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A review by akhilsukh01
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac
3.75
Kalanick getting burned in his early ventures spawned a sense of paranoia towards VCs, investors, media, and any opposition. He also fed into the tech bro lifestyle which famously lacks a sense of self-awareness and humility. A lot of the Uber's early culture came from an "us vs them" mentality which was required, but also made it a difficult place to work. He'd constantly burn money to get what he wanted and back it up by raising more from investors, a skill he had perfected. His drive to kill his opponents was borderline perverse and to him no bounds were uncrossable. Ultimately, his being kicked out by his own board was a self fulfilling prophecy.
I see similarities between him and WeWork's Adam Neumann. Their confidence and bravado is inspiring for wide-eyed employees trying to be part of something bigger than themselves and optimistic investors fearful of missing out, but their arrogance also prevents them from seeing clearly.
The paragraphs are strangely short and the writing jumps around quite a bit to give context to topics like AWS, Google's self-driving car and side characters. Could be better edited.
I see similarities between him and WeWork's Adam Neumann. Their confidence and bravado is inspiring for wide-eyed employees trying to be part of something bigger than themselves and optimistic investors fearful of missing out, but their arrogance also prevents them from seeing clearly.
The paragraphs are strangely short and the writing jumps around quite a bit to give context to topics like AWS, Google's self-driving car and side characters. Could be better edited.