7 Uber Steps To Disrupt An Industry – Business Ideas
Uber has been one of the most successful companies lately and there are a lot of things that young entrepreneurs can learn from this $50 billion giant when it comes to running a startup.
1) Choosing the Right Niche
Taxi market has always been one of the most lucrative ones. That’s why there are plenty of shady companies, organizations and characters involved in it, which creates a lot of unsatisfied customers. Uber used this situation to win over a lot of people with great service, smart use of the latest technology and 100% accurate billing. That’s why we’re witnessing lot of ordinary people advocating for the company, mostly because they got fed up with shady and non-transparent billing of the regular cab drivers and taxicab companies and organizations.
2) Using Technology to Become More Competitive
There are thousands of taxicab firms around the world. Basically Uber is not that different from all of them, but its smart use of latest technologies for meeting the demands of passengers is the one thing that makes it much more competitive. Uber definitely represents the future of the taxicab business, where cab prices are going to be calculated by the algorithm and where passengers won’t need to haggle to get the fair pricing. This market has been very chaotic in lots of cities, and the only thing that can put everything in order is the use of latest technology.
3) Sharing a Mission With Company Employees
One of the most important things when it comes to Uber, but also some other companies that work on the similar basis like Sidecar of Lyft is that their employees don’t work for the company per se. They are registered as entrepreneurs and they’re nothing more than business partners to the mentioned companies. Drivers use Uber’s application for finding passengers, navigation, billing and feedback and they pay from 20%-30% of commission to the company. Both Uber and the drivers have the same mission to earn as much money as possible while maintaining the highest level of service.
In addition to this if we compare the requirements for becoming a London cab driver and the ones that Uber drivers need we can see why so much drivers are choosing to drive for Uber and other companies like this instead. Cab drivers in London need to pass written and oral tests and their car needs to go through very detailed inspection. Preparation for the tests usually lasts from 2 to 4 years and it’s not much different in many American cities as well. Uber spotted this fail in the system that stops many gifted drivers from becoming registered and they gave them an offer they can’t refuse. Partners like that appreciate these kind of offers, and they strive to work better for both the company and for themselves.
4) Realizing the Value of Great Marketing Experts
Managers of Uber realized the importance of marketing from the beginning and they invested a lot of money in their campaigns. One of the biggest steps was when they hired David Plouffe to serve as a senior vice president for policy and strategy and he later became a full-time strategic adviser. He’s famous for managing Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign that was one of the most ingenious political campaigns from the marketing point of view. Hiring Plouffe cost Uber an astonishing $5.2 billion, but they consider this as a money well spent. Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick stated that Obama presidential campaign from 2008 was known for great use of software and analytics and he called it “a startup that elected the President”.
5) Making Ingenious Promotional Stunts
In addition to hiring such a great marketing expert such as David Plouffe, Uber is also famous for it brilliant promotional stunts. Uber Kittens campaign delivered kittens for free to users in several American cities, they were also delivering roses on Valentines Day, these and many other promotional deliveries emphasize the practicality and the good-nature of this $50 billion worth company. They also tied their special promotions with show-biz, for example, when Transformers: Age of Extinction was released, several lucky Uber users could request a ride from Optimus Prime. They also provide effective charity actions like #UberSleigh during which they collected 60,000 toys from dozen cities for the kids in the need.
6) Creating an Elaborate Strategy for Global Expansion
Nothing happens by accident when it comes to Uber. Travis Kalanick announced that the company is going to spread its business to large number of cities in Europe and Asia in the future, and we already see lots of influential bloggers from many European and Asian cities vouching for the company and describing nice experiences they had with this application and the drivers. Uber is using universally low opinions most citizens have about taxicab companies and they’re emphasizing it by using various methods incorporated in their elaborate marketing strategies that are launched years before they enter some city’s taxicab market.
7) Even Uber Makes Mistakes
Although until now Uber strategy seemed almost perfect, they also make mistakes that stop their company from growing even further. One of the base mistakes happened in the early beginnings of Travis Kalanick’s and Garrett Camp’s work. Instead of incorporating their business on some off-shore paradise land they decided to incorporate it in San Francisco, and therefore to pay higher taxes and to satisfy strict incorporation regulations United States has. Taxes are just one part of the puzzle. Some off-shore destinations are famous for its benevolent relations to entrepreneurs who decide to incorporate there. They offer them government grants, easy communications, less-strict incorporation regulations etc. South-East Asian countries have been extremely popular for this kind of projects lately and many entrepreneurs decide to incorporate their businesses, partnerships and even hedge funds in Singapore and many other South-East Asian tax heavens.
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