The Rise and Fall of Uber | #Winning | 1
发布时间 2021-03-18 09:00:00 来源
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嘿，亚马逊Prime会员，您可以在Amazon音乐上免费收听Business Movers。立即下载该应用程序。意思是，亚马逊Prime会员可以通过下载亚马逊音乐应用程序免费收听商业领袖节目。
It's a cool breezy day in the late 1980s at Patrick Henry Middle School in North Ridge, California, in the San Francisco. It's a cool breezy day in the late 1980s at Patrick Henry Middle School in North Ridge, California. It's a cool breezy day in the late 1980s at Patrick Henry Middle School in North Ridge, California, in the San Fernando Valley.
在20世纪80年代末的加州北里奇的帕特里克·亨利中学，今天是一个凉爽多风的日子。在旧金山的帕特里克·亨利中学，今天是一个凉爽多风的日子。在圣费尔南多山谷的加州北里奇的帕特里克·亨利中学，今天是一个凉爽多风的日子。
A young boy walks through the halls and does his best to be invisible. He's a math geek and looks the part. His dad is a simple engineer, his mom, an advertising executive. They value education so they've always made sure he has the latest and greatest in everything including computers. The boy has a natural gift with numbers. He can solve complex equations in his head and a blink of an eye. He's made him a favorite of his math teacher and a target for ridicule from his peers. The boy hopes he can make it to his next class without anyone noticing him or picking on him.
一个年轻男孩在走廊中尽力让自己看不见。他是数学迷，外表也很吻合。他的父亲是一名简单的工程师，母亲则是广告主管。他们非常重视教育，因此总是确保他拥有包括电脑在内的最新和最好的一切。这个男孩有天生的数字天赋。他能在眨眼间计算出复杂的方程式。这让他成为他的数学老师的宠儿，同时也成为同龄人取笑的对象。这个男孩希望他能在没有被注意或被欺负的情况下走到下一个课程。
But as he reaches into his locker to grab a textbook, Hey, rain man! The boy looks up to find an older bully scowling at him. What do you think you're doing? I'm just grabbing my math book. Oh, math class! Here's a math problem for you. How many fingers am I holding up? The boy ignores the middle finger. He closes his locker and tries to escape, but the bully blocks his path as a crowd of students gathers. And now, where do you think you're going? Going to class, just leave me alone. As the boy tries to walk away, the bully knocks his textbooks out of his hands. The boy's eyes flash red. Looks like someone's upset. The bully gets right in his face with a devilish glint in his eye. What are you going to do about it? Huh? What are you going to do? The boy grits his teeth. He's naturally aggressive, but this kid is bigger, stronger, and he doesn't want to get hurt. So he lowers his head and takes a step back. That's what I thought. See you around, Rainman.
但当他伸手去拿教科书时，一个大个子恶霸喊道：“嘿，雨人！”男孩抬头看到一个大个子正对着他怒视，问：“你在做什么？”男孩回答：“我只是去拿我的数学书。”恶霸说：“哦，数学课！这里有一个数学问题给你，我拿了几根手指？”男孩无视他比中指的手指，并关上了书柜，试图逃离，但是恶霸挡住了他的道路，一群学生也聚集了过来。恶霸问：“现在你打算去哪？”男孩回答：“我要去上课，就请让我一个人呆着吧。”当男孩试图走开时，恶霸打掉了他手中的教科书。男孩的眼睛闪烁着红光。恶霸对着他的脸含着恶魔般的凝视说：“你打算怎么做？”男孩咬紧牙关，他本性好斗，但这个孩子比他强壮、更强壮，他不想受伤。所以他低下头，向后退了一步。恶霸开心地说：“就是这样。再见，雨人！”
Travis Kalanick, Ubers' first CEO, said he hated feeling like an outcast, that being bullied in middle school instilled in him a fighter spirit and a determination to never let anyone push him around again. In high school, Travis learned how to manipulate his image. He began to dress and act cool. He ran track, played football, got a girlfriend. But he was always whipsmart. His natural talent for numbers helped him score a 1580 on his SATs, just 20 points shy of perfect. After high school, Travis studied computer engineering at UCLA before dropping out to become a tech entrepreneur. He founded one company that failed to launch, but then a second one that sold for nearly $19 million. Travis would go on to create the world's most popular ride-sharing app, Uber. In his quest for global ride-share domination, he would go to war with taxi operators and local politicians, journalists and competitors. Travis saw himself as David taking on Goliath. But that's Travis Kalanick's story, as told by Travis Kalanick.
优步的第一任CEO特拉维斯·卡兰尼克表示，他讨厌自己被排斥的感觉，在中学受到欺凌激发了他的斗争精神和决心，再也不让任何人欺负他。在高中，特拉维斯学会了如何塑造自己的形象。他开始穿潮流服饰，表现得很酷，参加田径比赛、玩橄榄球，还拥有女友。但他一直聪明才智过人。他天生对数字有天赋，SAT考试得分1580分，距离满分只有20分之遥。高中毕业后，特拉维斯在加州大学洛杉矶分校学习计算机工程，后来辍学成为一名科技创业家。他创办了一家未能成功推出产品的公司，但随后成立的第二家公司以近1900万美元的价格出售。特拉维斯随后创造了世界上最流行的共乘应用程序——优步。在他追求全球共乘市场领导地位的过程中，他与出租车运营商、地方政治家、记者和竞争对手展开了战斗。特拉维斯视自己为大卫对抗巨人歌利亚。但这就是特拉维斯·卡兰尼克的故事，由他自己讲述。
Travis's story might be a tale of David turning into Goliath. Perhaps Travis's experience as an ostracized math geek drove him, or perhaps as a convenient story to justify his own behavior. But he did co-found one of the 21st century's most innovative and important companies, battling enemies he created along the way. In the end, Travis's foibles would cost Uber, and they would cost Travis, and troll of the company he thought create.
Travis的故事可能是大卫变成歌利亚的传说。也许是他被排斥的数学怪胎经历驱使他、或者只是方便的故事来证明他自己的行为。但他确实是共同创立了21世纪最具创新和重要性的公司之一，一路上与自己创造的敌人作战。最终，Travis的缺陷会给Uber带来代价，也会给他本人及他所创造的公司带来恶评。
In a four-part series, the Generation Y podcast unravels the story of Kalif Browder, a young boy falsely accused of stealing a backpack and sold it Reikers Island for three years without trial. This is a story about a young life caught in the middle of the justice system. The Generation Y on Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
通过四部分系列，Generation Y播客揭示了卡利夫·布劳德的故事。这个年轻的男孩被错误指控偷了一个背包，然后被卖到莱克斯岛三年，却没有接受审判。这是一个讲述年轻生命被卷入司法体系的故事。你可以在亚马逊音乐或你喜欢的任何播客平台中收听Generation Y。
According to Travis Kalanick, Uber was created on a snowy Paris night in 2008, when two tech entrepreneurs, Travis and his friend Garrett Camp, couldn't get a cab and came up with a brilliant idea, an on-demand ride-sharing app that would allow a consumer to hail a car with a click of a button.
据特拉维斯·卡兰尼克称，Uber是在2008年下雪的巴黎之夜被创造出来的，当时两位科技创业者，特拉维斯和他的朋友加勒特·坎普无法打到出租车，于是想出了一个了不起的点对点共享出行应用，使消费者通过点击按钮即可用车。
But that's not exactly the truth.
但那并不完全是真实的。这句话的意思是，有些事情可能不是完全准确或真实的。
The two co-founders were in Paris for a tech conference in 2008, but Garrett had already come up with the idea months earlier. It wasn't called Uber, and it wasn't an app yet. It was a website, ubercab.com.
2008年，这两位联合创始人在巴黎参加了一次科技会议，但凯瑞特早在几个月前就已想出了这个想法。当时它还没有被称为Uber，也还没有成为一个应用程序，而是一个网站——ubercab.com。
To escape the bad weather, the two men took an elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower, where they had a brainstorm or jam session as Travis called them. Garrett wanted Uber Cap to own a fleet of limousines and to employ professional drivers.
为了避开恶劣的天气，这两个人乘电梯到埃菲尔铁塔的顶端，在那里举行了一次“头脑风暴”或“即兴乐队演奏”，正如特拉维斯所说的那样。加勒特希望Uber Cap拥有一支豪华轿车的车队，并聘请专业的司机。
On that snowy night at the top of the Eiffel Tower, Travis made an inspired contribution. He told Garrett not to buy cars or higher drivers. He said that once the app was ready, he should give it to professional drivers and let them be free agents who would use the app to make extra money in between gigs. Garrett liked the idea, and soon Uber Cap was off to the races.
在那个下雪的夜晚，Travis在埃菲尔铁塔的顶端做出了一个灵感贡献。他告诉Garrett不要购买汽车或雇佣司机。他说一旦应用程序准备好了，Garrett应该把它给专业司机，并让他们成为自由代理人，在演出之间使用应用程序赚取额外的钱。Garrett喜欢这个想法，很快Uber Cap就开始了竞争。
Garrett would take a seat on the board. Travis would become CEO.
加勒特将在董事会上就座。特拉维斯将成为首席执行官。
Uber was a pioneer in the peer-to-peer sharing economy. It was one of the first companies and Travis, one of the first CEOs, to figure out how to massively scale using other people's property and time to provide a service and make money off of it. Uber did it first with limos and 10 cars, and then eventually with amateur drivers and personal vehicles.
Uber是点对点共享经济的先驱之一。它是第一批公司之一，也是第一位CEO之一，通过使用他人的财产和时间来提供服务并从中赚钱，尝试大规模发展的。 Uber最初使用豪华轿车和10辆车实现了这一点，然后逐渐过渡到业余司机和私人车辆。
In just a few short years, Travis turned the small, scrappy startup into the most popular ride-sharing app in the world. But as it expanded across the globe, Uber faced tremendous backlash, especially from the taxi industry, which Uber was certainly disrupting.
在短短的几年时间里，特拉维斯将这家小而朴实的初创企业变成了全球最受欢迎的拼车应用。但随着它在全球范围内的扩张，Uber面临着来自出租车行业的巨大反弹，这是Uber确实正在打破的领域。
In the face of this resistance, Travis would not cower.
面对这种抵抗，特拉维斯不会退缩。
The story of Travis's battle to the top begins in 2010, shortly after Uber's official launch in its first city, San Francisco. This is the first episode of our four-part series on Uber, hashtag winning.
特拉维斯（Travis）打入顶级市场的故事始于2010年，就在Uber在其第一个城市旧金山正式推出之后不久。这是我们Uber的四部曲系列故事的第一集，标签为“获胜”。
It's October 2010 at a shared workspace in San Francisco, California. Travis Kalanick strolls through the front door, feeling invincible. Travis doesn't look like a typical Silicon Valley tech geek. With his square jaw and spiky hair, Travis is what many in the media call a tech bro, one of the bad boys of Silicon Valley. Travis is in his mid-30s, which makes him over the hill by Silicon Valley standards.
这是2010年10月，在加利福尼亚州旧金山的一个共享工作空间。特拉维斯·卡兰尼克满怀信心地走进前门。特拉维斯看起来不像典型的硅谷技术极客。他方正的下巴和往上翘的头发使得媒体称他为“技术兄弟”，是硅谷的坏小子之一。特拉维斯已经30多岁了，按照硅谷的标准来看，他已经算得上是老了。
But the scrappy entrepreneur just raised $1.25 million in seed funding for his new startup, UberCap, an app that offers on-demand black car service in San Francisco. But Travis's good mood is about to be spoiled by his vice president, Ryan Graves, who rounds the corner all business.
这位机智的企业家刚刚为自己的新创企业UberCap筹得了125万美元的种子资金，该应用在旧金山提供即时的豪华车服务。然而，特拉维斯的好心情即将被副总裁瑞恩·格雷夫斯打破，他带着一片商业气息从拐角处走来。
Ryan is normally a chipper guy, but today his all-American smile is nowhere to be found.
瑞安通常是一个开朗的人，但今天他那充满美国式的微笑不见了。
Travis, what's up, Graves?
嗨，特拉维斯，怎么了，格雷夫斯？（询问对方近况）
Gonna grab you for a minute.
马上抓住你一分钟。
Be sure, everything alright?
你确定一切都好吗？
Ryan holds up a letter from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the SFMTA. At the top, written in bold are the words cease and desist.
瑞恩手持一封来自旧金山市交通局SFMTA的信件，信件上方用粗体字写着“停止和放弃”的字样。这意味着SFMTA已经发出了命令，要求瑞恩停止做某件事情。
Travis's smile fades, replaced by a determined galared.
特拉维斯的微笑消失了，取而代之的是一个坚定的怒瞪。
Get the team together. Now.
把团队召集起来。现在就行。
这句话的含义是要立刻把团队召集到一起，可能是因为有紧急情况需要商讨或决策，或者是因为要给大家安排工作任务等等。
Inside a cramped room, Travis huddles with his small team of UberCap employees, or as Travis calls him, Uber Redos. They listen as Ryan reads the letter aloud.
在一个拥挤的房间里，特拉维斯与他的小团队的UberCap员工紧靠在一起，或者正如特拉维斯所称，Uber红军。当莱恩大声朗读信件时，他们静听着。
The name UberCap indicates that you are a taxi cab company or affiliated with a taxi cab company, and as such, you are under the jurisdiction of the SFMTA.
“UberCap”这个名字表明您是一家出租车公司或与出租车公司有关联，因此，您受到旧金山公共交通局（SFMTA）的管辖。
This is bad news, Travis.
这是个坏消息，Travis。
Hmm, relax. We've just been served.
嗯，放松点。我们刚刚被服务了。
这句话的意思是让对方不要担心，因为我们已经得到了服务或者待遇。可以用在餐馆或者其他场合，表示服务员或者工作人员已经提供我们所需要的服务。
Don't tell me to relax.
别叫我放松。意思是，不要让我放松下来。
Well, what did he say to you, the man from the city?
那个来自城市的男人跟你说了什么？
Well, he said, we're breaking the law. He said that every day we stay open without a permit, they can find us up to $5,000.
他说: "我们违反了法律。如果我们每天继续没有许可证而开放，他们可以对我们处以高达5,000美元的罚款。"
Five grand a day.
每天五千大洋。这句话表达的意思是一个人每天能挣到五千元钱。
Well, no, five. We can handle that. Five grand a day per ride. We're doing hundreds of rides a week. This would bankrupt us.
嗯，不，五千美元。我们不能承受这个价格。每次旅行都要花五千美元，而我们每周进行数百次旅行。这会让我们破产。
Come down, Ryan. These people at the MTA are in the pockets of the taxi industry. They're scared of us. That's why they're doing this. They know that when the people of San Francisco figure out how easy it is to use our service, they'll never call a cab again. And that's exactly the point.
请冷静一点，Ryan。MTA（旧金山市机场交通管理局）这些人跟出租车业有勾结，他们害怕我们。这就是他们这么做的原因。他们知道，当旧金山市民发现使用我们的服务有多么简单时，他们就不会再叫出租车了。这也是我们的目标。
He also said I could face up to 90 days in jail. We all could.
他还表示我可能会面临长达90天的监禁，我们所有人都可能会。
Look, I'm not going to jail for Uber cab. Nobody's going to jail. Nobody. He's just trying to scare you.
听我说，我不会为Uber出租车坐牢的。没有人会坐牢。他只是试图吓唬你。
Yeah, it's working.
是的，它正常工作了。
What are we supposed to do about this, Travis?
特拉维斯，我们该怎么办呢？这件事情。
Travis looks around the room and sees the terrified faces of his team. But Travis isn't afraid. He snatches the notice out of Ryan's hands. He quickly scans the document and then a smile appears on his face.
Travis环顾四周，看到团队的人们惊恐的脸庞。但是Travis并不害怕。他从Ryan手中夺走通知，迅速浏览文件，接着脸上露出了微笑。
All right, here's what we do. Nothing. We ignore it.
好的，这是我们要做的。什么也不做。我们忽略它。
What do you mean we ignore it?
“你的意思是我们要无视它吗？” 这句话的含义是询问对方为什么要忽略某件事情。
They're saying we don't have the permits we need to operate as a cab company, right?
他们正在说我们没有必要经营出租车公司的许可证，是吗？
That's about it, yeah.
大致就是这样了，是的。
So we drop cab from our name and we're not a cab company. We're a transportation network company.
所以我们将“出租车”从我们的名字中剔除，我们不再是一家出租车公司，而是一家交通运输网络公司。
Is that even a thing?
这样的事情真的存在吗？
It is now.
现在就是现在。这句话并没有明确的上下文或背景，可能只是表示“现在是现在了”，强调当前的时刻或状态。
This isn't going to stop them, Travis. We've got to keep coming after us with everything they got. Well, let him.
特拉维斯，这不会阻止他们的。他们会使尽浑身解数继续追赶我们。好吧，就让他们来吧。
In October of 2010, Travis officially dropped cab from the name and stuck with Uber to avoid local regulation. But he had national aspirations. To expand beyond San Francisco, Travis needed money and a lot of it.
在2010年的十月，特拉维斯正式将"cab（出租车）"从公司名称中删除，并继续使用Uber，以避免当地的监管。但他有着全国性的野心。为了扩展业务至旧金山之外，特拉维斯需要大笔的资金支持。
He needed a venture capitalist or VC, a private equity investor who funds companies with big growth potential in exchange for a stake in the business. Typically, a startup's first round of venture capital comes in the form of seed funding. Usually tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Uber had secured a large seed round of 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 in October.
他需要一位风险资本家或VC，即一位私募股权投资者，通过投资公司来获得潜在的巨大增长收益。通常来说，初创公司的第一轮风险资本是通过种子资金的形式来获得的，通常在几十或几百万美元范围内。优步在10月份获得了1亿美元的种子资金。
From there, startups can take on a series of additional funding rounds that usually grow in size, series A, series B, series C, and so on. Travis needed an investor with deep pockets to put together his series A funding round so he could launch Uber and cities all across the country. He would find what he was looking for in a Lanky Texan named Bill Gurley.
从那里开始，初创公司可以进行一系列的额外融资轮，通常规模逐渐增大，包括A轮、B轮、C轮等。特拉维斯需要一个资金雄厚的投资者来组织他的A轮融资轮，这样他就可以在全国范围内推出Uber。他在一个名叫比尔·格利的瘦高个德克萨斯人身上找到了他想要的东西。
At 6 foot 9, Bill was easily the tallest VC in Silicon Valley. But in contrast to his height, Bill had a diminutive personality. He was a reserved, thoughtful man with a quiet intelligence and a reputation for picking winners. In Uber, Bill saw massive potential for growth and he wanted his San Francisco venture capital firm Benchmark to be part of it.
比尔身高6英尺9英寸，是硅谷最高的风险资本家。但是与他的身高相比，比尔的个性很温和。他是一个保守、深思熟虑的人，拥有沉默的智慧和选赢者的美誉。在Uber的发展中，比尔看到了巨大的增长潜力，并希望他所在的旧金山风险投资公司Benchmark成为其中的一部分。
Travis wanted Benchmark too. Bill was famous in Silicon Valley and not just for his height. Travis subscribed to Bill's popular tech blog above the crowd. The two had been playing cat and mouse for some time until early in 2011, when Travis called Bill and invited him to the W Hotel to talk business. Their conversation stretched into the early hours, and at the end of it, the two men agreed that Uber was worth roughly $60 million.
Travis也想要Benchmark。Bill在硅谷非常出名，不仅因为他身高高。Travis订阅了Bill受欢迎的技术博客above the crowd。这两个人一直在玩猫鼠游戏，直到2011年初，Travis打电话给Bill，邀请他到W Hotel商谈业务。他们的谈话一直延续到凌晨，最终，两个人同意Uber大约价值6000万美元。
Bill wanted to invest $11 million in exchange for nearly 20% of the company and a seat on the board. Travis said yes and sealed the deal with a handshake. Bill's investment would pay off. In 2019, after Uber went public, Bill would receive one of the biggest payouts in the history of venture capital, over $600 million.
比尔想要投资1100万美元，以换取公司将近20%的股份和董事会席位。特拉维斯同意了，并以握手方式达成了协议。比尔的投资最终收益颇丰。2019年，优步上市后，比尔将获得风险投资史上最大的一笔回报，超过6亿美元。
Bill's sterling reputation in Silicon Valley enticed more investors into the fold. It was an impressive list. Hollywood actors Ashton Kutcher, Olivia Munn, and Edward Norton, Talon Agent Ariamanuel, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Soon, Uber closed a series B investment round, bringing in another $37 million.
比尔在硅谷拥有的良好声誉吸引了更多的投资者加入。他们的投资人名单令人印象深刻，包括好莱坞演员阿什顿·库彻、奥利维亚·曼恩和爱德华·诺顿、Talon代理人阿里亚曼纽尔和亚马逊CEO杰夫·贝索斯。很快，Uber完成了B轮投资，融资超过3700万美元。
Though at the time, Uber was still a small company, early investors saw potential. According to one of them in February of 2011, Uber had 9,000 customers and net earnings of nearly $2 million. The investor believed that Uber would hit $100 million by the end of the same year, but that would only happen if Uber's nationwide rollout was a success.
尽管当时Uber仍是一家小公司，早期的投资者看到了其潜力。根据2011年2月的一位投资者的说法，Uber拥有9000名客户和近200万美元的净收入。该投资者相信，如果Uber在全国推出成功，那么该公司将在同一年底达到1亿美元的收益。
In May of 2011, with Uber firmly established in San Francisco, Travis set his sights on the big apple. If Uber could succeed in the massive taste-making metropolis of New York, it could thrive anywhere. But the fight for New York was bound to be difficult, because of the powerful and entrenched taxi operators who dominated New York streets for decades.
在2011年5月，Uber已经在旧金山牢固地立足，Travis将目光投向了大苹果。如果Uber能够在具有巨大影响力的纽约这个大都市取得成功，那么它就能在任何地方蓬勃发展。但是，争夺纽约市场注定会很困难，因为几十年来主宰纽约街头的强大和根深蒂固的出租车运营商。
So Travis did in New York what he had done in San Francisco. He ignored local rules and regulations and charged ahead. Travis was always secretive with his numbers, so it's not clear how well Uber actually performed in New York in the early days. But if Travis is to be believed, Uber took off fast. As he told one reporter in 2011, the best metric I can give you is that Uber is killing it in San Francisco and we're crushing it in New York.
特拉维斯在纽约所做的与他在旧金山时一样，无视当地的规章制度，冲在前面。特拉维斯一直对他的数字保密，因此Uber在纽约早期的表现有多好并不清楚。但如果要相信特拉维斯的话，Uber在纽约迅速起飞。正如他在2011年告诉一位记者的那样，我能给你最好的指标是，Uber在旧金山干得不错，而我们在纽约领先。
If Uber was crushing it, Uber's head of global expansion, Austin Geite, deserved much of the credit. When Austin started working for Uber back in 2010 as an intern, she was Uber's fourth employee, but easily one of Travis's smartest hires. She embodied Travis's favorite motto, Always Be Hustling. Austin did it all, market research, logistics, and most importantly, global expansion.
如果Uber高歌猛进，Uber的全球扩张负责人奥斯汀·吉特（Austin Geite）应该获得很大的功劳。当奥斯汀从2010年开始成为Uber的实习生时，她是Uber的第四位员工，但绝对是特拉维斯最聪明的聘用之一。她体现了特拉维斯最喜欢的座右铭：永远要奋斗。奥斯汀什么都干，市场研究、后勤，最重要的是全球扩张。
As Austin launched Uber in New York, she took detailed notes of the process and developed what she called a scrappy version of the Uber Playbook. The goal was to make Uber so popular with the locals that government officials couldn't shut it down without facing a severe backlash.
当奥斯汀在纽约推出优步时，她详细记录了整个过程，并开发出所谓的优步攻略的简单版本。目标是让优步在本地人中如此受欢迎，以至于政府官员在不面临严重的反弹声时不能关闭它。
Austin's Playbook was efficient and effective. Determined local regulations and fine creative workarounds, recruit drivers from limo companies, set the right price for each city, create local buzz in the media, and most importantly achieve viral growth through word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth was Uber's most effective weapon.
奥斯汀的行动计划是高效和有效的。他确定本地法规和创意解决方案，从豪华车公司招募司机，在每个城市制定合适的价格，通过媒体在当地制造话题，最重要的是通过口碑营销实现病毒式增长。口碑是优步最有效的武器。
But Travis wanted the right words coming out of the right mouths. So Travis focused on getting tastemakers, actors, musicians, tech entrepreneurs, and influencers to fall in love with the app and gush about it on social media. Austin planned swanky parties and lowered local influencers who had become living advertisements for the company. Travis had the foresight to realize that a one-size-fits-all approach wouldn't work in every city. What was successful in San Francisco might not be in New York. Different cities had different cultures and different local regulations. So Travis would hire a local team to run operations in each new city. Travis and the corporate team would be there to give support and guidance, but Uber's local city teams had the latitude to make decisions about how to spend money and market the app.
特拉维斯想要让恰当的人说出恰当的话语。因此，特拉维斯专注于让品味引领者、演员、音乐家、科技企业家以及有影响力的人们爱上这个应用，并在社交媒体上对其赞不绝口。奥斯汀计划了许多高档的派对，并降低了当地的那些已经成为公司生动广告的影响者。特拉维斯预见到一种“一刀切”的方法并不适用于每个城市。在旧金山成功的做法可能不适用于纽约。不同的城市有不同的文化和不同的地方法规。因此，特拉维斯会聘请当地团队在每个新城市运营。特拉维斯和企业团队会提供支持和指导，但Uber的当地城市团队有权决定如何花费资金和营销这个应用。
By the time Uber launched in its third city, Seattle, in August of 2011, Uber's expansion engine was a well-oiled machine. In the span of just a few weeks, Uber was the talk of the Emerald City. And by the time local officials and regulators knew what was happening, it was too late. Uber had reached critical mass. After Seattle, it was a matter of rinse and repeat. In 2011, Uber quickly expanded further to Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Uber was in Paris by the end of the year, and would soon be in London, Melbourne, Milan, and Sydney. In the span of three years, the once small start-up would expand to 46 different countries.
在2011年8月，Uber在第三个城市西雅图推出时，Uber的扩张引擎已经成为一台日臻完善的机器。在短短几周内，Uber已成为“翠绿之城”的谈论话题。而当地官员和监管机构意识到发生的事情时，为时已晚。Uber已经达到了临界点。在西雅图之后，就是洗礼和重复的过程。2011年，Uber迅速扩展到芝加哥、洛杉矶和华盛顿特区。年底时，Uber进入了巴黎，并很快将进军伦敦、墨尔本、米兰和悉尼。在短短三年内，这个曾经的小型创业公司扩展到了46个不同的国家。
But Uber had plenty of competition at home, including one company that sprung up in its own backyard. In May of 2012, San Francisco locals started noticing bright pink moustaches on dashboards all over town. The moustache was the official symbol of lift, a new peer-to-peer ride-sharing app in San Francisco. Uber used black-town cars, limousines, and professional drivers. Lift used amateurs. To drive for lift, all a person needed was a phone, a car, and a driver's license. It was cheap, easy, and accessible.
不过，Uber在国内有不少竞争对手，其中还包括一家在其总部周围成立的公司。2012年5月，旧金山的居民开始注意到城市各处的仪表板上出现了亮粉色人造胡子。这个胡子是Lift的官方标志，它是旧金山一款新型的、基于点对点共享的搭乘软件。Uber使用黑色的城市车、豪华轿车和专业司机，而Lift则使用业余司机。想在Lift上驾驶，只需要一部手机、一辆车和一个驾照。这让搭乘更加便宜、轻松且易于接近。
Travis saw lift's potential, and he reacted quickly. He instructed his team to meet with local regulators in secret to convince them that lift was breaking the law and had to be stopped. But the local regulators didn't go after lift the way they had with Uber cap. Perhaps because lift, like Uber, was a massive hit, and politicians were afraid of blowback.
Travis意识到了Lift的潜力，并迅速采取行动。他指示他的团队秘密会见当地监管机构，说服他们停止Lift的违法行为。但当地监管机构并没有像对待Uber Cap那样追究Lift的责任。可能是因为像Uber一样，Lift是一个巨大的成功，政治家们担心会引起反弹效应。
So Travis pivoted. Travis had initially wanted Uber to be a high-end, exclusive service of black-town cars. But lift's popularity and the massive potential of the peer-to-peer market was hard to ignore. So Travis launched Uber X, a low-cost peer-to-peer option. In the Uber X announcement, Travis stated, we could have chosen to use regulation to thwart our competitors. Instead, we chose the path that reflects our company's core. We chose to compete. But Travis would not be sportsman like him. He was the kind of man who needed to win and win big. And Travis's mind, if he didn't destroy the competition, he wasn't a victory at all. So Travis took the fight to lift, determined to win at all costs, and to make sure Uber was the last app standing.
Travis改变了方向。Travis最开始想要让Uber成为一个高端、独家的黑色私家车服务。但是难以忽视的是Lift的受欢迎程度和点对点市场的巨大潜力。所以Travis推出了Uber X，一种低成本的点对点选择。在Uber X的宣传中，Travis表示，我们本来可以选择使用法规来抵制竞争对手。相反，我们选择了反映我们公司核心的路径。我们选择了竞争。但是Travis却不像一名体育家一样。他是那种需要赢得大胜的人。在Travis的心中，如果他没有摧毁竞争对手，那他就没有胜利。因此，Travis与Lift展开了搏斗，决心不惜一切代价取胜，并确保Uber是最后一个站立的应用程序。
On a cold night in 2010, a boy is stopped by the police while walking home from a party in the Bronx. He's only 16. He's been stopped by the police before, but this time is different. In a special four-part series, the Generation Y podcast unravels the story of Khalif Browder, a young boy who was falsely accused of stealing a backpack and held without bail at Reikers Island for three years. He endured regular abuse by prison staff and inmates, and was held in solitary confinement for more than 700 consecutive days. Three years later, Khalif was released, never having stood trial. This is a story that digs into the injustice of the justice system, and a young life caught in the middle. We say innocent until proven guilty. But where do we draw the line between due process and cruelty? To hear this four-part series, follow Generation Y wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen at free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app.
在2010年的一个寒冷的晚上，一个年仅16岁的男孩在从布朗克斯参加聚会回家的路上被警方拦下。他以前也曾被警方拦下过，但这一次情况与众不同。在一系列由“Y世代”播客特别制作的四集节目中，我们揭示了卡里夫·布劳德这个年轻男孩被错误指控偷窃背包，被关押在莱克斯岛三年而无保释的故事。他遭受了监狱工作人员和犯人的定期虐待，被单独关押了超过700天。三年后，卡里夫获释，从未接受过审判。这是一个深入探讨司法系统不公正的故事，一个年轻人陷入其中。我们说无罪推定，但我们在正当程序和残酷之间划定了何种界限？如欲收听这四集系列节目，请在任何听播客的应用中关注“Y世代”节目。你可以在Amazon Music或Wondery应用程序上免费收听。
It's spring 2013 at Uber's San Francisco headquarters, and Travis Kalanick is fast-walking. He always paces around the office when he is something big on his mind, or when he's trying to get business done. But today, Travis isn't trying to make a deal. He's trying to blow one up. Uber's biggest competitor, Lyft, is trying to put together a pool of investors for their latest round of funding. So Travis dials a potential Lyft investor.
现在是2013年的春天，Travis Kalanick在Uber位于旧金山的总部快步走着。他总是在头脑中有重大事情或者需要处理业务的时候在办公室里踱步。但是今天，Travis并不是在尝试达成一笔交易，他试图打击Lyft这个Uber最大的竞争对手的募资。因此，Travis联系了Lyft潜在投资者。
Wow, Mr. Kalanick. To what do I owe this pleasure?
哇，卡兰尼克先生。我有何荣幸可以见到您呢？
A little bird told me you're thinking of taking Lyft to the dance.
有只小鸟告诉我你在考虑乘坐Lyft去跳舞。意思是有人告诉我你正在考虑使用Lyft去参加舞会。
I guess word travels fast.
我猜想消息传得很快。
You're making a big mistake.
你正在犯一个大错误。
Hmm, we don't see it that way.
嗯，我们不这么看。意思是不同意某种看法或观点。
You really want to put your firm's capital behind a copycat? Because that's all they are.
你真的想要将公司的资本投入到一个抄袭者身上吗？因为他们只是这样的人。
Uh, yeah. Well, we like what we see with Lyft.
嗯，是的。我们很喜欢Lyft的发展前景。
Are you committed?
你是否充满承诺？
I can't get into the details, but no, we haven't signed anything.
我不能详细说明，但是我们没有签署任何协议。
Well, good. Don't.
好的，没关系。
Travis, there's a lot of potential with Lyft. They were the first ones who appeared appear. What doesn't matter who's first, matters who's best.
Travis，Lyft有许多潜力。他们是第一个出现的人。重要的不是谁第一个出现，而是谁最好。
Travis ducks inside an empty conference room for some privacy. Listen, we know they're going to raise a ton of money. But so are we. Before you invest in a copycat, just make sure you know that we're going to be fundraising immediately after. When? Our series C is right around the corner. What's the valuation? Big. How big is big? 3.5 billion. Billion.
特拉维斯走进一个空的会议室，以获得一些隐私。听着，我们知道他们将会筹集大量资金。但是，我们也是一样。在你投资一个抄袭品之前，确保你知道我们会在不久后开始筹集资金。什么时候？我们的C轮融资就在不远处了。估值多少？很高。多高？35亿。亿。
And remember this. I won't let you invest in Lyft and Uber. You have to pick one. And once you do, there's no going back. Well, I'll take it under consideration. You do what you want, but if I were you, I'd bet on Uber. And why is that? Because I don't lose. We're about to blast off my friend. Better hop on while you still can.
记住这一点，我不会让你同时投资Lyft和Uber，你必须做出选择，一旦你做了选择就不能反悔。好的，我会考虑的。你可以做自己的决定，但如果我是你，我会押注Uber。为什么？因为我不输。我们即将起飞，朋友。你最好在还来得及的时候加入。
Travis didn't just work behind the scenes to undermine Lyft. He waged a war of words on social media. Back in March, Travis tweeted directly at Lyft co-founder John Zimmer, trying to cast suspicion on the legality and safety of Lyft. We've talked to dozens of lifters, none of which have ever seen an insurance policy. Zimmer quickly replied, Travis seems like you're fishing for info and might need some insurance. The lengthy back and forth came to an end when Zimmer tweeted, Travis seems like you want the last word I'll let you have it so I can get back to work. Smiley facing Moji, hashtag respect. And of course, Travis did get the last word. Tweeting, at John Zimmer, you got a lot of catching up to do. Hashtag clone.
Travis不仅是在幕后破坏Lyft，他还在社交媒体上发起了一场言语战争。三月份，Travis直接在Twitter上与Lyft联合创始人约翰·齐默交锋，试图对Lyft的合法性和安全性产生怀疑。我们和许多乘客交谈过，他们中没有一个人见过保险单。齐默很快回复道，Travis，似乎你在试图获取信息，可能需要保险。随后的长时间互动在齐默发推特表示"Travis，你好像想要最后一句话，我会让你说的"之后结束了。Travis得到了最后一句话的机会。他发推特说：约翰·齐默，你需要赶一下进展。我的意思是克隆。
John Zimmer's strategy for taking Lyft nationwide did resemble Travis's. Use influencers to build a local grassroots movement and make Lyft so popular that it would be impossible to shut down. And like Uber, Lyft was catching on fast. But where Travis was seen by many as the elitist bad boy of Silicon Valley, Zimmer and company trying to position Lyft as the good guys who wanted to help the environment by reducing the number of cars on the road.
约翰·齐默采用了与特拉维斯类似的策略，将Lyft推广到全国。他们通过使用有影响力的人来建立本地草根运动，并让Lyft变得如此受欢迎，以至于无法关闭它。与Uber一样，Lyft正在快速发展。但是，许多人认为特拉维斯是硅谷的精英坏男孩，而齐默和公司试图将Lyft定位为想要通过减少道路上的汽车数量来帮助环境的好人。
When Travis's network of Silicon Valley spies discovered that Lyft was getting ready to roll out a carpool feature, Travis decided to get in on the act. He ordered his chief product officer to develop one for Uber and have it ready before Lyft launched theirs. As a result, Uberpool beat Lyft to market and Lyft again looked like a comp cat.
当Travis的硅谷侦察网络发现Lyft准备推出拼车功能时，Travis决定参与其中。他命令首席产品官为Uber开发一个类似的功能，并在Lyft推出该功能之前准备好。结果，Uberpool在市场上赶超了Lyft，Lyft再次显得像个比较迟缓的企业。
But Travis's tweaking and ruthless competitive tactics didn't help his reputation. He wasn't trying to win a popularity contest though. He was trying to win a war for market share. And to achieve that victory, he needed a bigger war chest. So Travis hired a new senior vice president of business, an Egyptian-born powerhouse named Emil Michael. Travis and his deputy Emil were an unstoppable fundraising team. By the summer of 2014, Travis and Emil had raised over a billion dollars in venture capital.
翻译：
Travis的微调和无情的竞争策略并没有改善他的声誉。他并不是在试图赢得一个受欢迎大赛。他试图赢得市场份额战争。为了取得胜利，他需要更多的资金。于是，Travis雇用了一位名叫Emil Michael的埃及出生的强大的高级副总裁。Travis和他的副手Emil是一个不可阻挡的筹款团队。到2014年夏天，Travis和Emil筹集了超过10亿美元的风险投资。
意思表达：
特拉维斯的策略虽然有效，但也损害了他的声誉。他并不是在争取受欢迎程度，而是在打市场份额的战争。为了获得胜利，他需要更多的资金。因此，他雇用了Emil Michael来帮助筹集资金。特拉维斯和Emil成为了一个不可阻挡的筹款团队，他们在2014年夏天筹集了超过10亿美元的风险投资。
With such deep pockets, Travis was able to launch an expensive anti-lift marketing campaign in San Francisco, buying up ads and billboards with the slogan, shave the stash. He sent employees dressed in Uber Black to crash Lyft parties, hand out Uber swag, and tried to recruit Lyft drivers. The new investment dollars also allowed Travis to accelerate Uber's growth by subsidizing it. He lowered prices and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in San Francisco alone on driver bonuses and free rides for new users.
由于持有大量资金，特拉维斯得以在旧金山推出昂贵的反抬价营销活动，购买标语和广告牌，“刮掉胡子”的口号成为广告宣传词。他派遣穿着Uber黑衣服的员工闯入Lyft聚会派发Uber相关促销赠品，并尝试招募Lyft司机。新的投资资金还允许特拉维斯通过补贴来加速Uber的增长。他降低了价格，在旧金山一地为司机提供了数百万美元的奖金和免费乘车服务，以吸引新用户。
But Travis wasn't the only one who knew how to raise and spend money. Throughout 2014, Lyft's John Zimmer raised hundreds of millions of dollars of his own to take the pink mustache nationwide. And as Lyft expanded beyond San Francisco, so did Travis's efforts to block its path. Some of those efforts would place Uber at the center of a scandal.
但 Travis 并不是唯一一个知道如何筹集和花费资金的人。整个 2014 年，Lyft 的 John Zimmer 也筹集了数亿美元的资金来将粉色小胡子的服务推向全国。随着 Lyft 在旧金山以外扩展，Travis 也加大了阻止它的努力。其中一些举措将使 Uber 成为丑闻的中心。
In August of 2014, a technology website called The Verge published a story revealing something called Operation Slog. A top secret highly coordinated effort at Uber to sabotage Lyft in New York. As part of Slog, Uber deployed teams armed with credit cards and burner phones to request Lyft rides, recruit their drivers and sometimes cancel rides to avoid detection. Reportedly, Slog resulted in thousands of canceled rides which cost Lyft money and made it harder for the company to gain a foothold.
在2014年8月，一家名为The Verge的科技网站刊登了一篇报道，揭示了一项名为Slog的行动。这是Uber秘密策划的高度协调的行动，旨在破坏Lyft在纽约的业务。作为Slog计划的一部分，Uber派出了配备信用卡和一次性手机的团队，请求Lyft的车辆服务，招募他们的司机，并有时取消服务以避免被发现。据报道，Slog导致了成千上万的取消服务，这使Lyft付出了一定的代价并且使公司难以立足。
According to The Verge's article, Slog was so effective in New York that Uber launched it nationwide. Every time Lyft expanded to a new city, Slog was there to slow them down. Lyft claimed that Uber employees intentionally canceled over 5,000 rides. Uber called Lyft's accusation simply untrue. But one Uber employee told The Verge what simply untrue is that not only does Uber know about this, they're actively encouraging these actions day to day and in doing so are flat out lying to their customers, the media and their investors.
据The Verge报道，Slog在纽约非常有效，以至于Uber将其推广到全国。每当Lyft进入新的城市时，Slog都在那里阻碍他们的扩张。Lyft声称Uber雇员故意取消了5000多次乘车。Uber称Lyft的指控完全不实。但一位Uber员工告诉The Verge，完全不实的不仅仅是这样，Uber不仅知道这一点，而且还积极鼓励这样做，这样做就是对他们的客户、媒体和投资者进行了干脆利落的谎言。
The story went viral and the blowback was severe. Eventually Travis owned up to some tactics of Operation Slog. Though he continued to deny canceling rides, Travis maintained that recruiting Lyft drivers was fair game. It was good for the shared economy and it gave drivers more opportunity to make more money. Despite the bad publicity, Uber's efforts to thwart Lyft were arguably effective. Lyft would never surpass Uber in size or scope.
这个故事曾经在网络上大热，所遭受的压力也十分巨大。最终，特拉维斯承认了“运作Slog计划”的一些策略。尽管他继续否认取消Lyft的订单，但特拉维斯表示招募Lyft司机是公平竞争的行为。这对共享经济是有益的，也为司机提供了更多赚钱的机会。尽管受到了不良的宣传，但Uber打压Lyft的努力仍然非常有效。Lyft永远无法在规模和范围上超越Uber。
At the start of 2014, Uber was in 100 cities. By the end of that year, the company had expanded to over 400 worldwide. Lyft never caught up to where Uber started from. Still, the millions of dollars Travis spent battling Lyft ultimately ate into Uber's bottom line. In 2014, leaked documents showed that Uber lost 109 million dollars in the second quarter alone. And the losses weren't constrained to just the US market. As Uber expanded overseas in 2014, its international operation lost 237 million dollars. Travis claimed the loss was normal for a rapidly growing company investing in more people and in more cities. Still, the massive losses troubled many investors.
在2014年初，Uber已经在100个城市。到那年底，该公司已经扩展到全球400多个城市。相比之下，Lyft从未赶上Uber的起点。尽管如此，Travis花费了数百万美元与Lyft竞争，最终影响了Uber的底线。在2014年，泄露的文件显示Uber仅在第二季度就亏损了1.09亿美元。而这种亏损并不仅限于美国市场。随着Uber在2014年扩张到海外市场，国际业务亏损了2.37亿美元。Travis声称这种亏损对于一个迅速发展的公司来说是正常的，因为需要投资更多的人和更多的城市。尽管如此，这些巨大的亏损仍然让许多投资者感到不安。
And other investors were worried about something else. Something Travis called his perception problem. By 2014, Uber was a global phenomenon, but its CEO was a reviled figure. Many in the media were not shy about saying so. To them, Travis came across like a spoiled party boy, an entiled tech bro with too much power and not enough accountability. Travis felt he was being unfairly targeted by the media.
其他投资者也担心另一件事情，被Travis称作是他的“知觉问题”。到2014年，Uber已成为一种全球现象，但其首席执行官却成为了备受诟病的人物。许多媒体毫不掩饰地如此说。对他们来说，Travis看起来像是一个被宠坏的派对男孩，一个拥有过多权力而缺乏足够问责制的技术新贵。Travis觉得自己遭到了媒体的不公正打击。
He liked to have fun, sure, and he wasn't above the occasional dirty trick. But in Travis's mind, that was the Silicon Valley way. His peers, men like Sean Parker, had made it big and partied hard and no one succeeded in the tech world without getting their hands dirty. But Travis's subsequent words and actions didn't help his perception problem. In a GQ profile in 2014 titled Uber Cab Confessions, Travis joked about creating a service for on-demand women called Boober. Comments like that gave credence to the idea that Travis was a misogynist.
他喜欢寻找乐趣，偶尔也有些不择手段。但在特拉维斯眼中，这就是硅谷的方式。他的同行，像肖恩·帕克这样的人，成功后也疯狂地纵欲，没有人能在科技界取得成功而不染指于此。但是特拉维斯随后的言行并没有帮助他解决形象问题。在2014年的GQ采访中，题为《Uber出租车的自白》的文章中，特拉维斯开玩笑地表示要开一项服务，为用户提供需求即时的女性服务，称之为“母乳宝”。这类评论增强了人们认为特拉维斯是一个厌恶女性的人的观念。
One journalist in particular went after Travis. Technology reporter Sarah Lacey. Since she started her tech website Pando Daily in 2012, Sarah had followed Uber closely. She and her staff constantly debated the question, how morally bankrupt is Uber? Back in 2012, one of Sarah's colleagues wrote a damning piece arguing that in Uber's business model, drivers and riders were disposable cogs used to maximize Travis's profits. Two years later, in January 2014, another of Sarah's colleagues revealed that an Uber driver accused of assault had a criminal record that should have been detected by the background checks Uber claimed they were doing. That story also claimed that Uber's attitude towards rider complaints was to blame the passenger. But in October of 2014, Sarah launched her most scathing attack yet. With an article she wrote titled, the horrific trickle down of asshole culture, why I've just deleted Uber from my phone.
记者中有一位特别针对特拉维斯的。科技记者萨拉·莱西。自从她在2012年创立了科技网站Pando Daily以来，萨拉一直密切关注Uber。她和她的团队经常辩论这个问题，Uber有多么道德破产？回到2012年，萨拉的一位同事发表了一篇毁灭性的文章，认为在Uber的商业模式中，司机和乘客是可 disposable 熟物，用来最大化特拉维斯的利润。两年后的2014年1月，萨拉的另一位同事揭露，一名被指控袭击的Uber司机有犯罪记录，而这个应该被Uber声称正在进行的背景调查所检测出来。这个故事还声称，Uber对乘客的投诉态度是责怪乘客。但到2014年10月，萨拉发起了她最激烈的攻击。她写了一篇题为《恶心的屁头文化的滴漏效应，我为什么把Uber从我的手机中删除了》的文章。
In the article, Sarah referenced a recent Uber scandal that came out of France, where a local Uber office ran a promotion to pair Uber riders with attractive female drivers. As Sarah wrote, still can't believe that Uber, a company held up as a bastion of modern entrepreneurship, posted an ad that encouraged, played on, and celebrated treating women like hookers. Sarah took direct aim at Travis, calling him a sexist. Sarah also attacked Uber's investors for defending Travis, writing that she was, disappointed with Uber investors who have young donors. They should care. They should be horrified.
在这篇文章中，萨拉提到了最近在法国发生的Uber丑闻，当时当地的Uber办事处推出了一个促销活动，旨在将Uber乘客与有吸引力的女性司机配对。正如萨拉所写的那样，她仍然无法相信Uber这家被奉为现代创业的堡垒的公司，会发布鼓励、玩弄并庆祝将女性视为妓女的广告。萨拉直言不讳地指责特拉维斯是个性别歧视者。她还抨击了Uber的投资者为捍卫特拉维斯而辩护，写道自己对年轻捐赠者拥有的Uber投资者感到失望。他们应该关心，他们应该感到恐惧。
When she built Gurley, the Lanky Texan who had invested $11 million in Uber's series A Round, was deeply concerned. The Sarah Lacey article only fueled Bill's growing suspicion that Travis was becoming a liability. Bill had long been concerned with Travis' conduct as CEO. Travis fixated on breaking into China, an expensive, billion-dollar proposition that Bill thought was a lost cause. Additionally, Travis had fired Uber's chief financial officer, leaving Bill to wonder if Travis was trying to hide Uber's numbers or possibly manipulate them. So Bill reached out to Travis' deputy, Emil Michael, to encourage Emil to set Travis straight. But Emil was not a friendly ear. Emil, like Travis, thought Bill, a man they called Chicken Little, was a naysayer, always standing in the way of progress.
当她建立Gurley时，这位名叫Lanky Texan的投资人曾投资1100万美元给优步的A轮融资，深感担忧。Sarah Lacey的文章更加助长了Bill对Travis成为负担的怀疑。长期以来，Bill一直担心Travis作为CEO的举止。Travis一心想进入中国市场，这是一个昂贵的十亿美元的项目，但Bill认为这不可能成功。此外，Travis解雇了Uber的首席财务官，让Bill怀疑Travis是否想隐藏Uber的财务数据或者操纵它们。于是，Bill联系了Travis的副手Emil Michael，鼓励Emil纠正Travis。但Emil并不是一个友好的听众。Emil和Travis一样，认为像Bill这样的人是一个常常阻碍进步的悲观主义者，他们称他为鸡小姐。
As Uber grew, so too did Travis' so-called perception problem. Viral growth had catapulted Uber to the top. But now, a viral campaign against Travis, fueled by the media, threatened Uber's dominance. So Travis fought back. He launched a PR campaign designed to rehabilitate his image and reframe the conversation. But in the end, the charm offensive would backfire. And they would once again thrust Uber into the media's crosshairs.
随着Uber的发展，特拉维斯的所谓声誉问题也逐渐浮出水面。病毒式的增长将Uber推向顶峰。但如今，媒体推动的一场反特拉维斯的病毒式运动威胁到了Uber的主导地位。因此，特拉维斯开始了反击。他发起了一场公关活动，旨在恢复自己的形象并重新调整谈话的方向。但最终，这场魅力攻势将适得其反。他们再一次将Uber推到了媒体的枪口下。
It's Saturday, November 15, 2014, in a private dining room at the back of the Waverly Inn in Drenich Village in Manhattan. Travis, Calonex, sits at the head of a table filled with a couple dozen journalists, celebrities, and Uber Edo's. The dinner is officially off the record, so the drinks are flowing and so is the conversation.
今天是2014年11月15日星期六，在曼哈顿Drenich Village的Waverly Inn的私人餐厅里。Travis Calonex坐在一张桌子的头上，周围坐满了二十几位记者，名人和Uber Edo的人。这顿晚餐是官方不公开的，所以酒水畅饮，谈话也很畅通。
Travis is hoping to make a good impression tonight and charm his list of VIP guests. He flanked by his friend, author, pundent, and businesswoman Ariana Huffington, who chatched it up with Uber investor Edward Norton. At the opposite end of the table, Travis's deputy Emil Michael is holding court with a handful of reporters. Emil is also supposed to be laying on the charm, but so far he's doing a terrible job.
特拉维斯希望今晚给他的贵宾留下好印象并迷人。他的好友、作家、专家和女商人阿里安娜·赫芬顿站在他身边，与优步投资者爱德华·诺顿聊天。在桌子的另一端，特拉维斯的副手艾米尔·迈克尔正与一些记者交谈。艾米尔也应该表现得迷人，但到目前为止，他做得很糟糕。
People are coming after us because we're crushing the competition. We're the real victims here. I'm sorry, Mr. Michael, I'm confused. If Uber is the victim, who's the assailant? The media. Well, as a member of the media, I gotta tell you that seems like a stretch. I think you've earned some of the knocks you've taken. Oh, come on, what if we earned? We're providing a public service for the public good.
人们追随我们是因为我们正在击败竞争对手。我们是真正的受害者。对不起，迈克尔先生，我有点困惑。如果Uber是受害者，那么是谁攻击他们呢？媒体。嗯，作为媒体的一员，我得告诉你这似乎有点牵强。我认为你们受到的一些打击是应得的。哦，拜托了，我们到底错在哪里了？我们正在为公众利益提供公共服务。
What do you have to say to the women who don't feel safe in your Uber cars? Ask 100 women whether they'd feel safer in an Uber or an taxi. If any woman decided to delete the Uber app like Sarah Lacey did, and then go on to take a taxi ride and God forbid or assaulted, that woman should be held personally responsible for that.
你对那些不太放心在你的Uber车上的女性有什么话要说？你可以问100位女性，她们会在Uber还是出租车上感觉更安全。如果有女性像萨拉·莱西一样决定删除Uber应用程序，然后选择坐出租车，然后不幸受到袭击，那么这位女性应该对此负个人责任。
Well, she's not the only member of the press who feels that way. What if we gave the media a taste of their own medicine, huh? What if we spent, I don't know, a million dollars hiring a few journalists and top op-op people. Then they could look into your personal lives, your families. Help us actually fight back. I bet if we looked into Sarah Lacey's personal life, we'd find all sorts of things.
她并不是唯一一个这样想的记者。我们要不给媒体一个尝尝他们自己的药呢？我们花一百万美元雇几个记者和顶尖的媒体人，看看他们能不能调查你们的个人生活，家庭背景，真正地回击回去。我敢打赌，如果我们调查Sarah Lacey的私人生活，肯定会发现各种各样的事情。
The reporter is stunned. If you were to do what you just suggested, the story wouldn't be about Sarah Lacey. You would be about Uber. Just think of the backlash. All that wouldn't be a problem. And why is that? Because nobody would know it was us.
这位记者感到震惊。如果你按照你刚才所建议的去做，这个故事就不是关于萨拉·莱西了，而是关于优步的。想想看那些反对的声音。然而，这一切不会成为问题。为什么？因为没有人会知道是我们做的。
Amel had no idea that the reporter he was talking to, the editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News, had not been told the dinner was off the record, and he was planning to publish Amel's comments. The Buzzfeed story was quickly picked up by The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and a slew of other publications and news outlets.
Amel不知道他正在交谈的记者是Buzzfeed新闻的主编，也不知道晚宴不是“不公开的”，他计划发布Amel的评论。Buzzfeed的报道很快被纽约时报、华尔街日报和大量其他出版物和新闻机构所报道。
Amel Michael, Uber's senior vice president of business in a conversation, he thought was off the record, floated the idea of hiring a team of researchers that would smear members of the press who attacked the ride-sharing company. Uber immediately went into damage control mode. Amel released an apology. Travis took to social media tweeting, Amel's comments at a recent dinner party were terrible and do not represent the company.
Uber公司的高级商务副总裁Amel Michael在一次他认为是不公开的交谈中，提出了雇佣一支研究团队，针对攻击该公司的新闻媒体人进行抹黑。Uber公司立即采取了控制损害模式。Amel发表了道歉声明。Travis在社交媒体上发推文，称Amel最近的晚宴上的评论很可怕，不代表公司。
But right after the Amel Michael story, Buzzfeed dropped another bombshell. Well, it may have a sky high valuation, but Uber still under fire after an executive suggested digging up dirt on journalists who are critical of the company. Uber CEO now trying to make things right, Jolene Kent with the details there.
在Amel Michael的报道之后，Buzzfeed又放出了另一条炸弹新闻。尽管它的估值很高，但Uber仍然受到谴责，因为一名高管暗示要挖掘批评公司的记者的把柄。现在Uber的CEO正在尝试解决这个问题，Jolene Kent会向大家详细说明一下。
Good morning, Joe. Good morning. This is a really incredible story that just keeps on developing. Just one day after Uber told Fox Business it has not and will not investigate journalists. Multiple reports have come out of the car service app has in fact access private travel data of several journalists without their permission. Buzzfeed reports that Josh Moore, the New York General Manager of Uber, monitored their reporter's movement and what is called God mode.
早上好，乔。早上好。这是一个令人难以置信的故事，不断地发展着。就在Uber告诉福克斯商业频道它没有也不会调查记者仅仅一天后，有多份报告出现称这家汽车服务应用程序实际上未经记者许可访问了几名记者的私人旅行数据。Buzzfeed报告称，纽约地区的Uber总经理乔什·摩尔在所谓的上帝模式下监视了他们记者的动向。
God mode or God view as it was also called was an internal company tool that allowed Uber employees to track users without their permission. People were outraged. It wasn't just that Uber had the ability to track its customers. Most people understood that that was inherent to the technology. It was how loose the internal restrictions were. Too many people had access to God view and there was too little oversight.
上帝模式或上帝视角，也称为内部公司工具，允许Uber员工在未经用户许可的情况下跟踪用户。人们感到非常震惊。问题不仅在于Uber有能力跟踪其客户，大多数人理解这是技术所固有的。问题是内部限制太宽松了，太多人可以访问上帝视角，并且监管不足。
Uber tried to manage the fallout. They claimed that God view was prohibited except for legitimate business purposes like helping customers monitoring fraud or assisting drivers. But the damage was done. And still the bad headlines wouldn't stop.
优步试图应对造成的负面影响。他们声称“上帝视角”功能只可以用于合法的业务目的，如帮助客户监控欺诈或协助司机。但是，他们已经造成了损失。尽管如此，不良新闻仍然不断涌现。
In December of 2014, Uber faced another scandal when a driver in New Delhi, India, raped a passenger and threatened to kill her if she went to the police. But the victim did report the driver and he was promptly arrested. The government shut down Uber in New Delhi. Protests broke out in the streets and violence erupted between Uber drivers and local taxi officials who were already furious with Uber.
2014年12月，优步面临又一次丑闻，一名司机在印度新德里强奸了一名乘客，并威胁如果她报警就杀了她。但受害者报了警，司机随即被逮捕。政府关闭了在新德里的优步服务。街头爆发了抗议活动，优步司机和当地出租车官员之间爆发了暴力冲突，他们本来就对优步怒火中烧。
The news of the rape went viral, adding to the public message that Uber didn't care about women. The same tensions between Uber and taxi drivers that sparked violence in India raged in New York City since Uber launched there in May of 2011. Travis likened the conflict to a political campaign.
强奸事件的新闻在网络上疯传，加深了公众的观念——Uber不关心女性。自2011年5月Uber在纽约推出以来，Uber与出租车司机之间激起的紧张局势与印度引发暴力的情况相似。特拉维斯将这种冲突比喻为一场政治竞选。
Uber was the people's candidate. Their opponent was in Travis's words and called the named taxi. Nobody likes him. He's not a nice character. But he's so woven into the political machinery and fabric that a lot of people owe him favors.
Uber是人民的候选人。他们的对手在特拉维斯的话里被称为“有名的出租车”。没有人喜欢他。他不是一个好人。但他与政治机器和制度紧密相连，许多人欠他人情。
One of those people was New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio, a staunch supporter of the New York taxi industry. As taxi operators began to lose control of the New York market, many turned to DeBlasio and their local city council for help.
其中一位人就是纽约市长Bill DeBlasio，他是纽约出租车行业的坚定支持者。随着出租车运营商开始失去对纽约市场的控制，许多人都向DeBlasio和当地市议会求助。
In 2015, Mayor DeBlasio pushed for legislation meant to capsize Uber by limiting the number of vehicles Uber could put on the road. Travis's team on the ground in New York spent millions on a political smear campaign against DeBlasio and his allies. They created a new app feature called DeBlasio View that showed New York writers the long wait times they could expect if DeBlasio succeeded.
2015年，德布拉西奥市长推动了一项法案，旨在通过限制优步上路的车辆数量来颠覆该公司。特拉维斯在纽约的团队花费了数百万美元开展了一场政治攻击战，反对德布拉西奥及其盟友。他们创建了一个名为“德布拉西奥视角”的新应用功能，向纽约的司机展示了如果德布拉西奥获胜，他们可能会面临的长时间等待时间。
Uber staged protests and sent out email blasts encouraging their users to tell their local representatives to leave Uber alone. Ultimately, the public outcry was so severe that DeBlasio backed off. It was a watershed moment for Travis. By besting DeBlasio in the city council, Travis had beaten the most powerful taxi industry in the world, at least for the moment.
优步举行了抗议活动，并发送电子邮件敦促用户告诉当地代表放过优步。最终，公众的反应非常激烈，德布拉西奥退缩了。这是特拉维斯的重要时刻。通过在市议会上击败德布拉西奥，特拉维斯至少在当时战胜了世界上最强大的出租车行业。
Still, the victory in New York gave Travis a win he desperately needed. And for Travis, it was a cause for celebration. In the fall of 2015, Travis threw a week long pass in Las Vegas. The party was called X to the X, meaning 10 to the power of 10, celebrating the $10 billion in total gross ride bookings Uber had just surpassed.
然而，在纽约的胜利给了特拉维斯一个他非常需要的胜利。对于特拉维斯来说，这是一个值得庆祝的原因。2015年秋季，特拉维斯在拉斯维加斯举办了为期一周的聚会。这个聚会被称为X到X，意味着10的10次方，庆祝Uber刚刚超过了100亿美元的总毛利润。
Uber rented hundreds of rooms all along the strip for the thousands of Uber employees who were flown in from all over the world for the all expenses paid celebration. The highlight of the week was a private concert at the Palm Hotel, featuring special musical guests Beyoncé. At the end of her performance, Travis took to the stage and screamed into the microphone that he loved everyone in the room.
为了迎接从世界各地飞来的成千上万名Uber员工参加全费用赞助的庆祝活动，Uber在整条街上租了数百间房间。这星期的亮点是在棕榈酒店举行的私人音乐会，邀请到了特别嘉宾Beyoncé。在她表演结束后，特拉维斯上台大喊他爱房间里的每一个人。
He boasted to the crowd that even Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z had invested in Uber. But what Travis didn't tell his employees from the stage is that he had paid Beyoncé millions in future Uber stock to get her to perform. The X to the X party was expensive, costing Uber $25 million over twice what Bill Gurley had invested back in 2011.
他向观众吹嘘说，连碧昂丝和她的丈夫Jay-Z都在Uber投资。但特拉维斯在舞台上向员工们没有透露的是，他为了让碧昂丝表演，付给她未来价值数百万美元的Uber股票。这场X到X的派对非常昂贵，耗资Uber 2500万美元，是比尔•格利2011年投资的两倍。
In spite of the pushback from the media and online, in Las Vegas, standing next to Beyoncé in front of a massive crowd of Uber Edo's Travis again felt invincible. But the moment would be fleeting. Not long after the X to the X bash, Uber hired a young software engineer who would forever change the trajectory of Uber and of Travis' journey.
尽管媒体和网络上有一些反对声音，但在拉斯维加斯，站在贝约西的身边，面对一大群Uber粉丝的特拉维斯感觉无敌。但这种感觉很快就消失了。在X to the X庆典之后不久，Uber雇用了一位年轻的软件工程师，他将永远改变Uber和特拉维斯之旅的发展轨迹。
Soon after taking the job, the engineer would learn that the stories in the press about Uber's toxic culture were more than just stories. When confronted with what Sarah Lacey called Uber's asshole culture, this engineer would not keep her head now. She would speak up for herself, stand up for women's rights in the workplace and turn Travis' world upside down.
在接受这份工作后不久，这位工程师便会发现媒体所报道的优步有害文化的故事不只是故事而已。当遭遇到所谓它的“混蛋文化”时，这位工程师并不会保持沉默，她会为自己发声，在工作场所维护妇女权益，从而颠覆特拉维斯的世界。
On the next episode of Business Members, software engineer Susan Fowler's Uber Story reveals a systemic problem at the company. It's the first of a series of scandals that further sell Uber's reputation and put CEO Travis Kalinick's personal conduct under the microscope.
在下一期的商业成员节目中，软件工程师苏珊·福勒的Uber经历揭示了公司的系统性问题。这是一系列丑闻中的第一个，进一步损害了Uber的声誉，并将首席执行官特拉维斯·卡林尼克的个人行为置于审视之下。
Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Business Movers Add Free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with 1-3 Plus and Apple Podcasts. There you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wundery.com slash survey.
嗨，Prime会员！您可以在Amazon Music上免费收听《商业巨头》节目，今天下载Amazon Music应用程序，或者您可以在1-3 Plus和Apple Podcasts上无广告地收听。记得填写Wundery.com/survey的简短调查问卷告诉我们有关您自己的情况哦。
From Wundery, this is episode 1 of the Rise and Fall of Uber for Business Movers. A quick note about our dramatizations. In most cases, we can't know everything that happened, but all our dramatizations are based on historical research.
这是由Wundery制作的《Uber商务搬家崛起和衰落》第一集。关于我们的戏剧再现，需要注意的是，在大多数情况下，我们无法掌握所有的细节，但所有的戏剧再现都是基于历史研究的。
If you'd like to learn more about Uber, we recommend Super Pumped, the Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac, Wild Ride, inside Uber's quest for world domination by Adam Lysinski and Whistleblower, my unlikely journey to Silicon Valley, speaking out against injustice by Susan Fowler.
如果您想了解更多关于Uber的信息，我们推荐阅读《超级激动人心：Uber之战》（Mike Isaac所著）、《狂野之旅：Uber的全球征服之路》（Adam Lysinski所著）和《揭秘者：我的硅谷不平等之路》（Susan Fowler所著）。
Business Movers is hosted, edited and executive produced by me Lindsey Graham for Airship, audio editing by Molly Bach, sound design by Derek Barons, music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written and researched by Stephen Walters, edited by Leo Walters. Executive producers are Stephen Walters for Ritual Productions, and Jenny Laurobeckman and Marshall Louis for Wundery.
《商业迁移者》是由我Lindsey Graham主持、编辑和执行制片人，Airship制作的，Molly Bach负责音频编辑，Derek Barons负责声音设计，Lindsey Graham负责音乐。本集节目是由Stephen Walters编写和研究，Leo Walters编辑。执行制片人分别是Ritual Productions的Stephen Walters以及Wundery的Jenny Laurobeckman和Marshall Louis。