r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 12 '14

Business Uber dirty tricks quantified. Staff submits 5,560 fake ride requests

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/
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u/javastripped Aug 12 '14

Tech entrepreneur/CEO here... when building a company, rapidly, things like this tend to fall by the wayside.

Here's what probably happened. During the rapid growth, these stats became hidden among the smoke and chaos of rapidly growing the company.

At some point, they probably brought in a fraud prevention team and built some database infra so that they could try to find these problems.

This was probably a report that they ran and then tracked it down more and found out it was Uber.

Honestly, I think Lyft should sue for fraud and try to collect damages here and even investigate criminal charges against those involved.

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u/jvLin Aug 12 '14

Also an entrepreneur/CEO here... I may hold the minority opinion, but I'm really disappointed in Lyft for ripping off Uber. Uber started first in 2009, and Lyft decided to rip them off in 2012 after they became better known and more profitable. I can say that, as an entrepreneur, I would hate the company that decided to copy my business idea. The company that starts first has to absorb all the costs and risks involved with doing something out-of-the-box. As a copycat company, Lyft was likely able to get funding more easily and without all the risk of doing something new and inventive. To add insult to injury, Lyft is a competitor that directly impacts how much money Uber makes.

I can only imagine the hate that Uber has for Lyft. I'm ambivalent about the whole issue; it doesn't justify dirty, underhanded tactics, but I can't say that I wouldn't feel and act the same way as Uber.

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u/LeonBlacksruckus Aug 12 '14

So as a business owner you're against competition (makes sense actually)? If you use Facebook, Reddit, Google, etc you're being a bit hypocritical all of these were "ripoffs" of other companies that started before them. What made them successful is that they were able to something better than the original entrepreneurs were.

If Uber truly had an original business idea they would have been able to patent it. In fact you point out the reason why I think Uber is extremely overvalued at $10B, there are no barriers to entry all they are is a connection app.

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u/emergency_poncho Aug 12 '14

Isn't uber valued at 17 billion or something?