Uber pitch deck (2008)
Uber's 2008 pitch deck is Garrett Camp's first UberCab deck, written for a seed round before the app existed. It pitches an invite-only black car service you book from your phone in San Francisco and New York. Founders read the Uber pitch deck because it shows how a big company looked when it was only a plan, a list of cities and a few ideas.
- Company
- Uber
- Year
- 2008
- Round
- Seed
- Slides
- 25
Deck © Uber. Shared for learning, credited to medium.com.
What's in the Uber pitch deck
All 25 slides, in order.
Slide 1 · Cover
UberCab, next-generation car service, with a black Mercedes between an iPhone and a BlackBerry.
Slide 2 · Cabs in 2008
Cabs use old tech like radio dispatch and 14mpg Crown Victorias, hailing is by hand or phone, and there is no GPS link between rider and driver.
Slide 3 · Medallion System
Taxi monopolies hurt service, medallions cost about $500k while drivers make $31k, and a digital hail can make the street hail unnecessary.
Slide 4 · UberCab Concept
A fast on-demand car service for professionals in American cities, with automated dispatch, called the NetJets of car services.
Slide 5 · 1-Click Car Service
Members only and never hailed from the street, so no medallion is needed, with guaranteed pickup and an app that matches rider and driver with photos.
Slide 6 · Key Differentiators
Members only, one-click hailing, fast response, Mercedes sedans, driver ratings, geo-aware auto-dispatch and an optimized fleet.
Slide 7 · Operating Principles
Luxury on demand, a fuel-efficient fleet, computer-coordinated service, cashless billing, and profitable by design.
Slide 8 · UberCab Apps
One-click requests from location-aware phones, or an SMS from any phone like pickup @work in 5.
Slide 9 · UberCab.com
A website to book trips, see fleet status and trip history, and save labeled pickup locations with Google Maps.
Slide 10 · Use Cases
Nights out, short trips where parking is hard, airport runs, commuting with wifi, school drop-offs and elderly transport.
Slide 11 · User Benefits
Cabs can take 45 minutes and car services need 1 to 3 hours notice and average over $60, so UberCab would be faster and cheaper than a limo but nicer than a taxi.
Slide 12 · Environmental Benefits
In NYC cabs spend 35% of their time looking for fares, and hybrids plus ridesharing would cut waste.
Slide 13 · Fleet
Mercedes S550 for San Francisco beta clients and Lexus hybrids as standard, against 14 to 16 mpg for existing fleets.
Slide 14 · Initial Service Area
A map of central San Francisco to start, with Manhattan soon after.
Slide 15 · Technology
Apps for iPhone, BlackBerry and Symbian, route optimization, payment and reputation tracking, and a patent-pending design.
Slide 16 · Demand Forecasting
Cars wait in positions that minimize expected pickup time based on hour of week, weather and traffic.
Slide 17 · Overall Market
US taxi and limo service is $4.2B a year and the top 4 players hold only 22% of revenue.
Slide 18 · Market Composition
A pie chart of the 2007 market split by retail, business and airport trips, with the focus on urban on-demand service.
Slide 19 · Target Cities
Start in SF and NYC, then LA, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Dallas, which together cover half the US market.
Slide 20 · Potential Outcomes
Best case $1B+ in yearly revenue, realistic case 5% of the top 5 US cities and $20 to 30M+ profit a year, worst case a 10-car service in SF.
Slide 21 · Smartphones 2008
Charts of smartphone requests by operating system and manufacturer share by region as of August 2008.
Slide 22 · Future Optimizations
Used and hybrid cars, better GPS, and pricing where get here now costs more than tomorrow at 5pm.
Slide 23 · Marketing Ideas
Become the premium cab brand, invite-only referrals from members, and slogans like the one-click cab.
Slide 24 · Location-Based Service
Reuse the system for other location-based services like delivery, in an industry said to reach $3.5B by 2010.
Slide 25 · Progress to Date
Domain and SMS code reserved, LLC and trademark filed, provisional patent, 5 advisors and 15 clients, and next steps to buy 3 cars, build the app and demo by February 1st.
What the Uber deck does well
- Slides 2 and 3 explain why taxis are bad with hard numbers, a 14mpg car and a $500k medallion next to a $31k driver salary.
- Slide 20 gives a best, realistic and worst case, which tells investors the founder has thought about how it could go wrong.
- Slide 25 lists small concrete steps already done and the exact next milestones, which makes a pre-product idea feel real.
What founders can learn from it
- You can pitch before you have a product if you show clear progress, a first city, and what you will do with the money next.
- Explain the rule or cost that makes the current market bad, the way UberCab used the medallion system, so the opening is obvious.
- Cut the extras, since slides on fleet, environment and side markets add length without making the core case stronger.
Questions about the Uber pitch deck
- How many slides are in the Uber pitch deck?
- The first UberCab pitch deck from 2008 has 25 slides.
- What's in the Uber pitch deck?
- It covers the problem with cabs and medallions, the UberCab concept, how the app and website work, use cases, user and environmental benefits, the fleet, technology, market size, target cities, possible outcomes, marketing ideas and progress to date.
- Can I download the Uber pitch deck?
- Yes. The full UberCab pitch deck is free to download as a PDF on this page.
- What was Uber called in its first pitch deck?
- It was called UberCab. The deck pitches an invite-only black car service booked from a phone, starting in San Francisco and New York.
- What market size did the Uber pitch deck claim?
- Slide 17 puts the US taxi and limousine market at $4.2B a year, with the top 4 players holding only 22% of revenue.
Get your deck reviewed the same way.
Comments on every slide, the words to change highlighted, and the 3 fixes that matter.
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