Super Pumped

As Episode 1 of "Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber" (2022 release; 7 episodes of about 50 min each) opens, it is "2011" and we are introduced to Travis. Kalanick, who is trying to get UberCab off the ground. But he is struggling on many fronts, most of all money, as he needs venture capital investment in the worst way. Travis is introduced to Bill Gurley... At this point we are 10 min into the opening episode. Couple of comments: this mini-series is the latest brainchild of Brian Koppelman and David Levien ("Billions"). Here they take a look at the rise of Uber and what role Travis Kalanick played in it. Having seen 2 episodes to date, I was pleasantly surprised and frankly entertained as a viewer. As it turns out, I knew very little about how Uber came about, and the obstacles it had to overcome along the way. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is cast perfectly as Travis Kalanick, who not surprisingly isn't the most pleasant person to be around. Kyle Chandler is equally up to the task as the venture capitalist Bill Gurley. Travis' mother is played by none other than Elizabeth Shue. Umma Thurman (playing Arianna Huffington) was not in the initial 2 episodes. The production set is tops. For some reason, the initial 2 episodes feature a bunch of Pearl Jam songs, for no apparent or obvious reason. Please note that "Super Pumped" has already been greenlighted for a second season, which will have nothing to do with Uber. But instead will look at Facebook. Can't wait for that. Episode 1 of "Super Pumped: The Fight for Uber" premiered on February 27 on Showtime. New episodes air Sunday evenings. Once aired, episodes are available on SHO On Demand and SHO Anytime (where I caught it). If you have any interest in understanding the rise of Uber or what it takes to run a company like Uber, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion. UPDATE 4/11/22 I've now seen all episodes. I've upgraded my rating to 8 stars. Chilling yet absorbing mini-series that is must=watch, period.

I worked for several Silicon Valley start ups 25 to 30 years ago when the Valley was in its hey day. It's the reason I started my own company - I could no longer stand to work for domineering egotistical management. Super Pumped is a bit over the top in some ways but also an accurate depiction of today's tech start ups. People need to understand the mentality of these 'disruptive' genius's. Guys like Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle) was very much like the Uber founder - a ton of hype and in the end very successful but he did many under-handed things to get there (like shipping blank installation disks in the 90's because the product wasn't ready for prime time despite Ellison saying it was, plus Oracle's misleading and deceptive sales and ads). Travis Kalanick is what Silicon Valley is today what Larry Ellison was 30 years ago. I do remember Uber going through terrible growing pains and they had to deal with hypocrites and corruption in local governments. I also vividly remember when NYC banned Uber for a short time until locals and businesses fought back against DiBlasio. I did a lot of business in NYC and can verify that the cabs at that time (10 years ago) were God awful. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, had sympathy for them and their broken down beat up unsafe cars and bad attitude cabbies. They overcharged and cabbies were blatantly dishonest. I started using Uber the moment it was available. Uber was a breath of fresh air at the time. However, today Uber has lost its luster imo due to inconsistent rates, unhappy drivers and surge pricing that customers despise. This limited Showtime series accurately depicts Uber's fight for relevancy. I specifically remember their 'Grayball' tactics on the West coast. Everyone was rooting for them at that time and they were very creative in getting around the rules until city after city finally accepted them. I have 2 beefs with this series: 1. Kyle Chandler plays the same role he plays in everything he does. He's ok in this series but not great imo. 2. I enjoy JGL as the Uber CEO/founder but it is highly dramatized and does have that Billions feel to it. He's good though in the role he's playing. Overall it's a good watch and a *relatively* accurate depiction of Uber's struggle (and continued struggle) for profitability. It's stock price today is about half of the $45 IPO when it went public in 2019. It's been a terrible investment for shareholders. It's a business that burns through tons cash due to the high variable costs of scaling the business to meet demand. This series accurately depicts Uber's struggles and the ego's that get in the way of success.

This is only loosely based on factual events and is highly distorted. Anti-capitalist, exaggerated stereotypes of red-blooded males (admittedly there was some nuggets of truth here but way worse in the series than in reality). Uber is a smashing success and TK is the one who made it happen. He is certainly not a saint, but he's far from the a-hole villain they make him out to be in this series. This a PC-crowd fantasy series.