No, I don't think so. But I have a conflict of interest here because in 2008 I made my own attempt at starting an Uber-like thing (I called it iCab). It failed before launch because we were unable to get any of the local cab companies to work with us. The idea of using black cars never occurred to us, so Travis gets props for that. I think he's gone way too far towards the dark side. But on the other hand, he succeeded where I failed so take that into account when deciding how much weight to give my opinion.

> The problem with this vague advice

Well, the problem is more fundamental than that: it's a judgement call, one which always depends on a totality of the circumstances at the time. I can't give you a formula for how to decide how ass-holey to be, just as I can't give you a formula for making any of the other myriad decisions it takes to successfully build a successful company. If I could do that, I'd be running my own successful company instead of wasting time hobnobbing on HN.

The idea of hailing cabs electronically is not new. A confluence of factors helped Uber figure out how the idea could work, in hindsight.

> "The idea of using black cars never occurred to us, so Travis gets props for that."

lisper is right: using blacks cars was a much better strategy than trying to negotiate with local cabs in trying to gain traction

Uber was not yet a thing until 2009.