Funnily, isn't it what happens with "disruptor" companies like Uber and Airbnb? first they revolutionize the taxi/hotel market, then they slowly become what they were supposed to revolutionize
Uber and Airbnb did not "revolutionize" taxis or hotels. They just used modern technology to skirt around dated labor/safety and zoning laws.
Edit: to be more clear - you have always been able to ask strangers for rides or to sleep at their place. It's just obviously impractical without a marketplace linking you cheaply and easily to willing hosts.
I concur that regulatory escape was key to both companies' success. (I think the term "regulatory entrepreneurship" was coined as well.)
However Uber did improve upon traditional taxi pricing by adopting the airport shuttle model of paying for the destination – rather than the perverse incentives and unpredictability of pay-per-mile or pay-per-minute. They also had better app-based dispatch and ride tracking.
The desire to disrupt almost always arises out of ignorance. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just that if you know the complex reasoning and all the institutional baggage that explains why hotels, banks, or old-school tech companies operate in a particular way, it's hard to say "let's blow it all up."
On the flip side, if you can explain it away as "they just don't get it and I do," it's a lot easier to act. And the thing is, sometimes, you get good results. Sometimes, the old way of doing business is just a matter of inertia, and the justifications used by others turn out to be bad.
But about just as often, you end up reinventing the wheel or re-learning the lessons that others learned before.
shuntress|2 years ago
Edit: to be more clear - you have always been able to ask strangers for rides or to sleep at their place. It's just obviously impractical without a marketplace linking you cheaply and easily to willing hosts.
musicale|2 years ago
However Uber did improve upon traditional taxi pricing by adopting the airport shuttle model of paying for the destination – rather than the perverse incentives and unpredictability of pay-per-mile or pay-per-minute. They also had better app-based dispatch and ride tracking.
PumpkinSpice|2 years ago
On the flip side, if you can explain it away as "they just don't get it and I do," it's a lot easier to act. And the thing is, sometimes, you get good results. Sometimes, the old way of doing business is just a matter of inertia, and the justifications used by others turn out to be bad.
But about just as often, you end up reinventing the wheel or re-learning the lessons that others learned before.