Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Uber uber alles.

The hipster community is up in its well-tattooed arms about a taxi-cab service called Uber. Uber is perfect for the said hipsters because via its well-designed app, it puts those hipsters at the center of the universe. To that center cabs are dispatched which can whisk those same hipsters to the next center of the universe.

Because of Uber's ability to do this, it somehow has a valuation of 13-times "The New York Times," perhaps the finest and most influential newspaper in the world.

Uber, however, is succumbing to what many companies fall prey to as they grow. They see their customers gush over them. They see their market-cap soar. They see their faces festooned on the covers of magazines. They see themselves on various 40 under 40 lists or 30 under 30. They see all that.

And they begin to think their shit doesn't stink.

They believe their press.

They become in a word, arrogant.

The trick in our bubbly era of start-ups, technopreneurs, maker-culture et al is eschewing arrogance. It's not seeking to smear detractors as an Uberite proposed doing. It's actually being good now that you're big.

I think many darling companies are struggling with this.

Agencies too.

They believe their press.

They think they are unassailable. They think they are gods.

It's Calvinist, really. These corporate titans believe they are chosen by some sort of deity. That the rest of us are pond scum. And they act accordingly.

I don't think it's much of a trick to find success.

The trick is to be successful and humble.

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