Ducks in a Row: More Bad Uber Culture
by Miki Saxon
Uber’s culture is on view in the news and it hasn’t been pretty.
Current news is focused on the privacy scandal, the compensation and pricing rage of a few weeks ago has fallen off the front page as have the overly-aggressive driver recruiting and efforts to sabotage a competitor’s fundraising while Uber’s pushing subprime loans to its drivers seems to be totally eclipsed.
Many users are deleting their accounts
To Imran Malek, an engineer at DataXu in Boston, it signals a winner-takes-all culture that justifies any behavior so long as everyone is getting rich. “If investors choose to value you for billions, you are untouchable.”
VC Mark Suster wrote a spirited defense of Uber, although I don’t consider it as unbiased as he claims.
He claims that most of Uber’s actions fall in the category of ‘business as usual’, with the exception of employees accessing the so-called god view that tracks users’ movements.
I will tell you that if I were Uber this is the one thing I would plug up immediately and enforcing swift punishment for violations. If the public doesn’t trust you with basic confidentiality as a service you’re toast.
All of the articles offer multiple source links for those of you who want an in-depth picture.
A company’s culture provides an insider’s look at it’s values; a quote from Lisa Abeyta, founder of a tech company in Albuquerque, sums it up nicely,
“There is a difference between being competitive and being dirty. It is bad-boy, jerk culture. And I can’t celebrate that.”
Flickr image credit: Robert Payne
