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Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber Hardcover – September 3, 2019

4.5 out of 5 stars 2,569 ratings

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New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller

A
New York Times technology correspondent presents the dramatic story of Uber, the Silicon Valley startup at the center of one of the great venture capital power struggles of our time.

In June 2017, Travis Kalanick, the hard-charging CEO of Uber, was ousted in a boardroom coup that capped a brutal year for the transportation giant. Uber had catapulted to the top of the tech world, yet for many came to symbolize everything wrong with Silicon Valley.

Award-winning New York Times technology correspondent Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped presents the dramatic rise and fall of Uber, set against an era of rapid upheaval in Silicon Valley. Backed by billions in venture capital dollars and led by a brash and ambitious founder, Uber promised to revolutionize the way we move people and goods through the world. A near instant “unicorn,” Uber seemed poised to take its place next to Amazon, Apple, and Google as a technology giant.

What followed would become a corporate cautionary tale about the perils of startup culture and a vivid example of how blind worship of startup founders can go wildly wrong. Isaac recounts Uber’s pitched battles with taxi unions and drivers, the company’s toxic internal culture, and the bare-knuckle tactics it devised to overcome obstacles in its quest for dominance. With billions of dollars at stake, Isaac shows how venture capitalists asserted their power and seized control of the startup as it fought its way toward its fateful IPO.

Based on hundreds of interviews with current and former Uber employees, along with previously unpublished documents, Super Pumped is a page-turning story of ambition and deception, obscene wealth, and bad behavior that explores how blistering technological and financial innovation culminated in one of the most catastrophic twelve-month periods in American corporate history.

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From the Publisher

Super Pumped Mike Isaac Best Book of the Month September 2019

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of September 2019: Love it or hate it, Uber changed the way we use transportation in the U.S. and beyond. The story of this Silicon Valley start-up and its maverick founder Travis Kalanick is utterly riveting, and in Super Pumped author Mike Isaac gives readers an insider’s view of the stunning highs and catastrophic lows of what Isaac calls one of the first mobile unicorns. Through a combination of rapid-fire technological advances and hubris, Uber not only challenged an antiquated system, they delivered it a death blow that has had profound repercussions. The abhorrent behavior, cut-throat mentality, and frat-boy corporate culture within Uber may make you question how it became such a success, but this was also a power structure founded on remarkable creativity, innovation, and tenacity. Kalanick was a master of manipulation and deception during his reign at Uber, and it’s fascinating to see the machinations and greed that were ultimately his downfall. Once again, Uber is making headlines, and Super Pumped gives readers the jump on some of the backroom dealings that are now coming to light. A masterful work of investigative journalism perfect for readers who were captivated by Bad Blood, Mike Isaac’s book is a wild ride that you won’t want to miss. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Book Review

Review

“The tale of Uber, the queen of the so-called ‘unicorns,’ is a parable about power―and the lengths to which some startup founders will go to amass it and hold onto it. Aside from being a delicious read, Mike Isaac’s account is also teeming with new revelations that will shock and outrage you.”
-
John Carreyrou, author of Bad Blood

“[Isaac’s] meticulously reported account of Uber’s trajectory avoids the easy paths.”
-
Nitasha Tiku, WIRED

“Isaac is great at the ticktock of events as they unfold, but his best work comes when he steps back to examine the bigger picture.”
-
Leslie Berlin, New York Times Book Review

“[Isaac] spins a compelling yarn. . . [
Super Pumped] is no dry business profile but a tale that Isaac has deeply reported yet still made accessible.”
-
William Nottingham, Los Angeles Times

“A devastating expose.”
-
John Arlidge, The Times

“The first thing to know about Mike Isaac’s new book is that it’s wildly entertaining. But it’s also a very important read, because Isaac shows how Uber’s messy inner workings and dramatic power struggles have made a company that, for better and worse, is now part of the fabric of modern life.”
-
Bethany McLean, author of The Smartest Guys in the Room

“Travis Kalanick changed an entire industry, made billions of dollars, and made a company into a verb, and he did so by destroying anything and anyone who stepped in his way. A riveting read about bro culture gone awry.”
-
Nick Bilton, special correspondent, Vanity Fair

“A gripping, masterfully reported book that offers an essential window into what can go wrong with Silicon Valley’s growth-at-any-cost culture.”
-
Sheelah Kolhatkar, author of Black Edge

“Reading more like a soap opera than a business book. . .
Super Pumped goes beyond the business profile to reveal something deeper and darker. The Uber of Super Pumped―most likely still the Uber of today―is not just a business; it’s a Beast.”
-
B. David Zarley, Paste

“A detailed, unsparing account of entrepreneurial arrogance, breathtaking excess, and cutthroat competition at one of the tech industry’s most vaunted, loathed, and socially transformative companies. In tracking Uber’s turbulent trajectory and Kalanick’s eventual fall from grace, Mike Isaac illuminates―and indicts―some of the business practices, cultural values, and mythologies shaping our new social infrastructure.”
-
Anna Wiener, author of Uncanny Valley

“[R]ollickingly entertaining.”
-
Edward Niedermeyer, The Drive

“Many people have an Uber story – this is
the Uber story, and it’s a corporate nightmare. Once poised to take its place beside Amazon, Facebook and Google as a blue-chip tech giant, Uber’s disastrous IPO was the result of ruthless ambition, misconduct and billions of dollars gone awry.”
-
Newsday

“[E]xpansive and lucid. …the definitive Uber book.”
-
Noah Kulwin, The Baffler

“Mike Isaac’s new book about Uber provides many lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, technologists and elected officials, and for society as a whole.”
-
Dylan Schleicher, Porchlight Books

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 3, 2019
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 408 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393652246
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393652246
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 2,569 ratings

About the author

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Mike Isaac
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Mike Isaac is a technology reporter at the New York Times whose Uber coverage won the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business reporting. He writes frequently about Uber, Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants for the Times, and appears often on CNBC and MSNBC. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
2,569 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be a gripping read with detailed storytelling and easy-to-read writing style. Moreover, the book provides valuable insights into the company, with one customer noting it's particularly relevant in the era of tech billionaires. Additionally, customers appreciate its entertainment value, with one describing it as a non-stop thrill ride. However, the pacing receives mixed reactions, with some finding it fast-paced while others note it's a long read.

54 customers mention "Readability"48 positive6 negative

Customers find the book readable and important, with one describing it as an intense read.

"Halfway through and yes, it's quite remarkable. It is like the author was hiding behind doorways in some conversations...." Read more

"Mike Isaac's Super Pumped on Uber is an overall good first effort from the NYT journalist, although it doesn't live up to the high watermark set by..." Read more

"I just finished reading an excellent new book that was just released last week...." Read more

"...So not sure I have an unbiased way of reading this excellent book...." Read more

46 customers mention "Storytelling"41 positive5 negative

Customers find the book's storytelling engaging and gripping, with detailed coverage of the Uber saga.

"...Isaac is without a doubt a stellar reporter, having unearthed a number of details I did not know from previous coverage of the (in)famous Silicon..." Read more

"...It’s the complete inside story of Uber from it’s earliest beginnings all the way up to and including the ouster and replacement of its founder and..." Read more

"...down Silicon Valley culture, vernacular, and history that was crucial to understanding the story...." Read more

"...The story as it's told is quite compelling-- it cobbles together interviews with VCs, current and former employees, allies as well as adversaries..." Read more

38 customers mention "Writing quality"30 positive8 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, noting that it reads like a novel and is easy to read.

"...The writing is also very good -- fast reading and I'm finding myself obsessed with this story...." Read more

"...It is one of the best written and thoroughly researched books about the technology world that I have read...." Read more

"...Engaging and well written and clearly exceptionally well sourced...." Read more

"...My biggest gripe is that it's rife with odd factual and narrative errors. A lot of these things are easy to find via a cursory Google search...." Read more

20 customers mention "Entertainment value"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly entertaining and engaging, with one describing it as a non-stop thrill ride.

"...haven't seen all of it, I think it feels fair and even-handed, not over-sensational...." Read more

"...Engaging and well written and clearly exceptionally well sourced...." Read more

"...This entertaining book gives valuable insight into how the company was created and run, with Travis Kalanick at the center of all major decisions,..." Read more

"...It is a non-stop thrill ride that really brings you into the boardroom and how ego turned endangered the hottest company of the last decade...." Read more

17 customers mention "Insight"17 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly insightful, appreciating its thorough research and how it provides valuable insights into the company, with one customer noting that nothing is unexplained or lacking in context.

"...Nothing is ever unexplained or lacking in context...." Read more

"...It contains some interesting information about the story of Uber but fails at being an enjoyable read...." Read more

"...I definitely got some interesting insights into the company...." Read more

"...The background and context was just the right amount of info to really give insight into the people involved...." Read more

10 customers mention "Investment value"7 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's investment value, with one customer highlighting the significant profit margins and another noting its relevance in the era of tech billionaires.

"...anyone interested in the Silicon Valley world of startups, big money venture capital, technology, rampant arrogance and all things excess...." Read more

"...All this turned out well for the venture capital funds because they were able to unload the stock in the public markets...." Read more

"...saddened the the problems will not go away because there's too much money sloshing around looking for the next big thing, with investors all FOMO..." Read more

"...Most of the informations I found there, although very valuable, appeared to me to be publicly available...." Read more

9 customers mention "Look"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's well-researched and detailed look at Uber, with one customer noting its unique perspective on Silicon Valley.

"Super fascinating look into a company I thought I knew about. The book was very readable and enjoyable...." Read more

"A fascinating and well researched inside look into the world of one of Silicon Valley's most successful companies, its visionary and controversial..." Read more

"...The story of Uber and Travis Kalanick are unique and profoundly interesting at every step." Read more

"Unusual look behind the scenes at the SV venture world. Lots of key players interviewed. Fascinating!" Read more

15 customers mention "Pacing"10 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it a fast-paced read while others note it is unnecessarily lengthy.

"...The writing is also very good -- fast reading and I'm finding myself obsessed with this story...." Read more

"...It is focused on the personalities and doesn't spend considerable time on the business of Uber...." Read more

"...The book provides a good portrait of Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, and the early days of Uber...." Read more

"...The book is un-put-downable, and he moves things quickly but without losing sight of the underlying themes...." Read more

Unfair
5 out of 5 stars
Unfair
Superpumped – one word not two. A space between the words in this key term implies a micro-second pause. There is no pause in superpumped; the entire vision-concept-process-actuality is one of relentless motion – no pause involved – the absence of pause became the poison. This book is a hatchet-job on UBER founder, driving force Travis Kalanick. Mike Isaac fails to make the obvious distinction here between the always messy business of pioneering (killing, displacing, insulting natives, bushwhacking, tree-felling, rule-breaking, back-breaking, mind-numbing labor, and its accompanying rude celebrations) and the more civilized business of garden variety “civilized” (human resource department infused) cannibal capitalism. Isaac diminishes the status of this ocean of nasty grunt-work norm violations on all levels from the team meeting to the mean streets of Bangalore. In Superpumped Isaac under-appreciates the natural chaos at the interface of two different paradigms (see: Kuhn-The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). This book is saturated with namby-pamby schadenfreude, a smug glee is radiated as Kalanick’s brutally effective methods lose their meaning as the nature of his corporate zeit is transformed by his towering success. For its first seven years UBER wrecked the livelihood of 100,000 taxi drivers all over the world. UBER shattered administrative norms for local transportation regulation. UBER was a colossal bad karma generator on its rocky road to multi-billion dollar valuation and necessarily so. The UBER paradigm-interface chaos was natural and this behavior has been vilified, diminished, criticized only by those ignorant of much of evolution (see: Darwin “bloody in tooth and claw”). Change creates winners and losers. That Kalanick did not immediately change his stripes and or step down after UBER achieved a civilized balance has annoyed so many thanks to USA press feeding frenzy. Mike Isaac reveals himself to be the 20-20 hindsight guy who, in the warm embrace of his regular job and his bi-monthly paycheck, holds Kalanick to a set of “Values of the Second Wave”. The second wave comprising those who profit from the brutal pioneers. So f’ing what if Southeast Asian UBER execs took a hooker home after a night on the town in Seoul! Or if a supervisor made an inappropriate remark to a female employee or marginalized her in a meeting! This is trivial bullsh*t in light of the battles being fought during wartime, when your company is getting hate mail from all corners of the globe and your driver’s lives are threatened daily, when your daily “routine” for years has you up to your ass in alligators. It is common knowledge in Silicon Valley that a visionary founder has a powerful, disruptive, but effective mindset. Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were raging a**holes in their day. These folks are notoriously difficult to tame once the intense drama surrounding a white- hot start-up subsides, Travis Kalanick fits this template for initial success to a capital T – no surprise here. Why trash a man, as Isaac has done in Superpumped, by framing a natural transition in brutally negative, demeaning terms? Mike Isaac is a sideline-hugging pot-stirrer with little expressed sympathy for the overall process of paradigm-shattering work and its natural transition into civilized stasis after the messy, dirty work is accomplished. That said- hats off to Isaac for doing the hard work of reporting this informative, entertaining, beautifully edited page turner. Unfortunate that Isaac has taken sides here with the second-wave establishment. Hey! If a man works 80 hours a week, seven days a week for eight years is it a crime to relax on a yacht for a few weeks without the insinuation that there is a lounging playboy in the room? Mike Isaac owes Travis Kalanick an apology for taking sides rather than simply doing his job of reporting. Let the namby pambys take sides. Perhaps I do not get Isaac’s broad intention. Is this a book full of dog-whistle admiration disguised as an act of cutting down a very tall poppy? Isaac does the work of a good Christian as he pounds down the protruding nail. Bottom line: Travis Kalanick did his job of trailblazing as he built a company from scratch AND his board of directors did THEIR job in removing him after his job as start-up “booster rocket” was complete. This process is all UBER-normal. No bad actors in the room.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2019
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Halfway through and yes, it's quite remarkable. It is like the author was hiding behind doorways in some conversations.
    So far, and admittedly I haven't seen all of it, I think it feels fair and even-handed, not over-sensational.
    The writing is also very good -- fast reading and I'm finding myself obsessed with this story.
    Hard not to compare it to Bad Blood, equally juicy. The difference is that we all saw this -- we were all riding Ubers and loving the convenience and celebrating the fact that is has transformed urban transportation.
    And we all knew someone who worked there and hated the culture -- but who wanted to stay to cash out.

    Will update more in a day or two, with more thoughts and details.

    UPDATE: <100 pages to go
    I am obsessed with this book and the story. I find it so amazing that such a large, transformative company was run just so poorly. I'm at the point where Bad Boy Travis is taking a break from the company -- and I do feel sorry for him, up to a point. I don't feel sorry for the enablers -- some whom I think Isaac let off pretty lightly. In fact, many of the characters he describes show up (at least up to this point) as quite admirable, such as the CTO Thuan Pham, among others.
    I cannot wait to talk about this book with friends and observers. I am less sanguine that it cannot happen again, and again and again, because the whole startup/crazy money chasing the next big thing/bro culture has no reason to change.

    UPDATE: finished the book and just raced through toward the end. I think everyone interested in startups/disruption and tech in general should read this book, for what it says about the whole cycle of money-funding-new-ideas.
    Was riveted by the ins and outs of Benchmark's actions and how one of the most founder-friendly firms in Silicon Valley, could push out a CEO who controls the shares and the board!
    Yes, I loved reading the book but am saddened the the problems will not go away because there's too much money sloshing around looking for the next big thing, with investors all FOMO about the next bro startup. Kalanick, who Mike Isaac described as having a philosophy of "Ayn Rand meets Wolf of Wall Street," is part of the system, not an outlier. Susan Fower's "very strange year" at Uber is happening again in firms all over, venture firms are ignoring women founders, and tools like AI propogate the same old ideas. Sigh.
    Still, it's great to dissect how this very visible company jumped the shark, and keep the conversation going about how Silicon Valley, innovators, and investors can do much, much better.
    OK, sermon over.
    Thanks for reading.
    59 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Mike Isaac's Super Pumped on Uber is an overall good first effort from the NYT journalist, although it doesn't live up to the high watermark set by John Carreyrou's Bad Blood on Theranos.

    Super Pumped truly shines in its later chapters: Isaac's blow-by-blow coverage of Uber founder Travis Kalanick's ouster kept me on the edge of my seat, as did his description of the successor CEO selection process. Isaac is without a doubt a stellar reporter, having unearthed a number of details I did not know from previous coverage of the (in)famous Silicon Valley company. He is thorough with the scoops and maintains a consistent voice throughout.

    The things I liked less about Super Pumped could all be ascribed to the fact that Isaac struggles somewhat in making the transition from writing newspaper articles to writing a book. The beginning and ending chapters are linear, resulting in a smooth story. The middle chapters' timeline doesn't follow the same path, resulting in a more confusing narrative as there is a lot going on: Uber's growth in cities, outside the US, as well as its challenges. 

    At times, Isaac is more concerned about highlighting how the journalistic scoop unfolded rather than zooming in on the actual story. Additionally, Isaac's providing a few sentences on background is perfectly acceptable for a newspaper article, but seems "jumpy" in a book. For instance, we've already been introduced to Plouffe (Uber's political strategist) in the prologue, no need to reiterate his resume in Chapter 12 - it's just an unnecessary "break" in the story.

    Other nits to pick: Isaac mentions that the term "unicorn" was coined in 2013 by a venture capitalist, but doesn't call out that venture capitalist’s name (Aileen Lee) - a bummer for a book where the treatment of women in tech is a prominent subject. Also, I occasionally scratched my head at the author's apparent obsession with people's height. Few of the characters escaped a comment on that topic, even when it seemed irrelevant to their story (with the exception of Bill Gurley, of course).

    I'm grateful for the read though, not least because it ends on what I think is an optimistic note. Isaac shows us glimpses of the seeds of redemption for Kalanick. I'm hopeful one day I'll read the book on that story too.  
    40 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I just finished reading an excellent new book that was just released last week. It is one of the best written and thoroughly researched books about the technology world that I have read.

    It’s the complete inside story of Uber from it’s earliest beginnings all the way up to and including the ouster and replacement of its founder and egocentric CEO Travis Kalanick and how the company he started came perilously close to going down in flames and for which the jury is still out.

    I really enjoyed this book and would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in the Silicon Valley world of startups, big money venture capital, technology, rampant arrogance and all things excess. The author, Mike Isaac, is a senior technical reporter for the New York Times who has closely followed and written hundreds of articles about Uber since 2014.

    This is a GREAT read!!!👍👍👍👍👍
    7 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    A shocking to me number of people named in this book are folks I know from having been in SF and Silicon Valley since 2005. So not sure I have an unbiased way of reading this excellent book. But biased as I am (towards the camp that Uber represents a lot of bad patterns) this book was a fantastic read. Engaging and well written and clearly exceptionally well sourced.

    The story is far from over but ending just after the IPO is as good a place as any - though I anticipate that there may need to be further updates/postscripts added to future editions of this book. Editions which I’m confident will likely be needed as this book should be part of a library of books recommended to anyone building or considering working at a startup.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Neshan Dias, CEO Bhoozt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant - even if you know the story
    Reviewed in Australia on October 3, 2023
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    From an ex tech journo, who has read every book on the Valley and knew the Uber story before reading this, the book can br sumed up in one word: brilliant.

    You won't put it down once you start. Amazing story, told well. Super pumped. Respect.
  • Shawne Mohl
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read if you like reading about Silicon Valley
    Reviewed in Canada on September 22, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I really enjoy true story books. For some reason I cannot get into "make belief" stories, so I enjoyed this book for that reason along with a few others. The start-up World of Silicon Valley is cut throat and this book explains exactly what into the making of Uber, and primarily about it's founder. Uber is a huge success but it could have failed at a few different points, so made it interesting to learn about thing - a lot of things I never knew about the company. The author is a journalist as well, so he writes a good read that is easy to follow, he explains things well, and it's a solid read. I would recommend this book if you like reading about true events and tech start-ups.
  • Sérgio Augusto Gazzola
    5.0 out of 5 stars Vale por um MBA sobre startups
    Reviewed in Brazil on May 6, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Narrativa completa e abrangente sobre tudo que envolve uma startup - concretização da ideia, empreendedores, investidores e relação com a sociedade. Imperdível para quem quer entender esse mundo
    Report
  • Mr Dibyasingha Parija
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best choice to read
    Reviewed in India on October 28, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    "I found [super pumped] by Mike Isaac to be a fantastic read! The book was both informative and inspiring, filled with useful insights that can be applied in real life. Ubers’s journey and innovative ideas are well-captured. ''
  • Luke software developer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well written detailed factual account of a start up that went global. Strongly recommended
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 25, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Professionally written and a superb, engrossing story. It follows the initial start up and evolution of the idea from an elite limousine service to one where anyone with a car can become a taxi driver. The use of ex spies to identify potential law enforcement officials and then the development and use of the 'grey ball' software to evade them is breathtaking. The negotiations with venture capitalists are instructive. The use and misuse of customer data is an important case study. The denouement where CEO Travis is forced out is riveting and instructive about corporate governance. Travis leaves with $5 billion after 8 years work but casualties along the way.