Travis Kalanick’s first company got him sued for $250 billion. Most people would’ve given up after that. But Kalanick didn’t.

Super Pumped by Mike Isaac recounts Kalanick’s amazing story, all the way from his first company, Scour, to Uber.

A Born Salesman

Kalanick was a born salesman. Even as a boy, he was tireless and persuasive.

“Travis and [his father] Donald were part of the YMCA’s Indian Guides youth troop, where Travis was a top seller for the group’s annual pancake breakfast fundraiser. Travis spent hours outside his neighborhood grocery store, pitching shoppers on their way inside to donate to the troop’s fundraiser. He was charming, persistent, tireless and competitive; his parents eventually had to drag him home in the evenings.”

But despite his hard work, Kalanick’s ventures kept falling flat.

“Long before the breakout success of Uber, Kalanick had been seen as an entrepreneurial failure. When pitching clients on his enterprise products, door after door was closed in his face. When one company was nearly acquired by a tech giant, the opportunity was snatched away at the last minute.”

The average person would’ve gotten discouraged. But somehow, Kalanick seemed immune to that.

The Eureka Moment

Surprisingly, Uber actually wasn’t Kalanick’s idea. That distinction goes to his co-founder, Garrett Camp.

Night after night, Camp found it impossible to get a cab in San Francisco.

But one day, while watching a James Bond movie, the solution came to him. Bond was driving guided by a device that told him the route.

What if cabs had those, and riders could see where their cab was? No more wondering when you’re going to get picked up!

Excited, Camp sold Kalanick on the idea.

Building Uber

At first, UberCab was a desktop app. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

Bit by bit, riders began to trickle in. Once they experienced the convenience of UberCab, they were hooked.

First Round Capital led UberCab’s angel round. The First Round team met Kalanick by sending him a message, rather than waiting for him to pitch them.

This shows me that the best companies may not come to you. You need to go to them.

‘Always Be Hustling’

Uber methodically removed every conceivable barrier to using their product, for both riders and drivers.

Want to drive for Uber but don’t have an iPhone? Here’s a brand new shiny one, on the house!

Worried about getting fined or towed? We’ll cover that. And did we tell you about the signup bonus?

Uber cold called black car drivers and showed up at garages, uninvited. They stopped at nothing to get supply on the platform.

And for riders skeptical of a new service, Uber offered free rides. After all, who’s going to turn down a free ride in a fancy black car?

Soon, Uber was growing fast.

Wrap-Up

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from Travis is to never give up.

It would be pretty easy to give up after being sued for a quarter trillion dollars. But right after Scour failed, Kalanick sat down with his co-founder Michael Todd, brainstorming new business ideas.

There’s a lot more to the Uber story: Bill Gurley’s investment, Uber’s torrid growth, scandals, and Kalanick’s eventual removal. I’ll cover those in another post soon.

What have you learned from Travis? Leave a comment and let us know!

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe for more like this!

More on tech:

Why Marc Andreessen Passed on Airbnb

How Ron Conway Landed His Investment in Google

Why I Invest in Startups

Save Money on Stuff I Use:

Fundrise

This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

More on Fundrise in this post.

If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

Misfits Market

I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order.