Read the pitch deck that Uber founder Garrett Camp created for the ride-hailing giant back in 2008 – before the company became the $120 billion giant it is today
It's a big year for Uber.
The first name in ride-hailing had a ton of hype around it for the first half of 2019 thanks to its IPO. And though the $8 billion valuation fell well short of speculations of $100 billion, Uber is still one of the biggest names on the market today.
With such eye-popping numbers, it's difficult to remember a time when the 10-year-old company wasn't the juggernaut it is today. Uber currently has more than 2 million drivers ferrying passengers in more than 63 countries.
But back in August 2008, founder Garrett Camp was laying out his dream of a "next-generation car service" in a slideshow on his computer. Little did he know that dream would grow exponentially into a company that now handles grocery delivery, that has a rapidly growing on-demand food delivery segment in Uber Eats, and is developing a fleet of self-driving taxis.
As part of our coverage of the genesis of today's successful companies, BI Prime took a look at how Camp envisioned Uber (then UberCab) 10 years ago in his original pitch deck:
- The core concept was largely the same: a fast and efficient on-demand car service that he described as the "NetJets of car services"
- Uber originally wanted to screen its customers by only picking up members and banning hailing from the street
- All of Uber's projected use cases, from airport pickup/dropoff to travel to and from restaurants, still hold up today
Some of what Camp laid out in the pitch deck no longer holds up, such as a few of Uber's projected eco-friendly benefits and the makeup of Uber's fleet of cars.
The rest of the deck outlines some key points such as:
- Plans for surge pricing
- The company's project valuation
- Potential outcomes for the company, including a best-case scenario
- Future optimizations
- Marketing ideas
- And more
BI Prime is publishing dozens of stories like this each and every day, chock full of exclusive content and industry analysis. Want to get started by reading the full pitch deck?