uberPOOL+ Product Cycleby Brian HaOctober 19, 2015

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Agenda

● Selecting a Product● Brainstorming● Opportunity Assessments● Top Feature Description and Wireframes● Launch Plans/Analysis

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Selecting a Product

What Uber feature/product has been brought to market that you think has a lot of potential but has not achieved it yet?

● uberX and uberBlack have already proved to be successful and scalable.

● Let’s consider uberPOOL, UberEATS, UberRUSH, and Uber for Business.

● How do we decide the top product that has the most unachieved potential?

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Why uberPOOL?

Company mission: “Transportation as reliable as running water everywhere and for everyone.”

TK’s vision: Making “car ownership a thing of the past.”

Which product has the best potential to provide transportation for everyone and do away with car ownership?

A: uberPOOL!

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Why not other products?

UberEATS:

● Currently limited to small areas of certain cities● Currently only available for lunch in the majority of cities● Faces broad competition from many food delivery services and startups

UberRUSH:

● Newly launched in San Francisco and Chicago, so not enough data to make an informed decision

Uber for Business:

● The target market is restricted to businesses versus everyone● Uber for Business can be combined with uberPOOL (this will be explored

later)

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Why uberPOOL? - part 2

How has uberPOOL not achieved its potential?

● uberPOOL is not as profitable as the rest of company offerings, according to TK1

● From my research: one of uberPOOL’s biggest problems is not having enough users○ This is an issue especially with uberPOOL’s guaranteed

reduced fare. Uber is making a bet and losing!

6[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt8L8WSSr1g

Brainstorming

From the previous slide, we’ve established revenue and the number of riders as two metrics we want to increase for uberPOOL.

These will inherently improve if we introduce a feature that helps uberPOOL cater better to user groups’ needs.

There are 2 main user groups right now: riders and drivers (I will further break down the “riders” group in my final proposed feature, uberPOOL+).

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Overall User Goals

Let’s now think of overall user goals for uberPOOL and the overall Uber product for these 2 audience groups.

Riders:

1. Improve experience (can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively)○ Primarily includes safety and comfort

2. Decrease cost per ride3. Increase efficiency in getting from point A to point B

Drivers:

1. Increase earnings2. Increase amount of riders3. Decrease amount of time between rides

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Does uberPOOL meet these user goals?

In short, uberPOOL aims to improve cost for riders.

But I argue that it does so at the expense of

1. Rider experience2. Efficiency3. Uber’s earnings1

To sum it up, here is an interview with a frequent rider: “I don’t like uberPOOL very much, because of waiting more time. And it’s kinda awkward getting picked up with another random in the car. And you don’t save that much.”

So what potential features are there for uberPOOL?

9[1] Note: We will address this point and other company/product goals more in the Opportunity Assessments and Launch Plans/Analysis sections.

1) UberSwipe

After riding in an uberPOOL, the riders have the option to swipe left or right on other riders’ profiles. If they both swipe right, they match and receive each other’s emails. This encourages Uber as a social platform.

Precedents:

● Manual service: http://www.doyouwanttogetdrinks.com/● Dating happens already without a service: http://recode.

net/2015/09/03/cruising-the-carpool-are-lyft-line-and-uberpool-the-new-tinder/

Goals met: improve rider experience; maybe increase Uber’s earnings via premium feature

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2) Enhanced Rider Ratings

Consists of 2 subfeatures:

● Co-riders in uberPOOLs can rate each other● Both drivers and co-riders in uberPOOLs can pick from a list of

keywords when rating riders - examples are: “polite”, “punctual”, “late”, “drunk”, “strange”, “offensive”, “rude”, etc.

These both allow for better filtering of riders.

Goals met: increase overall rider experience

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3) uberPOOL+

Riders create profiles similar to Coffee Meets Bagel1 and Weave2 with their

personal and professional traits, and can select general preferences for co-riders on uberPOOL.

For a price between uberPOOL and uberX’s, Uber matches the rider with co-riders according to his/her preferences for a rider-defined uberPOOL experience. The true value of this option lies in potential business networking, dating, and general ride comfort/safety.

Precedent:

● Riding with VCs: https://newsroom.uber.com/india/2015/08/gear-up-to-uberpitch-your-ideas/

Goals met: increase rider experience, increase driver earnings, increase amount of riders

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4) uberPOOL for Business

This feature applies when several coworkers live along a path from one coworker’s residence to the company. The coworkers can join a group and have a saved uberPOOL route for a driver to follow every day. There should be an option for riders to opt out on any given ride (ex. Joe is sick so we’ll opt out of his stop today).

Inspiration: UberCommute, Ola Share1

Goals met: increase rider experience, increase driver earnings, increase amount of riders

13[1] http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/ola-launches-social-ride-sharing-feature-in-bengaluru-751778

5) uberPhotobooth

Take a picture of the riders and driver like so: http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/6a3d8cab-3381-4cd6-905f-adfbb7098dac/9d8886a4-74d7-49d0-a509-285e122907a2.gif and send a copy to everyone involved! There could be an integration with Instagram that allows riders to easily post the picture there.

Goals met: increase rider experience for certain rider audiences

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6) uberGames

The riders have the option to play sponsored mobile games (from EA for example) together in the Uber app, that has subtly placed advertisements to increase Uber’s profits.

Ideally the game would be fun enough to increase happiness levels and encourage social activity between riders.

Goals met: increase rider experience, increase Uber’s earnings via ad commission

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Opportunity Assessments

Judging by the amount of goals met, the top 2 brainstorm ideas are uberPOOL+ and uberPOOL for Business.

Let’s complete an opportunity assessment for each proposed feature.

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uberPOOL+ Opportunity AssessmentValue Proposition: uberPOOL+ riders can take an Uber with co-riders according to their own preferences. Some may take advantage of the opportunity to socialize with riders from a specific background, perhaps for business networking or for dating. Others may seek a sense of safety and familiarity. Rider experience will be maximized while still cheaper than uberX.

Target Market:

● Riders, which can be split into several distinct subgroups:○ Women: may want to ride with other women to avoid creepy or

dangerous men○ Professionals: can choose co-riders from similar professions to

network and form valuable connections○ Singles: can choose to meet other singles according to personality

traits● Drivers, who will earn slightly more because of the premium charge (the

rest goes to Uber).17

uberPOOL+ Opportunity Assessment

Market Size: According to http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2015/08/18/inside-lyfts-and-ubers-carpooling-quest-uberpool-lyft-line/ - in August 2015, 50 percent of Uber SF rides were still not on uberPOOL.

uberPOOL+ will capture some of that market share as well as uberPOOL’s.

Marketing of uberPOOL+ as a social interaction platform will also interest non-regular Uber users.

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uberPOOL+ Opportunity Assessment

Competitive Landscape/Risk Assessment: OlaCabs in India has Ola Share1, which matches riders with other riders within their social groups. No other competitor currently has a similar feature, which means Uber can be first to most markets with uberPOOL+. This could become a differentiator from Lyft Line.

One risk is that riders will not choose this feature often, but certain precedents indicate uberPOOL+ would be picked (people using uberPOOL and Lyft Line as a substitute for Tinder2, Kristen Bell’s uncomfortable uberPOOL experience3, and rides with VCs in India4).

Another risk is that the preferences will increase wait time for rides significantly, due to a small userbase (this risk is addressed in the “Launch Plans/Analysis” section due to partnerships).

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[1] http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/ola-launches-social-ride-sharing-feature-in-bengaluru-751778[2] http://recode.net/2015/09/03/cruising-the-carpool-are-lyft-line-and-uberpool-the-new-tinder/[3] http://www.eonline.com/news/661399/kristen-bell-had-a-traumatic-uber-pool-experience-but-she-s-not-the... [4] https://newsroom.uber.com/india/2015/08/gear-up-to-uberpitch-your-ideas/

uberPOOL for Business Opportunity Assessment

Value Proposition: uberPOOL for Business riders can feel more comfortable riding to and from work with their coworkers. Each driver earns more money by charging more passengers. The businesses save money by paying less per employee transported.

Target Market:

● riders: may want to sit among coworkers to feel comfortable, discuss work, or talk among friends

● drivers: want more customers (and thus profits) for nearly the same amount of time/effort

● businesses: want their employees to arrive to work on time and produce excellent work 20

uberPOOL for Business Opportunity Assessment

Market Size: In September 2015, Uber said that over 50,000 companies are enrolled in the Uber for Business program, with 100,000 expected in 2016.1 The same article says that mid and large sized companies are using Uber for Business, meaning that the amount of riders affected by this feature could eventually be in the millions.

Competitive Landscape/Risk Assessment:

● Coworkers may not want to ride together, or may even dislike each other

● Uber for Business may stall in growth due to existing alternatives, such as: public transit (improving in certain areas), biking, walking, company shuttles. These would subsequently lower the appeal of uberPOOL for Business.

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Top Feature

The opportunity assessments measure up very closely, but I will move ahead with uberPOOL+ because of its potential to reach everyone, instead of just the business target market.

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Registration and LoginThrough collaboration with Weave and Coffee Meets Bagel (please see Launch Plans/Analysis slides to learn about partnerships), we should give them the same visibility as Facebook by allowing users to register and login through their Weave or CMB profiles.

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More Weave and Coffee Meets Bagel

We should also allow users the ability to link/unlink their Weave and Coffee Meets Bagel accounts at any time.

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Ordering an uberPOOL+

uberPOOL+ is added as an option to the slider at the bottom of the Uber app.

This is a modified version of the uberPOOL confirmation screen for uberPOOL+. The screen should prompt the rider to select either the General, Networking, or Dating option.

This mitigates the risk of mixing riders who intend to network with those who intend to meet a significant other and those who want neither.

Preferences for General and selection criteria for Networking options can be found in the subsequent Account Settings mockups.

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History Options

We separate the History menu option into 1) Trip History - which contains the menu that currently appears and 2) Match History - which contains the menu to the right.

The Match History menu will show a panel for every match the rider had via the Dating and Networking uberPOOL+ options.

Each match will have his/her picture (represented by the black icons below), first name, match date, match time, and match type appear in the panel.

Additionally, each panel is a hyperlink to that match’s read-only Dating or Networking profile, as detailed in the subsequent wireframes.

If the user has filled out his/her Contact Info field under the Networking account settings, you can find that by pressing on the panel.

However, it is encouraged for riders to swap contact information during or at the end of rides, in person.

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Edit AccountThe Gender, Age, and Ethnicity dropdown menus are added to the original Edit Account menu. These are blank by default and are optional. However, if the rider attempts to use uberPOOL+ without filling them out, a dialog appears prompting the user to fill them out. (These dropdown menus are auto populated if the user has linked a Coffee Meets Bagel account with the appropriate data).

There is also a General section added, with Preferred Gender and Preferred Age dropdown menus. These must be filled out before using uberPOOL+'s General option, otherwise a dialog appears (similar to above).

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Edit Account

This wireframe and subsequent wireframes represent the options that are appended to the original Uber account settings.

The Networking fields auto populate if the user has linked a Weave account. The Add Experience button allows the user to add more job positions to the profile.

The Networking fields must be filled out before using the uberPOOL+ Networking option. Otherwise a dialog prevents the action and prompts the user to fill these out.

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Edit Account

Contact Info is optional, but co-riders may find it useful for staying in touch when looking at the rider's profile.

The Selection Criteria allow the rider to designate his/her preference for degree type, position type, and years of experience. These allow matches to be made via an algorithm similar to Weave Concierge, which is an existing special Weave service that matches pairs of Weave users on a weekly basis.

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Edit Account

If the user has linked a Coffee Meets Bagel account, these fields are auto populated.

If the user attempts to initiate an uberPOOL+ ride with the Dating option and these fields are not completed, a dialog will prompt the user to fill these out before allowing the user to proceed.

Launch Plans/Analysis

The initial target market should be San Francisco because of the prevalence of coffee chats, general networking, and online dating. If uberPOOL+ takes off in SF, then New York City and Boston are two other good cities (the former because of Wall Street and the latter because of the large amount of college students).

uberPOOL+ can be marketed as an innovative combination of social interaction and transportation.

In addition, Uber should consider partnering with Weave and Coffee Meets Bagel to prevent risk of increasing rider wait times due to lack of established userbase.

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Partnership with Weave

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● Tinder-esque professional networking mobile application● Weave uses Uber API so that when two Weave users match for

networking, they can order Ubers within the app to meet up○ Thus, Weave’s userbase is already keen on using Uber

● By integrating Weave profiles with Uber profiles, number of potential uberPOOL+ riders will increase significantly (targeting relevant audience)

● Both Weave and Uber’s userbases will increase● Integration would auto populate the Networking profile fields

from existing Weave profiles

Partnership with Coffee Meets Bagel

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● Fellow SF-based company that previously partnered with Uber for their launch campaign (#CoffeeMeetsUber)

● 2nd partnership would benefit both parties○ Uber would benefit by integrating CMB profiles with Uber

profiles, increasing the number of potential uberPOOL+ riders (targeting relevant audience) while also auto populating the Dating profile fields from existing CMB profiles

○ CMB benefits by drawing from Uber’s substantially larger userbase

Validation - Defining Success

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Key performance indicators (from most to least important):

1. Increase in number of Uber riders2. Increase in number of Uber trips over X period of time3. Increase proportion of uberPOOL(+) rides versus non-

uberPOOL rides4. Increase in driver earnings5. Decrease in support tickets6. Increase in number of Uber drivers

Thank You

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