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The Upstarts

Brad Stone

The Upstarts

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14min

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The Upstarts tells the stories of Uber and Airbnb, their efforts, sacrifices and the challenges of both these companies that revolutionized the transport and hospitality sectors. Brad Stone highlights the turning moment of the new technology in the sharing economy in which old ways of doing business begin to falter and leave space to new leaders, new types of agreement, new ways of investing, new ways of moving around a city and new systems for overnight stays. In a context of complete change, new tech companies are imposing themselves with extraordinary success, and from small Startups they become Upstarts, structured and successful giants.

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Analysis and key concepts

01.

Upstart is a term used to refer to major start-ups like Uber and Airbnb

02.

Airbnb and its growth: from a crazy idea to a successful start-up

03.

The early years of Airbnb

04.

Uber’s ability to change has become its strength

05.

Uber was born as a taxi booking app

06.

In Airbnb good quality photos boost bookings

07.

Uber won San Francisco over in spite of a lawsuit against them

08.

One of Airbnb’s challenges was the safety of hosts and guests

09.

2011 was the year of expansion for Uber

10.

Airbnb’s fight in New York against some opportunistic hosts

11.

Being an Upstart involves great responsibilities

12.

Quotes

13.

Take-home message

01. Upstart is a term used to refer to major start-ups like Uber and Airbnb

When we talk about an Upstart we usually mean a person that has recently become rich (and is often dismissive of those who have more experience than them and of the traditional ways of doing business), or a company that has had great success over a short period of time.

In the tech world, start-ups are small companies with new business ideas that have reached a point in their growth where, if they are really doing well, they stop being referred to as start-ups and they become Upstarts, bigger, more structured companies.

Companies like Uber and Airbnb that experienced a quick and unstoppable growth are no longer considered start-ups. They are world leaders in the transport and hospitality industries, and their common denominator is the fact that neither of them owns cars or hotels, the main assets owned by the major players in these respective industries.

02. Airbnb and its growth: from a crazy idea to a successful start-up

03. The early years of Airbnb

04. Uber’s ability to change has become its strength

05. Uber was born as a taxi booking app

06. In Airbnb good quality photos boost bookings

07. Uber won San Francisco over in spite of a lawsuit against them

08. One of Airbnb’s challenges was the safety of hosts and guests

09. 2011 was the year of expansion for Uber

10. Airbnb’s fight in New York against some opportunistic hosts

11. Being an Upstart involves great responsibilities

12. Quotes

13. Take-home message

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Many useful tips to:

  • Understand how the charisma and determination of a CEO can carry a start-up to success.
  • Learn the art of flexibility: learn to change, to adapt and to find new solutions while staying true to your values.
  • Learn the importance of reacting quickly and with conviction in a crisis.

Brad Stone is an American journalist who graduated from Columbia University, and lives in San Francisco Bay. He works at Bloomberg News as a supervisor in the high tech, startup and global IT trend sector, and has been writing for the New York Times’ Businessweek since 2006. Published in 2013, his book about the story of Amazon and its founder has been translated into 26 languages and won the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book prize.

Publishing house:

Back Bay Books

Year:

2018

Pages:

400

ISBN:

978-0316388412