Hardware Podcasts

Lyft: John Zimmer

How I Built This · 13 Feb 2017 · 39m

What this episode covers

John Zimmer, co-founder of Lyft, explains how he and Logan Green pivoted from Zimride, a university carpooling network, to Lyft, a on-demand ridesharing platform, after recognizing the potential of smartphones for instant transportation. Zimmer details the intense regulatory battles in California, where they faced cease-and-desist orders and had to negotiate a new legal category for peer-to-peer ridesharing by exceeding existing safety standards. He discusses the strategic decision to sell Zimride to Enterprise Rent-A-Car to focus entirely on Lyft, the competitive dynamics with Uber, and the long-term vision of integrating autonomous vehicles into a subscription-based mobility service.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Lyft, Uber, Zimride, Lehman Brothers, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Airbnb, ZipCar, ACLU
Also
Cornell, UC Santa Barbara

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