In-house manual for Uber to interfere with rivals

ByMichelangelo Carrieri

If you ask the smartphone application to dispatch the service the hire will pick you up to the desired placeUberIn March 2014Formally launching services in Japandoing. It is a service that brings in a different business model than a conventional taxi, but in the United States which is the birthplace of AmericaLyftThe number of companies that provide similar services, including those of other companies, has intensified competition. Under such circumstances, it became clear that Uber was doing extremely sabotage acts that could be said to be a kind of strange to competing competitors, and a part of the manual showing the procedure was made public.

This is Uber's playbook for sabotaging Lyft | The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-sabotaging-lyft

Former Uber's business contractor revealed that Uber constitutes a team that gathered several contractors and leveraged prepaid mobile phones and credit cards to give competitors such as Lyft It is said that they are cutting down. In addition to the old and new contractors, The Verge is pushing out Uber's method based on its own internal documents obtained.

The job of a contractor who is given a title called "brand / ambassador" is to cancel suddenly the taxi orders placed in Lyft, to invite Lyft's driver to switch to Uber, to do so As a result of this "effort", as a result of this "effort", large and small competing new entrants have lost the foundation of doing business and there are things that they withdrew Thing.

ByChuck Patch

Uber is a representative of startup companies that have raised $ 1.5 billion (about 155 billion yen) of funds from Google, Amazon, and several venture capital so far, and will introduce a part of its powerful financial strength It can be said that it adopts a strategy of knocking down rival companies in shape.

On August 12CNN reportedAccording to Lyft 's investigation, Uber made 5560 reservations to Lyft and then canceled it. Uber responded to this complaint that "Lyft's point is not founded and it is totally incorrect."

However, former contractor of Uber who knows the circumstances, Uber knows all of this situation and points out that all objections are lie. Furthermore, initially, the purpose of this action was understood as simple as not to pick up a new user by putting Lyft 's "driver" in a "reserved" state, but in fact it is even bigger and more sophisticated It was suggested that it was part of the driver solicitation program and it was to keep it from being felt.

The work that the original "brand / ambassador" was responsible for is to unveil a booth at the university campus and promote Uber of "substitute cheap and convenient taxi" to increase users, which is extremely popular as "ambassador" It can be said that it was natural. However, the content of the work gradually changes, especially ambassadors in the New York area will aim for Lyft.


The action is to create an account of Lyft using an iPhone and credit card provided by the company, use the service, and solicit a driver inside the car until heading to the destination. In particular, it is prohibited in New York, but in other cities the "Starter Kit" for the driver to start work with Uber is prepared, and the former contractor tells us that a recruitment system was established for the company I will. Ambassador also said that he had earned $ 750 (about 75,000 yen) in reward for each time he gets on to Uber.

But gradually Lyft got this act and Ubber will revise its strategy as ambassadors involved in solicitations are being refused to use from Lyft. Prior to Lyft launching a new service in New York, Uber began an effort to analyze Lyft's expansion strategy by organizing a "street team" of tens of people. Uber's manager class person told the company's contractor, "A special project is ongoing and we are recruiting about 8 to 10 members for this, which is completely original and not our company If you solicit a new driver, you will be paid a large commission "It is clear that you were sending an email to the effect.

BySimon Blackley

There is another code name "SLOGIt was named that it was named. Because SLOG is a word meaning "long and hard work / forcible forces", you can also see a glimpse of the special nature of the project. The members gathered from the United States got information on Lyft's sales strategy and solicited drivers as a mission and said that two iPhones in the name of Uber and multiple credit card numbers were paid. This is what the Uber side knew that Lyft could see through, even if the first iPhone was rejected, even if the first iPhone was rejected, it seems like to carry out the task by using the other number The former contractor clarifies that it was intended for the purpose.

In addition, special team members were sent an email to follow up work. The content of the mail is as follows,
· Do not make a reservation from the same place all the time to prevent it being sensed
· After getting on Lyft, ask questions such as "How long are you doing the driver?" And "What did you like about Lyft?" As an introduction of the conversation
· When the introduction is completed, recommend joining Uber
· Listen to the contact if the other party is interested. If you refuse, ask politely for that reason
And detailed procedures are listed, and it shows the existence of a systemized solicitation program.


And it is said that the online form for registering the driver interested in transferring was prepared as follows.


Uber's solicitation program that is being systematized in this way, it gradually comes to encounter another problem. As the number of solicitations increased, it was said that the situation occurred that we solicit many times to a single Lyft driver, and it was said that it was developed to be marked by Lyft. To cope with this, Uber uses group message applicationsGroupMeTo all teams to manage the target drivers. When the member solicited to the driver, the member sharing information by passing that information to GroupMe.

Uber seems to have expanded this system all over the US, and in the e-mail that The Verge got, there is a form to apply for the number of prepaid mobile phone, credit card, driver kit etc. necessary for solicitation It has been made clear. It is clear that the names of 10 cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Miami and Washington DC were listed in the target city.


Although Uber's move to compete (or attack) with competitors by taking various means in this way, it can also be said that this is reflecting the harsh industry situation. Since one user can use only one at a time, of course, assuming that the number of users is constant, the business of this type is said that if one dominates, the other will fall into a dilemmaZero sumIt can be said to be one of the games.

Of course, because there is an increase in the number of users, it is not necessarily strictly a zero sum, but understanding the severity of this business makes it possible to understand on the other hand that a strategy that can be said to be strange is implemented Maybe. In order to win in such a situation, "To have your own app launch rather than the other companies, get them to make a reservation", and to compete with competitors to guide users to their company That's it.

Lyft refused to comment on this matter. And a talent company sending talent to Uber warns each staff to keep confidentiality clauses and refrain from saying any remarks.