About Lyft:
Lyft is a ridesharing platform created in 2007 in order to improve transportation in urban environments. Co-founder and acting president, John Zimmer, came up with the app by identifying an unnoticed problem. Since its inception, Lyft has been steadily growing into one of the best ridesharing services in the U.S., competing with other large companies like Uber.
John Zimmer (Inspiration and Innovation):
John Zimmer first identified the previously mentioned problem while attending college at Cornell. The problem was that 20% of seats in vehicles are vacant while these vehicles operate on highways. This statistic can be easily overlooked as insignificant, but Zimmer saw this as an opportunity. Capitalizing on the perceived potential, he joined forces with Logan Green who was already working on a ridesharing service called Zimride. Because Zimride was not very successful, the two decided to start developing a more mobile-focused app. With the launch of Lyft, Zimmer and Green established the solution they had been working towards.
Importance:
One of the qualities that stood out to me as I was researching John Zimmer was his ability to frame a problem. Because it is very common to see vehicles on the road with empty seats, it is not a factor that most people would consider to be a problem. George Zimmer was able to see past mundane details and use this perceived problem to discover the value of filling empty seats.
From the viewpoint of a current customer, I am blessed to have access to a service such as this. My most recent use of the service was in Orlando, and I got this Russian dude who actually took a longer route on purpose to make me pay extra. After the ride I was able to get a hold of support and they refunded my entire trip. I will forever be loyal to this service.
It’s interesting to see how something that could easily have gone unnoticed, vacant seats, was recognized as an opportunity. This is inspiring because it points to the simplicity of amazing ideas and their potential. I also appreciate how Lyft has done an excellent job competing with Uber and benefiting the consumer with this competition.
Pretty impressive story. They were able to compete with Uber, and fix some problems that Uber had. I have some family members that use Lyft, they trust it far more than Uber.
This is a really well-written post Josh! Great job! I am fascinated by Zimmer’s commitment to this idea even as he faced so many challenges. Really impressive to consider their competition with Uber in this startup space.
I love how you mentioned the quality that Lyft pursues. I personally prefer Lyft over Uber because of the amazing customer service I have experienced. Super insightful blog post, great job!