Uber shares a rather tumultuous relationship with Medium. Indeed after ex-employee Susan Fowler’s post which set a wholly unforeseen chain of events into motion, it is but natural to go extra cautious when a Medium post mentions the word Uber. However, Uber co-founder Garret Camp has recently published a Medium post, in which he expresses his thoughts over the recent happenings at the company he helped establish.
Stating that the recent events had left him “deeply reflective”, Camp called the recent issues plaguing the cab aggregator as part of its growing pains.
In the post, Camp said:
All companies have growing pains. And because Uber grew so fast these growing pains are much more serious. Over the years we have neglected parts of our culture as we have focused on growth. We have failed to build some of the systems that every company needs to scale successfully. But what matters now is that we know what needs to be changed. We must update our core values, listen better to employees and riders, and prioritize our drivers.
Camp is probably the Mike to Kalanick’s Tyson –those who watched Bayblade know what I am talking about, He has always been behind the scenes however, he has been at least as active as Kalanick, doing his own stuff. He is also a highly regarded and capable entrepreneur and following Kalanick’s temporary leave of absence, he was also expected to lead the ab aggregator from the forefront.
However, for whatever reasons, that did not happen. Instead, Kalanick took a temporary leave of absence which seems more like part of a calculated move to quell the hullabaloo surrounding him and to prevent his rather tarnished image from harming the firm — and vice versa. Instead, he has gone on a temporary leave of absence stating that the company will be run through his directive in his absence.
While Camp steered well clear of some of the most controversial topics including sexual harassment or a toxic work environment, he did express his belief in the cab aggregator, and that it will be able to succeed and have much more of an impact on the world.
As for how correct is his intuition, remains to be seen.
