The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World

by Brad Stone

room and they are misinformed. They are thinking mostly about where their next campaign contribution comes from. There’s an Uber rep there, but he is basically alone, trying to describe an unfamiliar and strange technology to people who have no understanding of it. “The Uber guy has a lobbyist, but the lobbyist is also working for the other guys on the side. Finally, you have the big taxi guys there, and they have the city council locked up and paid for. “Then, meanwhile, you’d cut to the taxi guys at the airport. They are all waiting there for hours, playing cards or whatever, for the chance to pick up one fare. And there’s an Uber recruiter there, and he is surrounded, explaining this new system to the drivers…” Kalanick caught himself and trailed off. “Anyway, that’s how you’d start the movie.” On the street after dinner, he said again, “You have to inspire me,” as if I hadn’t just spent two hours laying out my best arguments. Then he and Plouffe took off on foot, back to the office. Six months passed, and despite my repeated entreaties, I didn’t hear anything. But then, after I’d talked to dozens of regulators, competitors, and current and former Uber employees, a new Uber PR executive somehow convinced Kalanick to cooperate. I eventually spoke with two dozen different Uber executives from all periods of the company’s brief history and had another few hours of Kalanick’s time to complement several interviews I had conducted with him over the course of my five years as ...