Charly Junco's answer to What does the former Uber CEO cashing out his stock mean for the company?
2019-12-18 04:42:45
I believe it's a HUGE ALARM BELL and a sign that dark times await for UBER in the future, but what if I told you this has happened before and history is repeating itself?Does this sound familiar to you?Ousted from his company after a failed boardroom coup, the founder formed his own startup.That startup was eventually purchased by the desperate company, which was in urgent need of product leadership at the time.Not long after, the founder would become interim CEO, then permanent CEO and the company would go from the tech industry punchline to the most valuable company in the world.That's right. I believe Uber Founder Travis Kalanich is planning on "Steve Jobs-ing" it and return as chief executive.Let's look at the facts:HE KNOWS PRECISELY WHAT UBER NEEDSKalanick oversaw the rise of Uber Eats in 2015. Fast forward a few years, and today, Uber Eats boasts $1.5 billion in revenue and serves food from more than 220,000 restaurants around the globe.Accounting for 11% of revenues, it was supposed to be Uber's financial savior.But on Uber's Q3 earnings call, current Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi acknowledged that Uber Eats' quarterly loss of $316 million ballooned by 67% over the past year, on disappointing bookings growth.No wonder. Restaurant delivery has always been a financially fraught category. Bankruptcies abound, and the remaining well-capitalized competitors are engaged in fierce competition, including DoorDash, Postmates, and Uber Eats, none of whom are profitable.THERE’S AN UPCOMING REVOLUTION"Delivery used to be maybe a quarter of my business," Mr. Lopez, 26, said from behind Top Round's counter, "Now, it's about 75 percent of it."Kalanick is betting that non-traditional kitchens will revolutionize the food delivery business. There are a two types of these:Virtual restaurantsReal-life restaurants that make different cuisines specifically for food delivery apps. Since 2017, Uber has helped start 4,000 virtual restaurants exclusive to its Uber Eats app.Ghost KitchensThose that have no retail presence and serve as a meal preparation hub for delivery orders.Then they can hang a shingle inside a meal-delivery app and market their food to the app's customers, without the hassle and expense of hiring waiters or paying for furniture and tablecloths.Diners who order from the apps may have no idea that the restaurant doesn't physically exist.THE NEW STARTUPHis new company, called CloudKitchens, builds commissary kitchens that restaurants can use for their delivery operations.CloudKitchens also operates its own delivery-only restaurants within those commissaries, including brands like Excuse My French Toast, Egg the F* Out, and B*tch Don't Grill My Cheese.Kalanick has kept CloudKitchens mainly under wraps. Still, he's been buying up cheap properties across the U.S, India, China, the U.K.He also capitalized the company with $300 million of his own money and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) poured another $400 million into his venture at a $5 Billion valuation.Kalanick's end game: build up CloudKitchens and make it such a compelling business that Uber would have no choice but to buy it. And then, boom, the ousted founder would be back inside the company he started.Can Kalanick save Uber just as Jobs saved Apple back in 1997? Only time will tell.Wanna learn more about Startups, and why are some people "Luckier" than others when it comes to building unicorns?Go to the link in my profile & request your invite to Startup to Unicorn to join more than 1,000 startup founders around the world.
