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Super Pumped

The Battle for Uber

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Super Pumped

By: Mike Isaac
Narrated by: Holter Graham, Mike Isaac
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About this listen

A New York Times technology correspondent presents the dramatic rise and fall of Uber, set against the rapid upheaval in Silicon Valley during the mobile era.

In June 2017, Travis Kalanick, the hard-charging CEO of Uber, was ousted in a boardroom coup that capped a brutal year for the transportation giant. Uber had catapulted to the top of the tech world yet for many came to symbolize everything wrong with Silicon Valley. In the tradition of Brad Stone’s Everything Store and John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood, award-winning investigative reporter Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped delivers a gripping account of Uber’s rapid rise, its pitched battles with taxi unions and drivers, the company’s toxic internal culture and the bare-knuckle tactics it devised to overcome obstacles in its quest for dominance.

Based on hundreds of interviews with current and former Uber employees, along with previously unpublished documents, Super Pumped is a pause-resisting story of ambition and deception, obscene wealth and bad behavior that explores how blistering technological and financial innovation culminated in one of the most catastrophic 12-month periods in American corporate history.

©2019 Mike Isaac (P)2019 Audible, Inc. History & Culture Technology & Society Workplace & Organisational Behaviour Workplace Culture Technology Business Innovation Silicon Valley
All stars
Most relevant  
Well researched. I didn't know the half of it. Goes beyond Uber, beyond tech and beyond startups and venture capitalists.

The excellent narration makes it entertaining to listen too.

Dives deep

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I wasn't sure which UBER book to choose so I chose the longer audiobook. I now wonder what I would have missed with the shorter book. This account was great, never slow or filled with unnecessary details from a journalist who was there in the thick of it. I learnt a lot about capital and silicon valley startups but more about the amazing things you have to overcome to created a cab hailing digital platform. A+

The Long Choice

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An amazing investigative journey into one of the more controversial tech companies of the modern day.

A thorough and thoroughly fascinating expose

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Start was slow but loved the full story , well written and voices improved as story moved on

Great depth

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This is really good. Covers a lot of ground around uber and has a bit of a look into the world of venture capital. There’s no good guys in this story. They’re all despicable characters driven by power and money. Uber and venture capitalists are not on an honourable mission. It’s all about making maximum money at any cost. The VC group speaks about ousting the CEO to save the company. It’s about saving their money. Best not to lose sight of that fact.

Great story - very prescient

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Pretty dang good book. Lots a detail on back characters to help flesh the story. Worth the read and ten coin.

Walking on fire with a hat made of snow

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An insight into the minds behind great ideas. Worth listening. The disruption game is alive and well.

Very Interesting

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Fantastic story of the rise and fall of Travis K. Crazy to hear the dodgy things they did in the early days

Great book

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Great story, but awful to listen to more than even the opening few paragraphs of a performer who sounds like he has lock jaw, and the worlds worst blocked nose. Amazingly it sounded intentional!!!

Painful

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interesting story about the rise of Uber but seemed a little "rumour mill" rather than fact. The book didn't seem to follow a set path and has at times a little hard to follow.

Worthwhile but not memorable.

interesting but seemed to lack a general direction

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