''Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber'' is a 2019 book by
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
journalist Mike Isaac. The book covers the events between the founding of
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
and its
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
in 2019.
Background
The book was based on Mike Isaac's coverage of events at Uber for
''New York Times''.
Synopsis
The book presents the history of
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
since its founding by
Garrett Camp
Garrett Camp (born October 4, 1978) is a Canadian billionaire entrepreneur. He has helped build a series of companies, including founding StumbleUpon, a web-discovery tool; co-founding Uber; and founding Expa, a startup studio. Camp is chairm ...
as UberCab in 2009.
Travis Kalanick
Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was t ...
, who would later run the company and become its largest shareholder before being removed as CEO, was originally brought in as an advisor with its first employee
Ryan Graves as its CEO. The book explains how Kalanick came to replace Graves, who stayed on with the company, and gained control over the
startup. According to the book, Kalanick was bitter about how
venture capitalists
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...
had treated his first startup,
Scour, and he vowed not to be replaced by them again. The book details the "work hard, play hard" culture at Uber, citing a party where employees celebrated the first billion dollars in revenues in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
. It also examines the many scandals experienced by the company, including allegations of sexual harassment documented by
Susan Fowler, attempts to keep regulators from hiring Uber drivers to avoid fines, and the mishandling of personal information, including in the case of a rape victim in India. It also looks at the ways that, despite these incidents, the company was considered a
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
by venture capitalists. Isaac writes that for a time, Uber was one of the highest valued private companies in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
. The book ends with the company entering the market at below its valuation target.
Critical reception
The book was well-received upon publication.
''Wired'' named it its "Book of the Month", praising it for detailing the many problems at the company without vilifying Kalanick.
Leslie Berlin wrote in ''The New York Times'' that "Isaac is great at the ticktock of events as they unfold, but his best work comes when he steps back to examine the bigger picture."
Television adaptation
In May 2021, it was announced that
Showtime had given a series order to a television adaptation of the book from ''
Billions'' creators
Brian Koppelman
Brian William Koppelman (born April 27, 1966) is an American showrunner. Koppelman is the co-writer of ''Ocean's Thirteen'' and ''Rounders'', the producer for films including '' The Illusionist'' and '' The Lucky Ones'', the director for films inc ...
and
David Levien
David Levien (born December 9, 1967) is a screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Showtime's '' Billions'', along with Brian Koppelman. Over the past two decades Levien has created an ...
. Koppelman, Levien and Beth Schacter will serve as showrunners, writers, and executive producers.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances ...
will star as Kalanick.
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American actor. Making his screen acting debut in a 1988 television film, '' Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story'', Chandler's first regular television role was in the ABC drama '' Ho ...
will also star as Bill Gurley.
Kerry Bishé
Kerry Lynne Bishé (born May 1, 1984) is a New Zealand-born American actress, known for her lead role as Donna Clark in the AMC television series '' Halt and Catch Fire''. Bishé played the lead/narrator role in the final season of the ABC medi ...
joined the cast as Austin Geidt. Babak Tafti and Mousa Hussein Kraish joined the cast.
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for voicing many characters in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), most notably Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, ...
joined the cast as
Tim Cook
Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who has been the chief executive officer of Apple Inc. since 2011. Cook previously served as the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs ...
. Bridget Gao-Hollitt was added to the cast as Gabi. The series premiered on February 27, 2022.
References
{{Reflist
American non-fiction books
2019 non-fiction books
Works about Uber
English-language books
Books about multinational companies
W. W. Norton & Company books
Non-fiction books adapted into television shows