How the World’s Most Famous Ride Sharing Company Got its First Users Using Coupons and Kittens

Morning Innovators 👋 This week (in less than 5 minutes!) we’ll explore…

🚕 How the world’s most famous ride sharing company got its first users using coupons and kittens
📰 All the biggest news stories in the start-up world
👀 Our 3 favourite start-ups to keep an eye on this week
🥣 How a Vitamin D packed drinks company used the Sun to capture huge groups of new customers
🥳 All the best job opportunities and events in the start-up world
📱A tool that enables you to create incredible motion graphics for your social media in seconds

👆 The most clicked link in the last week’s newsletter was our start-up Christmas gift guide - your ultimate source for unique and thoughtful presents from start-up businesses this festive season. 🎄

Happy hustling,
Rich & Gary

How they got their first users? When Garett Camp and Travis Kalanick, grappling with the frustration of hailing a cab in Paris, conceived UberCab, little did they know they were on the cusp of revolutionising urban mobility. Initially a luxe black car service, Uber's infancy saw Travis cold-calling drivers, offering an hourly rate to trial the platform, capturing the interest of three out of ten. To rally riders, they leveraged the tech-savvy San Francisco community, offering free rides at local events and banking on word-of-mouth rather than traditional marketing spend.

Uber's journey was one of disrupting discomfort with comfort, replacing the taxi hailing hassle with a seamless, enjoyable experience. Their debut in San Francisco was strategic, tapping into a tech community ever eager for life-enhancing tools, sparking viral growth and media buzz.

By January 2011, six months post-launch, Uber had notched up around 5,000 users and 15,000 rides in San Francisco alone. Their expansion strategy was as calculated as it was bold, selecting cities where factors like nightlife and adverse weather made their service a no-brainer.

Beyond mere rides, Uber's growth narrative involved stirring excitement. They doled out ride coupons, invited journalists for test runs, and collaborated with influencers and celebrities, maximising their reach and trust. Uber's launch in new cities was smart - offering free credits to try their service, aligning with local influencers, and running promotions that made Uber rides more cost-effective than other transport options.

2013 was a year of aggressive visibility for Uber. Capitalising on a Boston bus strike, they offered stranded students free rides, winning hearts and headlines. Their hyper-local approach saw them expand from 12 to 35 cities, growing revenue by 18% monthly. Their quirky UberKITTENS campaign, delivering kittens for petting sessions on National Cat Day, went viral, benefiting both the brand and animal shelters.

Uber's story is a testament to adaptability and customer-centric evolution. Starting with a simple app to book limos, they morphed in response to user feedback, adding features like fare estimation and splitting, automated payments, and driver tracking. Their iterative approach ensured relevance and growth, transforming from a niche black limo service to a global mobility giant, valued at over $110 billion and serving millions worldwide.

What would happen if you stood in your local city centre and dished out coupons for your service? Could that win you a batch of new business?

🧑‍💻 Sam Altman to return as OpenAI CEO
TechCrunch
Sam Altman is returning to OpenAI as its chief executive, the high-profile AI start-up said Wednesday, a dramatic reversal that caps an intense five days of discussions, debates and convincing following the sudden dismissal of Altman last week from the start-up he co-founded.

💼 Autumn Statement: All the key UK tech policies
UKTN
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a slew of measures aimed at supporting the UK’s tech sector in the 2023 Autumn Statement, ranging from R&D tax credits to additional AI computing resources.

🚲 E-bike start-up HumanForest adds £5m to Series A
UKTN
HumanForest, the company behind London-based e-bike operator Forest, has secured an extra £5m for its Series A round to bring the total to £17m.

🥡 Deliveroo riders are not employees, Supreme Court rules
UKTN
Deliveroo riders are not considered employees and therefore not entitled to benefits and collective bargaining from trade unions, according to a UK Supreme Court decision.

🦁 Inside Generali’s move into tech investing
Sifted
Italy’s largest insurer, Assicurazioni Generali, has made its first move into tech investing with the launch of a new venture arm — Generali Ventures.

Each week we’ll be spotlighting some of the most exciting start-ups you haven't heard of yet. This week we decided to look at some exciting businesses making waves in the world of ecommerce.

The Modern Milkman is revolutionising grocery delivery with an eco-friendly approach, offering a range of sustainable, plastic-free products including dairy in returnable glass bottles, all delivered right to your doorstep. Their service reduces waste and food miles by delivering up to three times a week in home-compostable or reusable packaging, supporting independent producers and significantly cutting down on landfill waste. With their commitment to a greener future, The Modern Milkman not only provides convenience but also champions the fight against single-use plastics and food waste, encouraging customers to join their movement via an app or website for a waste-free, environmentally conscious lifestyle.

OnBuy, launched in November 2016, is the world's fastest-growing online marketplace, offering a transparent, fair platform that prioritises buyers and sellers. Unlike other major marketplaces, OnBuy doesn't sell products directly, ensuring no competition with sellers. This approach has attracted a wide range of businesses, from well-known brands to independent retailers, offering over 35 million products at competitive prices. OnBuy ensures a secure shopping experience with OnBuy Protection on eligible orders, verified reviews, flexible payment options, and a commitment to fair tax practices, making it a safe and diverse shopping destination for customers seeking choice and reliability.

Basket, a mobile app and browser extension, revolutionises online shopping by allowing users to save products from any retailer into one unified 'basket' and automatically notifies them of price drops. Already used by 50,000 people to track 550,000 products, saving over £10 million, Basket has garnered significant attention and investment, including a £250k top prize from James Watt's Next Unicorn process. With support from notable investors like Eric Lefkofsky and Darren Westlake, Basket aims to enhance e-commerce by creating personalised shopping experiences. This innovative tool supports over 100,000 retailers and offers features like organising products into different baskets and sharing them, making it a game-changer in online shopping convenience and savings.

Feeling eye catching? Punchy Drinks know exactly what to do to turn people’s heads, watch this video to see just how far Brand Manager, Immy, went in order to turn heads. A busy day dressed up as the sun, darting from tube station to tube station in London handing out some of Punchy Drinks’ amazing products gained a bunch of attention on social media whilst picking up a few new customers on the way!

Could you create a mascot or use a costume to create brand awareness in the street? It doesn’t need to be a costume fit for royalty, just get something that represents your brand and will make you stick out from the normal!

As start-up founders ourselves, one of the areas we’re really passionate about is raising awareness of opportunities. If you’re not mixing in the right circles, it can be really easy to miss a pitch event, or job opportunity that could be game-changing for you. We’ve included a few upcoming events and opportunities below, but this is where we really want to leverage our community of innovators. Please reply to this email with any tips and opportunities you think we should be featuring.

💼 Job opportunities

📄 Associate Software Engineer, Turnitin
📸 International Growth Manager, Photoroom
🛒 Software Engineer, SamCart

🎤 Events

TechCrunch are hosting a free webinar exploring the shift from batch analytics to real-time decision-making for AI/ML use cases. The session will cover:

• A brief overview of how real-time streaming model training and scoring is different than batch

• Comparison of time series vs time aware features

• How to combine multiple data streams for features and scoring

• Demo of flights+weather to predict forward air traffic via realtime streams

• How MLOps changes in a streaming environment and alternatives for missing data

🤑 Other opportunities

Twenty Six 03 are currently casting for a new series called Making It (working title) for a major UK broadcaster. They are looking for people who have brilliant ideas for a gadget or something 'inventory' but need a hand in turning it into an actual workable prototype.

If this is you, please send an email to [email protected] – Thanks (PLEASE NOTE, YOU MUST BE UK based)

Each week we’ll be highlighting our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.

Jitter is a dynamic design tool that empowers creators and teams to craft eye-catching animated content and interfaces with ease and speed. It offers seamless integration with popular design platforms like Figma (with Sketch and Adobe XD support coming soon), and the ability to export in various formats like 4K video, GIF, and Lottie. Ideal for both marketers and engineers, Jitter enables quick customisation with animation presets, fostering consistency and scalability in content production by allowing teams to create and reuse their own presets and components.

Next week we’ll be looking at how this generation’s entrepreneurial SUPERSTAR got to building an $11 billion company whilst throwing the world’s most famous parties, how one clothing brand shook the fashion world with their crazy marketing stunts, along with highlighting more great tools and start-up news.

P.S. Connect with us on LinkedIn…