Top Silicon Valley Investor Explains How Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Is Like Jeff Bezos
YouTubeBill Gurley, an early investor in Uber and a general partner at VC firm Benchmark Capital, says Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick is most similar to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
"If I looked along a vector, he's most like Bezos. And I would say that the business is most like Amazon. It's not a Facebook. It's an operational intensive business," he told Bloomberg's Emily Chang on Wednesday.
Gurley also said the thing Kalanick is best at - and something that makes him like Bezos - is recruiting talent.
"I find him to be most like Jeff. The thing that's least well-understood about Travis is he is an insanely good recruiter. Jeff was always going into Walmart and getting their CIO - just going in and getting the best people he possibly can. And that's what Travis has done."
This year alone, Uber has added some impressive people to its roster. David Plouffe, Obama's 2008 presidential campaign manager, was hired in August to oversee Uber's city-by-city expansion. He serves as senior vice president of policy and strategy.
In October, Uber hired former Lyft COO Travis VanderZanden in October to help oversee Uber's international growth. And in November, the company hired Brad Moore, who was responsible for bringing Apple Maps to the iPhone and Apple Watch. He serves as the engineering manager for the "Mobile Core Experience," according to his LinkedIn page. Uber also hired Lyft's former vice president of operations, Steve Schnell.
You can watch the full video clip below:
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.
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