John Zimmer tells you: What's the advantage of competing with Uber?

Introduction: The author and Zimmer talked about a lot of things, including some of the unexpected benefits of competition with Uber, why they would reconsider using a giant pink mustache as a sign, and whether the company will try to go public in the future.


"I'm sorry, I was too busy," John Zimmer said when he called me back. He was a man of energy, and as if he had been able to keep energetic. He was very well prepared and excited about the interview.





on the other hand, there seems to be something less exciting. In 2012, John Zimmer and Logan Green jointly created the Lyft company. Lyft is certainly one of the most successful companies of the 2014. Earlier this year, they raised 250 million of billions of dollars and expanded their operations into new markets. In addition, they have launched the Lyft Line carpool service and launched a Lyft for work commuter service for daily commuters. The introduction of these two business, let Zimmer more firmly believe that Lyft distance their ultimate goal and a step closer, that is, let people no longer want to own cars.


when we talk about Zimmer's ambition, some people may think it is impossible, but Zimmer himself is very excited. He said that his entrepreneurial inspiration came from a study at Cornell University, when a professor said in class that 80% of all seats were vacant. To solve this problem, he and his co-founder started a business, their first company was Zimride, to provide university students with carpool services, in 2013, they sold the company, began to focus on Lyft. Zimmer's thinking jumps quickly, and he talks about the economy, the environment, and even the Lyft of such a ride-sharing service.


"Look at our world now, surrounded by a variety of smart devices that made us very isolated, we walked alone to the garage, drove alone, and a day later a man walked into his own little bedroom," Zimmer said, "so we thought of a simple, elegant solution, hoping to solve all these problems, So that more people can get together. ”


Zimmer seems to be an optimist by nature, but this year there seems to be a lot of bad luck either for him or for Lyft. In some countries, Lyft is constantly seeking more power from regulators, and rivals Uber have made a lot of investments this year, and have dug up many of Lyft's drivers. Just last month, Lyft sued their former chief operating officer, who had stolen the company's internal documents before switching to Uber as an executive. Not only that, many media are also cynical about Lyft's pink moustache logo.


and Zimmer talked about a lot of things, including some of the unexpected benefits of competing with Uber, why they would reconsider using a giant pink moustache as a sign, and whether the company will try to go public in the future. Now let's take a look at this interview:


John Zimmer q&a


Lyft is very interesting, their logo is a small pink beard, but also asked passengers to get on the bus with the driver "fist" greeting. But recently Lyft has been criticized by some media magazines, and one of the leading publications thinks Lyft may be too "cute" to fight Uber. So in brand marketing, Lyft is there anything wrong, or because it is difficult to change?


in today's competitive environment, the media like to make something people want to read. But in fact, we've just dug up their creative director from Virgin America. If you look at the official website of Lyft now, it's definitely not the same as it used to be. We want to inject more elements into Lyft, and we will continue to develop brand marketing. I think Virgin America is a good example.


So, does this mean that the pink Moustache logo will be phased out, or should it be relegated to the background?


I'm not going to make it clear that this sign is going to disappear completely. But there should be no big moustache. We stopped shipping a few months ago. All media pictures are outside, which is part of our strategy. In fact, we think that the small beard logo marketing time than we expected, because it is very helpful to our Word-of-mouth marketing, but also attracted a lot of attention. If we want to do brand marketing again, we will definitely choose other different ways, we will not use the way used in the past.


What do you think is the biggest misconception about Lyft companies in terms of media, consumers, and businesses?


I think their biggest misconception is that we are building a company that offers better car services or a taxi service. And what we really want is for people to stop buying cars and replace that demand, which is a lot different. Our goals are more ambitious and broader: each car, every driver, every seat.


but your competitors, such as Uber, began to run Cross-industry, they express food, transport supplies, and even the kitten, they have hinted that their vision is not confined to the field of transportation, and hope to become a logistics company. Lyft seems to have not come up to the road yet, at least for now. Do you have a plan to try to do this?


I think there will be other opportunities if there are other things to do. We are open to this, and we will see some additional opportunities, just like everyone else, and then try to see if it suits the thing we're doing right now. But in the current car-sharing arena, the innovation cycle is still at an early stage. For example, Lyft Line is a carpool service we just launched a few months ago ... Concentration is very important, of course, we do not say will not operate across the cross-industry.


I've talked to some industry analysts, and they generally agree that in a taxi, a company cannot be a winner in all markets, and of course, they are likely to be winners in most markets. Are you getting closer to your goal of success? Or do you believe that even now Lyft is second in the relevant industry, but still has a great chance of success?


we have been working hard for success, and we feel we have the best platform and the best strategy to help us achieve success. I agree that we have some competitors in the market, they are really very successful and there are many different levels of differentiation. But we still feel very confident about our strategy and our ability.


let me be specific, Uber seems to have succeeded in all markets. They have launched a very aggressive marketing strategy against Lyft, and it is said that Uber will also engage in a so-called "sabotage" aimed specifically at your company and your driver. So how do you respond to these competing strategies that aren't very much in your company?


we are actually used to accepting these things, and now we are more focused on what we do. In our field, Lyft is still very competitive. Largely because we are very focused on our vision.


In this area, some startups have told me that Uber's aggressive competition strategy, and the staggering amount of funding actually attracts them, and even helps them get financing, too. So do you think that Uber's competitive strategy and the attention it generates to the industry will help Lyft?


at least it doesn't hurt. The industry is getting more and more attention, and people are aware that this area is full of opportunities, which is good for everyone in this industry.


in a recent interview, you mentioned that Uber tried to sabotage your most recent fundraising, but it didn't work. Did they mean it?


specifically to this matter, we started to raise 150 million dollars, but in the end we raised 250 million dollars. How to say, they do not have any effect on us, of course, there is no positive effect. There are a variety of strategies to be used in the competition, and I'm pretty sure that some of the tools are really tough, at least in comparison with other means. But in any case, we've seen a growth in Lyft's performance, and it's a good thing that more and more people in this industry are starting to pay attention to Lyft.


recently, almost every week we've heard regulators looking for the "trouble" of your taxi applications, and more complaints about security. When you were ready to go into this field, did you ever think that it would happen one day?


we marched into this field in 2007, when we were thinking about just one thing, that we wanted to create a service where people would use our services as long as they wanted to use the car, and they could use it at any time every day, and ultimately no more cars. At that time we did not consider the regulatory body in this respect, nor did we think of the relevant laws and regulations. But when we set up the Lyft company in 2012, we did realize that regulation was not so simple. I'm not really surprised by the many things that have happened recently. One thing I think is very important is to let people know that when using our services is safe, they need to have a holistic view, taking into account all aspects of security. On our platform, 30% of the drivers are women, and most of the passengers are women. This is very different from other platforms. We are very strict with the driver's background information and we will check whether the driver is in prison or whether he has a criminal record. In other specific industries, this is not really the way to do it.


Will Lyft be available for the foreseeable future? If Lyft is still a private company in the next few years, will it be better?


I think it's possible to go public in the next few years, we've just recruited a CFO and a chief marketing officer, and we're looking to build a team, but I can't comment on whether it's listed.


will you have any bigger challenges next year?


I think the biggest challenge may be at the regulatory level to let people understand our grand vision, but how to make rules now will have a big impact on our future development.