Hardware Podcasts

Lyft: John Zimmer (2017)

How I Built This · 25 Jun 2018 · 40m

What this episode covers

John Zimmer, co-founder of Lyft, explains how he and co-founder Logan Green pivoted from Zimride, a long-distance carpooling service, to Lyft, an on-demand ride-hailing app, by leveraging smartphone technology to solve the 'chicken and egg' problem of marketplace liquidity. Zimmer details the intense regulatory battles in California, where they faced cease-and-desist orders and had to proactively engage with the Public Utilities Commission to establish a new legal category for ride-sharing. He also discusses the strategic decision to sell Zimride to Enterprise Rent-A-Car to focus entirely on Lyft, and their competitive differentiation against Uber through driver treatment and reliability. The episode concludes with an update on Kyle Ewing, who pivoted from selling waterproof passports to founding Terraslate, a company producing durable, waterproof paper for industrial and commercial clients.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Uber, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, U.S. Bank, American Express
Products
Lyft, Zimride, Terraslate

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