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Scale Ruins Everything

(coldwaters.substack.com)
175 points drc500free | 1 comments | 14 Oct 24 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
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daxfohl ◴[14 Oct 24 20:15 UTC] No.41841448[source]▶
Given that we've been throwing cash at every conceivable idea for the last ten plus years, yet when speaking of unicorns we still have to refer back to airbnb and uber, seems like we're well past "peak unicorn" and well into the "horse with a mild concussion" era.
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Terr_ ◴[14 Oct 24 20:21 UTC] No.41841513[source]▶
It's also disconcerting how much their success seems to hinge on using technology as a lever to break laws or social expectations, as opposed to technology as something that itself empowers humans to be more productive.
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CalRobert ◴[14 Oct 24 20:43 UTC] No.41841766[source]▶
Getting a taxi in my college town in 2005 was agony. Make a phone call from a loud bar and shout at some guy who can barely tell what you're saying that you want a taxi and then maybe if you're lucky they show up in an hour and cost 3 times as much as you expected (and that's on a good night!) vs. "press a button, get a ride" (and have a feedback mechanism for horrible drivers or gross cars, etc.).

Uber has issues but honestly it's night and day compared to what taxis were like. And they decrease DUI's.

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1. tomjakubowski ◴[15 Oct 24 18:07 UTC] No.41851296[source]▶
Before Uber was available in Orange County, circa 2010-2011, I used an iPhone app to call a yellow cab to pick me up without having speaking to a dispatcher. I was able to give feedback about the driver too. Uber-style apps to hail cabs did exist, maybe they just weren't rolled out to all markets.

Before the launch of UberX, the Uber app positioned itself as a convenient way to call a black car/limo and, for drivers, to get some extra business between their "regular" calls. It was a semi-luxury though it only cost a bit more than a yellow cab (I only ever used Uber pre-UberX to get to/from the airport).

Really, other than surge pricing, I don't think Uber innovated very much on the tech side. Their success in disrupting cabs was rather down to flooding the market with supply, oftentimes in ways that flouted the law.