Top 120 Quotes & Sayings by Travis Kalanick

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American businessman Travis Kalanick.
Last updated on December 25, 2024.
Travis Kalanick

Travis Cordell Kalanick is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was the co-founder of Red Swoosh, a peer-to-peer content delivery network that was sold to Akamai Technologies in 2007.

The ability for somebody to put their arm out and get a taxi is fundamentally different then having a 10-minute pickup time. It just is.
I think the stress will kill me. I think it will be the stress.
Ultimately, progress and innovation win. — © Travis Kalanick
Ultimately, progress and innovation win.
My politics are: I'm a trustbuster. Very focused. And yeah, I'm pro-efficiency. I want the most economic activity at the lowest price possible. It's good for everybody; it's not red or blue.
Millennials aren't buying cars anymore. They don't want to drive. They don't want to own these cars. They don't want that inconvenience.
At Uber, we say, 'Always be hustling.' Even if you are an introvert and you haven't got hustle in you, you better get a co-founder who does. And if you haven't got enough hustle to find a co-founder who's got hustle, it's going to be tough. You've got to have a little hustle in you.
I've been an entrepreneur since I was 18. I started a company with a bunch of buddies that got funded in my senior year, and that's when I finished school. It was called Scour, a peer-to-peer service, file-sharing.
If Uber wants to catch up to Google and be the leader in autonomy, we have to have the best minds. We have to have all the great minds.
I prefer building rather than fundraising.
I am from Los Angeles, and my parents are from Los Angeles.
There are a lot of rules in cities that were designed to protect a particular incumbent, but not to move a city's constituents, a city's citizens, and the city itself, forward. And that's a problem.
When people start to perceive you as the big guy, you're not allowed to be scrappy, fierce.
There's probably some misunderstanding of who I am and how I roll. — © Travis Kalanick
There's probably some misunderstanding of who I am and how I roll.
Think of a world where there is no ride-sharing; people are driving themselves to work. You now have 30 people being served by 30 cars. Those 30 cars are only served 4% of the day; 96% of the day, they're stored somewhere. Around 20% to 30% of our land is taken up just storing these hunks of metal that we drive around in for 4% of the day.
Based on my experience, I would say that rather than taking lessons in how to become an entrepreneur, you should jump into the pool and start swimming.
We did a year of Uber in San Francisco before we went to a second city. You get those processes down, then you really get started.
I think Uber is just very different; there's no model to copy. It may be the reason why we've been a lightning rod in so many ways, because we don't do anything conventional... And then I think also, as an entrepreneur, I'm a bit of a lone wolf.
It was a privilege to meet Rev. Jackson, and I learned a tremendous amount from his insight.
The way I try to simplify my job is that I have two lists - I have a list of all the crazy, interesting problems that I get to solve every day or that need to be solved, and I have a crazy list of things I'd like to invent. And I kind of just prioritize them and work my way down, and try to simplify what I do when managing a big company.
We need to figure out how to merge political progress with actual progress.
You have to be willing to stand up for what you believe in, and the rule of law is one of those things.
Acknowledging mistakes and learning from them are the first steps.
I wake up in the morning with a list of problems, and I go solve them.
Imagine if we could create the most just workplace in the world. We would naturally be a magnet for all the great minds out there.
After Scour, I started a company called Red Swoosh. The idea was to take those litigants who sued us for a huge amount of money and turn them into customers with the same technology. I wanted to get them to pay me. It was a revenge business.
Uber is efficiency with elegance on top. That's why I buy an iPhone instead of an average cell phone, why I go to a nice restaurant and pay a little bit more. It's for the experience.
Limos, from the beginning of time, they know who they're picking up, they usually have a credit card on file, they know where the pickup location is, and so there's essentially a prearrangement of sorts, and, of course, the limo customer knows the driver, knows the company, knows the rates. All we've done is make it more accessible.
Competition is fun.
I really love numbers.
We're in the business of delivering cars in five minutes, but once you can deliver cars in five minutes, there's a lot of things you can deliver in five minutes.
Being Uber means being efficient.
I think that's where the world is going. People will not own cars; they'll have a service that takes them where they want to go, when they want to go there. And that's what Uber is.
I'm a natural-born trust-buster.
If Uber is lower-priced, then more people will want it. And if more people want it and can afford it, then you have more cars on the road. And if you have more cars on the road, then your pickup times are lower, your reliability is better. The lower-cost product ends up being more luxurious than the high-end one.
There's a harsh reality to situations where demand outstrips supply.
Safety is number one at Uber... so we make sure the system is in place so riders get the safest ride possible.
Hamilton is my favorite political entrepreneur.
There is a core independence and dignity you get when you control your own time. — © Travis Kalanick
There is a core independence and dignity you get when you control your own time.
In my first start-up, I didn't get any salary for four years, so I had to move back with my parents.
We have this culture valued at Uber, which we call the champions' mind-set. And champions' mind-set isn't always about winning. It's about putting everything you have on the field, every ounce of passion and energy you have. And if you get knocked down, overcoming adversity.
There will be a huge, huge positive impact for society when driverless cars become a thing.
In many ways, we look at Uber as the safety net for a city.
There's hundreds of millions of people that are card members at AmEx - all of them should be using Uber.
I used to be a computer engineer, and I can make really good code, and we can make systems that work really well, and we can make the application a great experience, but when you have to translate bits to atoms, you need folks who are used to working with city governments, with state governments, and so I like to say we're in a political campaign.
You can't control who you fall in love with.
As an entrepreneur, I try to push the limits. Pedal to the metal.
There's been so much corruption and so much cronyism in the taxi industry and so much regulatory capture, that if you ask for permission upfront for something that's already legal, you'll never get it.
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does pay for therapy. — © Travis Kalanick
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does pay for therapy.
Immigration and openness to refugees is an important part of our country's success and, quite honestly, to Uber's.
Sports uplift us. It's celebratory, gives us optimism and joy.
If somebody can offer value at a cheaper price, they should. But that also means Uber should, too.
I've never been derogatory towards taxi drivers.
I spent a disproportionate amount of my time in a car in L.A. I'm 35 years old. If you add up the hours spent in cars, it would be years.
If you're operating from strong principles, you can compromise when the person on the other side is operating from principles you respect.
Uber riders are the most affluent, influential people in their cities.
We want transportation as reliable as running water.
The regulatory systems in place disincentive innovation. It's intense to fight the red tape.
If there was a mobility service that's cheaper than owning a car, more reliable, and you get to sit in the back seat instead of being stressed out in the front seat, why would you own a car?
What we like to say is that the vision for Uber is the cross between lifestyle and logistics.
I've had failures myself before Uber.
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