Notes from my 2012 Interview with Lyft Co-Founder, Logan Green
Mar 29, 2019Back before Lyft was a household name I was working on an article for VentureBeat about the sharing economy. I had the pleasure of interviewing Lyft’s co-founder, Logan Green, for it and thought it might be fun to dig up my notes given their IPO today.
Here they are:
In the process of launching in LA and Seattle right now.
For American households transportation is about 20% of their yearly income; this is second only to housing. The cost of operating a car in the US is about $8,500, and many Lyft drivers can make enough to, at least, cover the cost of their vehicle.
Based on their research, it looks like many of their drivers are working Lyft on the side for a different type of human interaction. One driver is a preschool teacher and drives a couple of times a week to get some adult interaction. Another is a Ph.D. that wants to get out of his highly intellectual environment and meet interesting people.
The net-net is that the shared economy isn’t just about making an extra dollar with idle resources; it’s about being part of a sharing community. It’s a retreat from the computer screen and a new type of technology-enabled social experiment.
“What’s interesting about the sharing community is it represents a new wave, in the tidal wave of new ways, to meet new people. Wither it’s in someone’s house on an Airbnb or a next to someone in a Lyft.” — Logan Green
For American households transportation is about 20% of their yearly income; this is second only to housing. The cost of operating a car in the US is about $8,500, and many Lyft drivers can make enough to, at least, cover the cost of their vehicle.
Based on their research, it looks like many of their drivers are working Lyft on the side for a different type of human interaction. One driver is a preschool teacher and drives a couple of times a week to get some adult interaction. Another is a Ph.D. that wants to get out of his highly intellectual environment and meet interesting people.
The net-net is that the shared economy isn’t just about making an extra dollar with idle resources; it’s about being part of a sharing community. It’s a retreat from the computer screen and a new type of technology-enabled social experiment.
“What’s interesting about the sharing community is it represents a new wave, in the tidal wave of new ways, to meet new people. Wither it’s in someone’s house on an Airbnb or a next to someone in a Lyft.” — Logan Green
