Uber the IPO

I love Uber…I mean $UBER

Uber has been very very good to me.

My friend David Cohen invested in Uber in the very first angel round (through his fund). I was/am lucky enough to be an LP (investor) in David’s fund that invested in Uber. The valuation was $4 million pre money. Way back in 1964…I mean 2009.

I know all the reasons why I am supposed to dislike Uber the Company, the people and their tactics…but I want to blog about the miracle of Uber, API’s, mapping, the speed of growth, the product and the reach.

In 2009 Uber was founded and I was an early adopter.

When we moved to Coronado in 2009, we took just one car. I was determined to walk everywhere and use Uber when I had to leave the island.

There was no Uber X!

I remember pulling up Uber and having to wait 40 minutes for a town car to make it’s way from Del Mar. I still thought it was magical.

I might have been the first user on Coronado for all I know. Uber spread quickly from Coronado because of The Hotel Del. The Del is a very international hotel and the taxi’s in San Diego might be the worst in the USA. I doubt Uber planned that so I like to believe I did my fair share helping Uber grown on Coronado and San Diego.

I am loyal to the brand and the Company. It’s impossible for me to consider the competition.

I do have my armchair quarterback opinions that I have shared publicly over the years. I believe UBER should have done an IPO by 2012–13. Not for my own liquidity (there has been plenty of liquidity for early investors that wanted to sell). I think the stock would have already traded well north of $80 billion as a public company (maybe we will never know). I also have to think Travis would still be CEO if they had IPO’d in 2012. Furthermore, I am pretty sure LYFT would not be as strongly in the picture if Uber had IPO’s earlier. LYFT was caught up in a financial game of chicken that to investors credit, they ponied up.

Tonight Uber has named a new CEO…at least the board has named one. His credentials look impeccable. It’s 2017 and Trump is President so of course he’s an Iranian immigrant to boot.

I hope Uber files for an IPO tomorrow. Valuations be damned. Let the public (I mean Blackrock and Vanguard) trade the stock.

Originally published at Howard Lindzon.