
Aggregators and Jobs-to-be-Done - bun_at_work
https://stratechery.com/2018/aggregators-and-jobs-to-be-done/
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Traubenfuchs
After a few chaotic weeks/months the bicycles for rent disappeared from
Vienna.

Now we got Birds and Lymes everywhere. How come they popped up at the same
time? Looks suspicious to me. Do they want to create the illusion of choice?

Anyways, I see broken and beeping scooters everywhere. At night, I see a
teenager collecting 10 of them at a time and recharging them in a storage
renting store. Is he "stealing" the storage electricity? Have you ever seen
someone drive on 10 scooters at once.

This gag economy is hilarious and I wonder when the rollers will disappear
again.

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dreamdu5t
It doesn’t matter how many words people write and how many times they say
“disruption” Uber is still just a taxi company.

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basch
It's really not. Its closer to a sms app or craigslist and a payment
processor. Its a communication app two people use to find each other.

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gumby
I really want to agree with the GP post — it’s the classic business school
formulation after all — but you are right.

The nuance I would add is that to the _end user_ Uber is an alternative to a
taxi (fits the ecological niche better for the wealthy customers). However
your formulation is correct for the drivers, and most importantly for the
investors. It has an economy of scale that taxi companies done.

And there’s the “for the wealthy customers” part: taxis have to serve pretty
much everyone by law in most places. Uber drivers are free to not pick up
customers in neighborhoods they don’t want to. Which is why I can get an Uber
at 4 am in Palo Alto but not in Queens.

