What do folks think of Lyft? Do you see them going international anytime soon? Also, since they have an investment from Google I am guessing they will have access to driverless tech (but I think I read somewhere that Google has invested in uber too , so not too sure)..
Look for other companies - they are all working in a well known space. Find a niche area and work and reap rewards
To be completely honest with you here.. I believe Lyft has a better chance at creating a successful photo sharing app than expanding internationally. All geographies around the world are saturated with ruthless competitors (some with government support): Grab, Ola, Didi, Yandex, Careem, Uber, etc. To grow internationally today is an unrealistically expensive endeavor. Fuck, it’s costing Lyft money to marginally grow market share in the US even under the best of conditions (while their main competitor has a scandal-ridden shitstorm of a year). It would cost them high tens of billions of dollars (which they don’t have) to outspend well established local competitors. Not to mention, the US is the easiest market to build for. There’s an unbelievable amount of complexity that comes with trying to operate ride-hailing globally..
Lyft's first (and only) international market is Toronto. It launched late last year. It's also working on self-driving tech but it's a steep way up to catch up to more experienced companies like Uber
We got time to plan things out smartly: spaces that competitors are doubling down aren’t necessarily the focus. We’re doing a lot of things well as a culture and as a company, and staying domestic was done with purpose.
Yeah why would you assume that International expansion is smart? I think Lyft is well positioned to do well because it's focusing on its core competencies and isn't over expanding and having to cut and leave markets like uber is.
But then you shouldn’t command a large valuation either. Can’t have your cake and eat it too. You are basically saying Lyft is focusing on being a distant 2nd in one market — and nothing else. That does not bode well when investors crave growth from tech companies.
Also by aggressively expanding, and then in places leaving as you mentioned, is precisely why Uber is so much bigger and global. If you think our international strategy is backfiring, you have it wrong. We are either present, or have investments in markets that each by its own represent the scale of Lyft individually.
Lyft should not go international imo. Theres Really aggressive compitetion in south asia and almost every other market. It will just be a money losing business for lyft. I feel like autonomous is gonna be the biggest thing for ridesharing companies 3-4 years into the future. Waymo is way ahead in this race than any of the other players. I think they also want to get into ride sharing. They got a ride sharing permit in arizona. Anyways, Ridesharing will be a much bigger industry once autonomous vehicles happen and there will be a room for multiple players. The question is whether lyfts partnerships with waymo / google help somehow in that area.
Lyft has its own self driving car technology. That group is based in Palo Alto. Lyft is international now, they launched in Toronto and expanding out.
You should be careful not to compare lyft and instacart to technology companies. This is a different line of business and is nowhere close to tech margins
Well said
Lyft is better than Uber , they are not so toxic
Google parted ways with Uber. I think Lyft has, minimally speaking, a very good outlook in the near future. If you're looking at Lyft as an engineer of sorts, I'd say have a 15-24 month plan on what you want to do.
With plan you mean, plan to stick on ?