Airbnb disrupts hotels because it doesn’t own real estate. DoorDash disrupts food delivery because it doesn’t own restaurants or drivers. Uber disrupts transportation because it doesn’t own any cars. As a ride-hailing service, Uber is divisive - to riders, the cheap fares, upfront pricing, cashless payment, and on-demand pickups are upgrades over taxis. To others, Uber is a public nuisance that causes greater traffic congestion and pollution. For some drivers, Uber is a useful gig where they can work flexible hours. For others, Uber is an exploitative middleman who has lowered payouts and provides inadequate benefits to drivers as independent contractors. The purpose of this episode is not to rehash Uber’s checkered past but instead to assess Uber’s profitability. As the most prominent, well-funded company in the past decade, Uber is the largest living embodiment of Silicon Valley. Uber is the only tech startup in history to raise over $25 billion and still not turn a profit a