.
So tell me about the violin.
I guess I didn't know
that I really wanted to play at first.
It felt like homework.
And eventually, it became my best friend.
Plus, playing, you burn almost 200 calories an hour.
Is that right?
What else do I need to know about you?
Maybe that I'm surprised that we're here together.
When we met, we spoke so briefly.
I didn't know what you thought.
I was surprised when you came and found me
playing at the farmer's market.
No, you weren't.
But it's a good line.
-Every once in a while. -Uh-huh.
Here you are.
Thank you.
So, what do you play
to burn off the best meal in the Bay Area?
Uh...
"Sibelius," probably.
The concerto in D minor if we're having dessert.
Okay, hold on, I need the full download
on everything I need to listen to
so I can know how great you are.
Thank God for Ek.
Ek?
Yeah. Ek is a founder, like me.
I actually tried to crack this space with the company,
but Ek did it.
It's Spotify. See, look, you just, uh,
put in everything there that I need to listen to.
I can tell you're thinking hard.
It's important.
What are you doing?
I'm just putting in a code to give you free Uber.
I prefer Lyft.
-Careful.
Come on in.
Sorry, I've, uh, sort of been in work mode.
I've seen worse.
I call this place my Jam Pad.
I think I'll kiss you anyway.
Portrait of a man at war.
Yeah, that's great. Nice.
Well, I'm not at war.
I'm sitting in a booth somewhere
telling you about this guy
who is, in fact, very much at fucking war.
Are we doing it?
We're doing it.
They say good wars, winnable ones,
are fought on a single front.
But what if you have to win on all the fucking fronts?
New plan. We're gonna step up the information technology
on our drivers.
You mean surveillance.
We don't have to use words like that.
-Hello. -Hey, there.
So, uh, you like driving?
It's a good way to meet people.
Yeah, I bet.
And, uh, San Francisco,
you probably get a lot of crazies, huh?
You think we can modify having to figure out
who the double-appers are?
Snoop around in our drivers' phones,
see if they ever used the Lyft app.
Might be doable.
Might cross the line.
Might be a good time to consider the business you've chosen.
And what if it's not a finite war,
but a forever war?
Well, then you do what you have to,
and anyone calls you out on the morality,
that motherfucker is either a child, an enemy,
or a fucking traitor.
So I see you have both logos and both apps.
But you're not more of a Lyft guy, are you?
Just asking, because I happen to know that Uber
has some very special incentives coming online right now.
Okay, okay, hold on.
-Halas. -You quit?
I quit Lyft.
The bonuses Uber is offering, you have no idea.
We are thrilled to have you exclusive to Uber.
-Twenty dollars a mile? -Yeah.
And the price for the rider stays the same.
We just appreciate your loyalty.
And, uh, tell all your friends, okay?
So they are just giving away money?
No, no, no, habiti.
They're giving away money to us.
It's very different.
Fucking work-life balance.
If I hear those three words again...
-What's up? -We can find them now,
the double-appers. Pretty soon, anyway.
We won't have to go one by one from the field.
We can do it all from here.
And they'll never know we're scanning their phones?
Hold on, well, if we can get in their phones,
we can turn on the mics and the cameras.
We can find out who's taking Lyft?
Can.
Not sure I'd want to see what happens
in the back of those cars.
-She's the prettier one. -Yeah, I know.
Look, I can't help it.
You are insecure about this shit.
What am I supposed to say?
No, you look like shit in that bikini?
Oh, it's all right
It's all right
Sometimes I wish you were dead.
Great. Fucking wonder-- you know what?
Sometimes, I wish I was dead too.
Oh!
Dude!
Whoa, shake that thing now
- Shake that thing - Baby, shake that thing now
Shake that thing Baby, shake that thing
Austin sent out street teams to request and cancel Lyft rides,
which peels off some of the drivers.
Now, this is the same idea, just less analog.
Let's go. By the way, did she move to the regulators?
Yep.
So now you got your espionage
with a solid helping of clandestine attacks.
And then, of course,
you've got your frontal attack.
-Miss Geidt. -My team took 20 Lyft rides
over the past 24 hours,
which means we got in the back of Class C licensed vehicles,
driven by regular old civilians for Lyft.
Well, unless you were forced by gunpoint, I don't--
Just wondering when you're gonna start enforcing the law.
We are monitoring the situation very closely.
Yeah, I can tell.
The thing is, we care too much about passenger safety
to let Betty the soccer mom turn her Prius into a cab
to pay for her Vicodin habit,
but you've got us considering it.
Well, I will certainly alert the soccer moms ASAP.
Though I have a feeling...
the drivers aren't the middle-aged,
drug-addled dilettantes you're conjuring,
but more the working poor who are busting their heinies
hustling to fill in the blanks
so that maybe they can get a decent meal for their kids.
Not so much to buy a few more Norcos.
This goes one of two ways.
You start enforcing the laws on Lyft,
or we have justification to break those same laws.
And once we start, we won't stop like Lestat
after a taste of blood,
or teenage boys with YouPorn.
Do me a favor.
Wait five minutes before you call Zimmer to tell him.
So now they know you're after them,
and that you have your forces mobilizing.
Wars are expensive, and this one's no different.
These driver incentives are getting very pricey.
-You're still with me on this? -In theory, absolutely.
It'd be damn nice to take out Lyft.
But in practice, we may be financing something
that only ends in a bloody stalemate.
We think it's time for a raise round to fill the coffers.
- A road show. - Oh, no, no.
I need to be at the conn, not out begging for capital
-we don't actively need. -Show him the list.
We raise enough money to actually beat Lyft
instead of pissing away money pissing them off.
Kleiner, Excel, TPG and Greylock.
This is a little anemic, don't you think?
No.
That is spinach and prime USDA beef right there.
$350 million on the table if you close all those.
What about Google Ventures?
Well, they haven't raised their hand yet.
Well, make them raise their hand.
That's your special talent right? You're Bill Gurley.
Truth is, I don't want them to. Not at the moment yet.
I do.
David Drummond and Google Ventures rolls in?
Come on, we're minted. That sends a message to the valley.
The whole business world. That we're special.
That we're not Lyft.
Here's how Google rolls.
They're going to insist on being your lead investor
on the first round.
They'll limit their spend to $100 million tops.
That's all they'll shoot their first hand.
Stops everyone else from going beyond that.
They will bigfoot you, they will lowball you,
and you'll be screwed.
You ever been to a rodeo?
Went to a pie-eating contest once.
I got messy and sick, but I won.
Yeah, well, at a rodeo,
all the young riders,
they always want to climb onto the rankest bull
to, you know, prove themselves,
but it's best to get yourself seasoned first,
because bull's always gonna be there.
But you ride too soon, you might not be.
And if I finish the ride
and I win the big shiny belt buckle,
then I'm a legend, right?
So I'm not seeing the downside.
Word gets around that they turned you down.
It will snuff a lot of possibilities, Travis.
TPG, others on that list.
It starts a trend.
And word always gets around.
Pretty good list, TK.
And you know we'll kill it.
All right, fine. Road show.
Let's book it.
All right then.
Open it.
What is this?
Oh, shit.
What-- what made you do this--?
You said that you're doing a road show,
so you got to look, you know...
Yeah.
So I'm not a dun-colored mare?
It's, uh, Salinger.
Oh, I didn't like Catcher in the Rye.
It was overrated to me, so I skipped the others.
Worth it?
Uh, yeah.
I mean, I guess.
But thank you so much for the shoes.
It's so sweet of you.
You're welcome.
Hey.
Hey. You okay?
Yeah, you know, you left these Polaroids
from the Tahoe trip?
Yeah. You can keep them if you want.
Okay, well...
also, they're here if you want them.
It's a pretty awesome trip.
You called to talk about traveling?
We're doing a road show.
Or I said I would do it,
but I think I could probably walk it back.
Why would you?
Zimmer's gonna find out about it,
and he'll know I need money to beat him.
It just feels weak.
You don't like asking for money, because it makes you feel needy.
And you don't want to need anything from anybody.
But tell yourself this.
Soon enough, you'll never have to ask for anything ever again.
And you know when that is.
After this round,
this meeting, this money close.
Yeah, I can't wait for that.
This is your ticket.
And it's not a scratch-off.
You already have the magic numbers in your head.
You know what to fill out.
But you need to get the guy to hand it to you.
Yeah, exactly.
See? As usual.
Exactly.
How are you?
New place okay?
Yeah, it's great.
Uh, would have loved something a little bigger.
Wow, subtle.
What?
I don't know, you're telling me to convince people
to put money into Uber,
but then you want me to take money out of Uber
and sell some of my shares so I can pay you.
Don't. Fucking don't.
I'm just saying-- look, you-- you told me to stay here.
You said you wanted to find a new spot.
-You said you would buy me out. -I will.
Okay, so stop accusing me of being some kind of Valkyrie.
I should go.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're gonna leave it like that?
Do you want to consider for a second
you just got into my head right now?
You're like Lancaster Dodd from the fucking Master.
Travis, you're no Freddie Quell.
You can handle this without making yourself
a torpedo juice cocktail.
-Okay, fine. -Hey...
you're going to be great at this.
I promise.
You can do this.
Thank you.
Here you go, guys.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Here.
Kalanick, right?
Emil Michael.
And you guys are...?
InfoVis.
Never heard of it.
B2B.
Crowd analytics.
Hasn't been a great run for us.
That's really surprising given the confidence you're emanating.
You probably walk in, and they hand you a check.
Usually.
You didn't do your homework, Travis.
-All I do is homework. Come on. -Regulators, taxicab commissions
are gonna do all they can to shut you down.
There's not gonna be a problem. You know I'm a survivor.
At Swoosh you almost did not survive, man.
-That was ahead of its time. -I looked at your projections.
You have to spend at least five times more marketing
just to have anybody know who you are.
I'm gonna raise all that. That's gonna be fun.
Yeah, you know how much fucking money
you're going to have to raise? You know my rule.
We went through this in Red Swoosh over and over again.
I am not going to invest in a company where you have to raise
hundreds of millions of dollars
to do tens of millions of dollars in revenues.
Bro, we are going to be making billions of dollars.
This idea is much bigger than Red Swoosh.
-You know that. -Billions in revenues, maybe.
But you're going to have to spend billions of dollars
to get there, and I'll get diluted to nothing.
I don't-- what's the point of making an investment
in a company where I put in a lot of money,
and I end up with zip?
If you pass on this right now,
I'm never coming back to you.
Guess what, Travis. I just did.
Hello, InfoVis.
We are ready to go. Please follow me.
I told you we came too early.
Yeah, I don't want to rush and get sweaty.
Some of these places got leather seats,
and the leather and the sweat... not a fun combo.
Oh, shit! Sorry.
Travis?
-Zimmer. -Yeah.
Uh, I know.
But we loved your campaign that much.
Figure we can't ignore we're in a dogfight,
might as well lean in.
And the VCs seem to get it so far.
Yeah, my, uh--
my shirt's our closer.
Though I guess technically, it's your shirt.
-So thank you.
Hey, good luck in there.
He's taller than I thought.
I just need to get in your Wi-Fi and I'll be set.
Travis, Emil, the team and I are excited you came in.
Yeah, no, I don't think so.
You guys just had a company in here
I don't even want to be in the same room with.
I mean, I get it, right?
Companies have to donate to Republicans and to Democrats
so you're greased in with whoever wins, but you...
you're VCs.
You're supposed to believe in the company you put money into,
not just protect yourself in the possibility
you made the wrong call.
So your pitch is we go with you or Lyft, but not both?
I'm gonna make it easy for you. We're done here.
Thanks for the water.
Cancel the meetings.
-Which? -All of them.
That's fucking genius.
That's fucking insane. You canceled the road show?
-You don't want to do the raise? -No, no, no. We're doing it.
Bill, look, it's like, you ever been to a club?
You know, the velvet rope that makes everyone want to get in?
So I am a club called Unicorn, and if investors want in,
they got to get in line.
-Maybe that stunt
that you pulled at the VC firm works.
Maybe they want in so bad they make an offer.
They block out Lyft.
Even so, we still have to raise the rest.
We're gonna raise the rest, dude.
We're just gonna do it here.
We're flipping the paradigm.
It's not a road show.
Home show. Home show!
Home show! Come on!
Right? You're with the insurgents now.
This shouldn't be fucking with your head.
No, I'm just trying to figure out
how it is that starving your own company
is insurgency and not just a temper tantrum.
-Worked for Gandhi. -Yeah, well,
when Gandhi made that choice,
he was the one doing the starving.
Not his investors.
Because mutiny on the bounty Is what we're all about
I'm gonna board your ship And turn it on out
No soft sucker With a parrot on his shoulder
I'm bad, getting bolder Cold getting colder
Terrorizing suckers On the seven seas
And if you've got beef
You'll get capped In the knees
We got 16 men On a dead man's chest
And I shot those suckers And I'll shoot the rest
Most illingest B-boy I got that feeling
'Cause I am most ill And I'm rhyming and stealing
Snatching gold chains Nicking pieces of eight
I got your money And your honey
And the fly name plate
We got wenches On the benches
Bitties with titties
Housing all girlies
From city to city
One for all and all for one
Taking out MCs With a big shotgun
All for one and one for all
Because the Beastie Boys Have gone AWOL
Most rhyminest B-boy I'm stretching my shade
Most shootinest B-boy I think you're shit
Most rhyminest B-boy I'll steal your shit, homeboy
Most taxinest B-boy I'll tax you, boy
Most illingest, illingest Illingest B-boy
Taxing all y'all squares Yeah
I've tried every fucking thing.
I can't get this class C bullshit shut down.
Yeah, and Zimmer knows it, and he's using it.
Every meeting now someone's asking me,
what does Uber have to do to get bigger?
Do you have an answer?
It occurs to me I think we got polite.
We're just using registered livery drivers, why?
Because it's a fucking rule?
I mean while Lyft is undercutting us
like they're Costco of livery.
We're disruptors.
We can't be afraid to disrupt even ourselves.
We open up the business.
Let in civilians,
anybody with a driver's license can come join the team.
We will crush Lyft at their own game.
Luxury in an app. That was the vision always.
And it's a great vision.
Uber is a black car company.
No one wants to ride around in someone's used Camry.
Are you so sure about that?
This is the last time this ever happens.
Police walked in For Jimmy Jazz
I said "He ain't here But he sure went by"
Oh, you're looking for
Jimmy Jazz
Yeah, they said
Satta Massagana For Jimmy Dread
Cut off his ears And chop off his head
Police come look for
Jimmy Jazz
Jazz, Jazz, Jazz
So go look
Wow! Thanks so much, guys.
Have a fantastic night.
Chatty fella.
That's the Lyft UX in action.
You know, you sit up front, you make a friend.
Yeah, I'm not that lonely yet.
I'm not saying that it couldn't happen,
but there's nothing cool about that experience.
Maybe that's not the point.
Are we selling cool, or selling transportation?
We're selling cool transpo.
Elegant. James fucking Bond.
That's the brand. Always has been.
TK, it's your call.
I mean, it's your call.
Both.
You go into a department store,
they have that shitty jewelry on the counter, right?
But the good stuff is in the glass boxes.
-Two levels of service. -Exactly, all right.
So you want luxury, you want cool, you can pay for cool.
But we slide another option into the app.
Charge 35% less and call it UberX,
so it still feels cool.
It's always X with you.
Yeah, the X is for "extra sexy."
You would laugh at that.
Dude, you brought me in to grind on these kinds of calls.
Yeah. That's true.
But I'm still gonna give you my opinion,
and I expect you to take it seriously.
And then I'll ride with you on it.
No matter what you decide.
It's your company, man.
For Garrett?
You know, I'm hearing Google Ventures
is in the mix this round.
That's weird.
I can't control the rumor mill, Bill, can I?
That's me.
Once we added the UberX functionality, boom,
that is driver supply, that is rider demand.
What part of "do not disturb" do--?
David motherfucking Drummond.
In theory, a top Google lawyer.
In practice, Larry and Sergey's business brain.
Head of their investment arm, Google Ventures.
Loved and feared in every boardroom in Silicon Valley.
A real OG.
And a BFD.
And the one-man TK set this entire trap for.
Hi. Travis Kalanick.
No shit. I'm in your office.
Sit down.
I don't imagine you made the drive
all the way from Mountain View to hear me talk,
so why don't you start?
I'm wondering who you think you are
telling everyone in my valley we're in your round.
Aren't you?
Because again, long drive, David.
Or is it Mr. Drummond?
I'm more of a TK to my friends, Travis to my enemies,
and a fucking lottery ticket to anybody who knows what's what.
Breakfast, Tuesday, 9:00 a.m., Charlie's Café on the campus.
This is a home show, not a road show.
You know what? I can make an exception.
That's cool.
But...
I want Larry Page there.
That's a tough get.
I'll see what I can do.
Um, hi.
David fucking Drummond came into the office today,
and we are going to the Googleplex on Tuesday.
And Larry Page is gonna be there!
I feel fucking amazing!
I can see that.
You are my good-luck charm.
Okay. Well, I like that.
Is he coming?
Larry Page, Travis Kalanick,
and Emil Michael.
It's so great to meet you, man.
So, look, I'll admit when I started Uber,
it was just a way for me and my buddies
to get around San Francisco in limos like ballers.
You know, we didn't have a grand plan.
For a minute.
But then I was forced to learn to improvise
once it turned out everybody wanted in.
Has that ever happened to you? You know, you have an idea
and then it spins into something else?
Maybe not.
Maybe you just see it all in front of you
perfectly mapped out,
exactly the way it'll come to pass.
I don't know, me? I have to stay open to opportunity
and nimble enough to change,
because here's the thing: we are not a limo company.
We're a technology company.
But if I had known that at the start,
I might have never started.
You know, my mom, she says, "Look before you leap."
But I'm always like, how am I going to get a good enough view
and decide what's next
if I'm not already up in the air, you know?
Because I took the leap, right?
Like you guys with Google Maps, that is a leap.
But you're up in the air, and you can look, and boom.
Autonomous vehicles, right?
Yeah, you know, self-driving cars
are very much front of mind.
Still early stages, but...
Yeah.
Ooh, you make me live
Whatever this world Can give to me
It's you
You're all I see
Ooh, you make me live now Honey
Ooh, you make me live
Oh, you're the best friend
That I ever had
I've been with you Such a long time...
Look, it'd be easy for Google Ventures
to just plug some money into Uber
and walk away and siphon off some of our success.
But I don't think that's what you want to do.
I think you want us to grow together, right?
Like, imagine we could share data
from all the millions of trips
that Uber runs every day.
Plug that into Google Maps
or anything else that we want to team up on.
Flying cars.
The numbers.
You aware?
Flying cars?
Move 14% of vehicles currently on the road to air lanes,
traffic congestion goes down 82%.
Wow.
That...
Your idea?
Uber?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it was.
My partner, Garrett, he ideated the concept,
but I refined it and really built it.
Interesting.
How does route planning work?
That's not easy.
That's... is that OSRM, or are you using our APIs?
It's open-source.
Open-source what?
OpenStreetMap, I'm pretty sure.
It's-- it's really advanced. We have the best guys on it.
If you say so.
You don't actually write code, do you, Tyler?
Travis.
Kalanick.
Okay.
Good.
Yeah, we should, you know...
You know...
Let's do this.
If we come on, I'll get a board seat.
-An observer's seat. -A voting seat.
That's a deal-breaker.
The only way I'm giving up
a voting seat is if there's a spend commensurate
-with the people at this table. -It's my table.
If Uber weren't the hottest entrant in transportation space,
I wouldn't be sitting here, and neither would you.
Look...
Amazon is a warehouse company.
We are the everything company.
You revolutionize transportation,
you revolutionize urban development,
real estate, the energy sector,
food and hospitality, trading and shipping.
I mean, this is a lot more than just how people shop.
This is how they live, and it's all frictionless,
because that's who we are.
Our brand changes the world, just like your does.
You got an ask?
Quarter-bil.
The most Google's ever invested is a hundred million.
I'm willing to talk something in that ballpark--
Talk about a quarter-billion dollars.
That's the ask.
-Can you believe that? -That was fucking insane.
Dude, the vibe between me and Larry was tight.
I'm calling Bill.
Hmm? No, no, no. Don't-- don't do that.
Okay, maybe I don't?
I'm running this play without protection in the pocket.
Fuck.
You went in there without even telling Bill
and without telling me what the actual ask was gonna be?
Are you actually in the pocket?
I'm fine.
He's gonna find out.
He's not my dad.
And if we nail a quarter-bil, then he can apologize.
If we don't, then he can gloat.
You don't actually have the Google cash.
We might never have it.
You might have completely blown it with that ask.
I cannot believe you're not with me on this one.
Dude, the money is coming in one way or another.
Look at our growth rate.
-Look at our burn rate. -That's true.
-The incentives are killing us. -But that's why we buy Lyft,
so we can stop paying these fucking incentives to the
drivers, because where else are they gonna go?
Maybe we should run this by Bill--
No, we're not. Don't say "Bill." We're not running by anything.
No run-bys. We endgame Lyft, okay?
We get the Google money, and we end them.
That's it.
Unless you want them nipping at our heels forever.
Should I have called?
Give me the room.
I love saying that.
David Drummond called.
Called you?
I'm the guy they call.
That's how this works.
When you fuck up, they call me.
When you try to go deep with Larry Page, they call me.
When you land over a quarter of a billion dollars
of Google's money, they call me.
Fuck you.
No, thanks. I'm good.
My founder just raised some serious cash.
Oh!
-You feeling it? -Holy shit!
Yes. Holy shit.
I know how to win now. I know how.
I already set up the dinner with Zimmer.
Now you can do it.
Okay, then.
We're gonna go in there, we're gonna scoop up Lyft.
Zimmer is gonna-- he's gonna act weird at first.
He's bleeding. His board's after him.
He knows he's dying, and he doesn't want to die.
So you're gonna let him know
that you're not going to go to the press and call him a loser.
And you're gonna treat his employees with respect...
and a seat on the board.
-Okay, I can do that. -Oh, I know you can,
because a guy marries a woman with kids,
he has to prove he's not gonna fuck up her life or theirs.
You get it?
I got it.
Did you say over a quarter-billion?
Two-fifty-seven.
I guess it's okay if they bigfoot us now, right, Bill?
It's very fucking okay. They bought the right.
The legend's always been
the restaurants in Little India all share the same kitchen.
So you walk down Sixth Street in New York City,
and every storefront has a different name.
They have a different collection of Christmas lights
and different aging menus taped to the windows,
but it's all a mirage.
You mean like an actual mirage, or people just can't believe
that all these different Indian restaurants
share the same kitchen?
Never did find out.
The vindaloo,
it doesn't taste the same at all those places.
I just-- I call bullshit.
Yeah, me too. Probably, right?
But maybe that's the magic of it.
Create the sense of choice
that the customer is engaging in a decision.
But actually all the money's flowing back to the same place.
And in this case, that'd be us.
Something like that.
We think you retaining 17% of the company is a fair deal.
We wanted 25.
We know, Kate.
I can sit with 17.
Board seat as discussed.
Lyft retains its app and staff,
and we can discuss lightening our C-suite.
We have a few top performers we'd like to protect.
Eight percent.
You know what I wanted to say?
Here's my final offer: nothing.
Like the Lake Tahoe scene.
I just didn't want you guys to think I was screwing around.
- Travis. - So you're serious?
I mean, I also sprung for the Sam Wo's.
You know, Travis, sometimes when you put your dick
out on a table,
it doesn't necessarily mean you have a big one.
It might just mean you exposed yourself.
You have no fucking idea how many people assume
that everything I've accomplished
is somehow to compensate for everything I'm not.
But you have to know
the whole worth of your company is predicated on my success.
You're a tapeworm.
I'm the host. You need me.
What, to be on that wall? I need you on that wall?
You need me to survive.
I understand you feel that way.
This isn't about feelings, man. This is about facts.
You're shedding six and a half percent a day
of potential revenue to us post-UberX.
We're gonna roll out dynamic pricing.
That number's going to double.
You're going to lose all your drivers.
More than that, you're going to lose your customers.
because they like your little interface.
But you know what they like more?
A car that shows up fast,
and you won't be able to provide it.
He's not putting it very diplomatically.
His terms are not the ones I recommended.
But it is true.
Something funny?
You could have walked out of here tonight
owning the entire rideshare space.
Like Coke and Pepsi got hitched.
But you're not smart enough.
-No, no, that's not it.
You're not sophisticated enough. You're not cultured enough.
Fuck, you're not human enough.
Sure, you have some savvy.
And, yes, you are good with numbers.
But you're too much of a goddamn predatory animal
to take a sure thing when it comes to you.
I don't know why.
I-- I don't actually care.
Here's what's gonna happen.
I'm not ever leaving the rideshare space.
Not now.
I mean, I was ready to pull back.
But after this, uh-uh.
I will grow, and I will suck
the ever-loving fucking life out of your company.
And I will outlast you.
And when I do, when I go public first,
I just want you to remember,
you brought this shit-ton of bricks down on your own head.
Bill, thanks much.
Well, that was fucking ridiculous.
I had to take a walk.
I'm sorry you wasted your evening.
It's fine.
I know it's not.
What are you doing, Bill?
Riding shotgun with a guy like that?
I saw your face. You had no idea
he was gonna self-immolate in there tonight.
I'm sorry we couldn't throw you a lifeline,
but his point's not wrong.
Probably all healthier if we compete.
Sure.
You got to defend your founder.
Gurley stands behind his man.
But every time Travis gets a win...
you're making him believe
the world owes him that win.
First loss he has, he's gonna think he's drowning,
and he's gonna stand on your shoulders to save himself.
He'll push you right under.
John.
Let me know if I can help you this funding round.
Just, uh, make some quiet calls.
I used to consider you one of the good ones.
Now I see you've turned into a jackal like all the rest.
I don't want you anywhere near my company.
"Google Ventures is the largest investor,
"with $257.79 million in.
"This round values Uber at around $3.4 billion pre-money,
$3.76 billion post-money."
This is absolutely fucking great.
Well, I'm happy to be here.
You going down to say hello to David?
Yeah, I'm walking now.
Uh, hey, listen, I was just curious.
When was it that, uh, you guys decided to tank the Lyft deal
and try to kill them instead of buying them?
There wasn't a specific internal discussion.
Well, I mean, did you, uh--?
did you lose my phone number for a while,
or you forget how to dial?
We had a relationship when you put me in, for sure.
And we still have one now.
It's different, though. It has to be.
Now, I know that. You know that.
Why don't we just enjoy his success, Bill?
It's all to our benefit.
Alright, take care of your mom.
What time is your flight?
Tomorrow morning at 8:00.
Hmm.
You finally left Rex alone to shoot around out there, huh?
I was just trying to impart something about the game
to our guy before I leave tomorrow.
Not just about the game.
I tell you what, I hope he listens to his coaches
better than he does to me,
because he tunes me out like an old radio dial.
Because you play D1, which he has to ignore,
or it'll be too hard to keep going.
You always say a good coach finds a way to cut through.
Either gets loud or quiet,
or finds an angle until he's heard.
I'm kind of sucking at that lately.
Say the rest.
The thing you don't want to.
Uber scored huge in this last round.
Massive.
And you're mad? Why?
Sounds like you did good.
Because his wins are his,
and his losses, his sins, are all of ours.
And he won't listen.
Ah, you know, I can't protect him.
I...
I stood up for him.
A smart guy, a guy I greatly respect.
He looked me right in the eye, right in the soul,
and he told me exactly what he saw.
There's nothing.
Well, if Travis won't let you protect him,
then that's on him, not you.
Or is this about the money?
No.
A little.
A lot.
At the end of this run, it's the one that--
it's the one that pays for all the others.
It's the one that makes it so we nev--
ever have to think about money again.
Oh, I don't think about it much now.
And I rarely heard you talk about it until this--
this idea of changing the family tree seemed possible.
Meaning I'm fine just the way we are.
But what if you got the money out of your head
and made the right decision?
For the guy? For the team?
For everyone who deals with them?
Because if you don't,
I don't want to see you carrying that around.
Hey, Bill, they should have water out there for us.
But you want anything else to drink?
-You want a soda or something? -Water sounds just fine.
-Thanks, Mike. -How about any, uh,
specific questions you want me to ask you?
I think whatever you throw out at me will be fine, yeah.
TK, Gurley's panel's up.
Oh, yeah.
Think I mentioned the raise.
All right, it's about that time. Are you ready?
-Yeah. -All right, let's do it.
You know, uh, come to think of it, uh, Mike...
yeah, there is.
Bill, I got one last question for you.
Do you think we're in a tech bubble?
I think that we're in a risk bubble.
Uh, especially with these, uh...
these so-called unicorns.
Except for your one true unicorn, right, Bill?
We've flushed an excessive amount of money onto them,
and they, uh--
Well, a lot of them, including some favorites of mine
are, uh, acting, uh...
irrationally.
Warren Buffett has a--
has a great saying.
"Be fearful when others are greedy,
and be greedy when others are fearful."
I'm not here to accuse anyone of being greedy.
But there is nowhere near enough fear
in Silicon Valley right now.
And I think you will see some dead unicorns this year.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
-Bill Gurley.
What the fuck was that?
"Dead unicorns." What, is he sending a coded fucking message?
Okay, we just raised a crazy successful round.
We basically destroyed our nearest rival,
and that's his fucking response?
I guess it was.
All right, he wants to play with fucking baseball bats.
Let's play with bats.
Penny, I need a sit-down with Bill Gurley
as soon as he is fucking back.
And get me building security.
The waiting drove me mad
You're finally here And I'm a mess
I take your entrance back
Can't let you Roam inside my head
I don't want to take What you can give
I would rather starve Than eat your bread
I would rather run But I can't walk
Guess I'll lay alone Just like before
I'll take The varmint's path
Oh, and I must Refuse your test
Shit.
And I will resist
This behavior's not unique
I don't want to hear From those who know
They can buy But can't put on my clothes
I don't want to limp For them to walk
Never would have known Of me before
I don't want to be held In your debt
I'll pay it off in blood Let I be wed
I'm already cut up And half dead
I'll end up alone Like I began
Everything has chains, Absolutely...