The story of how Uber came to be all started on a winter night when the pair was attending a conference and could not get a cab to get back to the hotel. Initially, they thought of a time-share limo service that could be ordered via an app. They did not act on the idea, but when Camp returned to San Francisco he bought the domain name ubercab.com. Camp experimented with the idea with prototypes and eventually persuaded Kalanick to come back and help him.
The official launch came in May of 2010 in San Francisco. The user would order a ride to pick them up at a select location at a select time on the Uber app. The ease and simplicity of the process led to a quick rise in popularity. Today, Uber is still the leading service in cab services, but Lyft has emerged as a big competitor.
I recently used Uber for the first time, and was very impressed with how easy and efficient the service works. As nice as it is for those looking to get a ride, it has also created a lot of jobs for people looking to become an Uber driver. It is not super hard to get certified, and can be a good side job if you live near a big city.
It’s very interesting how such a simple idea turned into a huge empire. Though taxis are still available, Uber has completely changed the game. They really stepped into a space that had been overpopulated by the same solution for years and completely took over.
It’s interesting how something so big could grow from a personal experience. But I think that’s a great example of someone seeing and meeting a need. If you’re experiencing a problem, others probably are too.