Description

Uber Case Study

You are the new VP of Product Management at Uber, an app-based ride-sharing service headquartered in San Francisco, California. It develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which connects riders with drivers using their phone’s GPS capabilities, letting both parties know one another’s location and removing the question of when the ride will actually arrive. In addition, the tech company also processes all payments involved, charging the passenger’s credit card, taking a cut for itself (which ranges from 5% to 20%), and direct depositing the remaining money into the driver’s account, all in the background and completely cashless. 

Uber operates in 45 countries and has over 150,000 drivers. The company’s rise has been meteoric – it was founded in 2009 and by 2014 had secured $1.2 billion in funding, valuing it at $18.2 billion. Founder and CEO Travis Kalanick said in a 2014 interview that revenue is "at least" doubling every six months. "We're growing faster this year than last year," he added.

Uber faces many hurdles. In some places, it is battling regulators who want it to follow more of the rules for taxi and limousine services. The company dropped out of Vancouver, and it doesn't operate in Las Vegas. It also faces stiff competition from rivals in certain cities, especially from Lyft Inc., the No. 2 player in the car-sharing space, which has offered multiple promotions in San Francisco, Uber's home service turf.

Despite the regulatory and competitive challenges, Uber’s institutional investors expect the company’s strong growth trajectory to continue. This will require experimenting with innovative business models and new product features. Hence the CEO, has asked you to:

Come up with three features that you would build into Uber to significantly increase the user base and/or generate additional streams of revenue 

 The CEO has said that there is only sufficient budget to build one of the features. Which of the three features would you prioritize, and why? 

 Create a forecast that shows how much revenue can be generated for your selected feature. Be prepared to answer detailed questions on the feasibility of the forecast 

 Write up a description of the feature you’ve selected and its benefit to users 

 Write a brief "how-to" on the steps necessary to find and use this feature 

 List the top 3-5 metrics you would use to evaluate the success of this feature 

 Are there any execution risks that you would highlight? If so, what contingencies would you put in place? 

When you come in for the interview, we expect to spend no more than 15 minutes discussing your recommendation. Your recommendation may be presented in the form of a Word / PowerPoint document (maximum 2 pages /slides).