Travis Kalanick Is Back | Building the Future of Industrial AI
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
We know what Uber's 2017 was like.
Travis Kalanick has stepped down from his role as chief executive.
That wouldn't have gone that way if Ben or Mark was on the board.
You're in this hell, you're dealing with the lawsuits. Are you worried about the lawsuit? and you say, hey, let's build again.
It's not as much about where you start. It's about why you start.
He's one of the very rare guys who made as much money as he did and wanted to keep playing.
Also, remember, I did it stealth. I know some of the techniques I used, very aggressive, but that name, you can't use that name. And I remember David Drummond from Google was on our board, and he's like, you know, Travis, that's not a thing, dude. Yeah. You've got to change it. The meaningful thing about Adam's food is can you make the preparation and delivery of a quality meal so efficient that it approaches the cost of going to the grocery store? If it does, you do to the kitchen what Uber did to the car.
A lot of people have had that idea. To build a company, a great company, it's always a great entrepreneur.
Today I'm joined by Travis Kalanick and Ben Horowitz for a conversation years in the making. We look back at the investment that almost happened, the lessons Travis took from building Uber, and why he believes the next great technology revolution won't be in software, but in the physical world. We discuss the origins of atoms, why Travis spent years building in stealth, the rise of industrial AI, robotics, autonomy, and what it takes to build companies that transform entire industries.
Travis, this is the I'm Back podcast. This is the Return of the King episode.
Return of the Mac.
I'm all about we can return. I don't know what the right thing is, but we got to come up with a walk-on song for sure.
Return of the Mac. Return of the Mac.
And it's not just the return of Travis, but it's also a return of this partnership or what could have been this relationship with Travis and Ben. So I want to read a quote, Travis, from your launch post. I've known Mark and Ben for a long time, and we got oh so close to partnering up at Uber in 2011.
i travis blame mark ben blamed himself but let's just say it was all on us it was on all of us and in 2017 uber suffered the consequences of not having mark on the board if you know you know travis tell the story okay so this will be interesting because i think ben and i have maybe discussed this once or twice yeah and it'll be painful and i think that there could be mostly for me i'm not sure if there's a difference of opinion on what happened but i'll tell you what i thought happened So I'm in fundraising mode. This is our Series B. This is 2011. Uber started 2010, June 2010. I'm raising our Series B. Earlier that year, I did Series A with VCO Remain Nameless. And I'm hardcore. I went through such tough times as an entrepreneur pre-Uber that once I'm in Uber and things are working, I'm still acting like...
I'm not going to eat tomorrow. So I would do everything right up to the line, be perfect. And so I have this whole fundraising process that I would do just to perfection. And that means I'd run an auction. So met with A16Z guys, met with lots of folks. And it was what I would call winner takes all auction, meaning there's one major lead there. they're gonna set the price, and then everybody else will fall in. So I'd go to the one guy, I'd tell him what the story was, and they're like, oh, we're interested. He's leaning forward. They're like, so how much are you raising? What's the price? And I would do this thing where I would say, This is going to be one of the hottest deals in Silicon Valley this year.
We don't know where the price is going to be, where it's going to go to, but it's at least blank. And I call this the uncapped anchor, meaning I'm never in a place where I'm negotiating with somebody where I'm here and they're here and we meet in the middle. I'm always saying it's at least this and it can go up. But I start low. So that everybody's pumped leaning forward. He's like, okay, you could see body language.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–8:01
2
How did the near‑miss 2011 Uber investment between Travis and a16z play out?
8:01–9:35
3
What was Travis’s Series B fundraising strategy and auction tactics?
9:35–50:43
4
How did the fallout from Uber 2017 shape Travis’s decision to build in stealth?
50:43–1:21:24
5
Why did Travis acquire CloudKitchens and how did the cloud‑kitchen model work?
1:21:24–1:32:02
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The a16z Show
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