Super Pumped

The book details the history of Uber from its founding by Garrett Camp as UberCab in 2009. Travis Kalanick, who would go on to run the company and be its largest shareholder before being removed as CEO, was originally brought in as an advisor with its first employee Ryan Graves as its CEO. The book explains how Kalanick came to replace Graves, who stayed on with the company, and gain control over the start-up. According to the book, Kalanick was bitter about how venture capitalists (VC) treated his first start-up, Scour and vowed to not be replaceable by them in the future. The book details the work hard play hard culture of Uber, including a party in Las Vegas to celebrate 1 billion in revenues. It also examines the many scandals experienced by the company including allegations of sexual harassment documented by Susan Fowler, how it attempted to keep regulators from seeing Uber drivers to avoid fines, and the mishandling personal information, including in the case of a rape victim in India. It also looks at the ways the despite these negative stories, the company was well regarded by the VC community on its way to being a unicorn, and for a time, one of the highest valued private companies in Silicon Valley.[1]

The book was well received upon its publication. Wired praised the book for detailing the many problems at the company without villainizing Kalanick.[2] Author Leslie Berlin writing in The New York Times wrote that, "Isaac is great at the ticktock of events as they unfold, but his best work comes when he steps back to examine the bigger picture."[3]