Agree completely which is why their insane valuation makes no sense. 1) they aren’t doing anything special. A trash pickup company has similar value. 2) there are no barriers to compete other than that it’s a boring industry. An app/service to match supply with demand is pretty basic stuff (geo data, time data, account data, payments, reviews). 3) they have no assets — that VC money is all getting swallowed up by salaries, lawyers and lobbyists. 4) they think driverless cars will solve their labor problem but due to (2) it actually lowers all barriers to compete. 5) moving into goods transport, courier services etc. doesn’t add value, just more exposure e.g. same costs, lower returns.

So yeah the have scale due to Billions in venture but there is no network effect and no exit, just a pay day for the con men behind the wheel and a total waste of time and borrowed money (made possible by low interest rates).

In a nutshell, Uber is filling a gap that is rapidly closing all on its own; they’re filling it with money and getting nothing back. The hang-over from that party is gonna be painful.