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Dara Khosrowshahi

CEO, Uber · 1 appearance on the record, plus 1 compilation re-air.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

executiveinvestor@dkhos ↗LinkedIn ↗uber.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Since taking over as CEO of Uber in 2017, he led the company's cultural turnaround, public listing, and sustained profitability. Prior to Uber, he served as the CEO of Expedia Group from 2005 to 2017 after executive leadership at IAC and investment banking at Allen & Company.

22statements → 8claims → 6claims resolved → 100%fully supported → 3.95/5average certainty → 1.86/5average debate potential → 4.4/5argument clarity · the sources → 95said about them ↓

6 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 8 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 predictions · 5 assertions · 2 opinions · 6 insights · 5 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 8 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Dara argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Khosrowshahi: Uber Eats is as big as DoorDash globally
“Uber Eats is actually as big as DoorDash on a global basis, and so when we think about Uber, we think globally, right? And we are the global leader along with DoorDash.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 17:35 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
100% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.4 / 5 directness 4.6 · coherence 4.8 · precision 4.1 · compression 3.8

answered every one of 38 assessed questions directly

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

243 words/min while actually speaking · 13.2 um and uh per 1k words · 17.7 false starts per 1k · 34.9% of pauses land inside a clause

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 6,812 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 2 rated episodes:

host pushback ▾ 3/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 2.5/10
setup questions received 75%

Everything Dara Khosrowshahi said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Disclosure
Khosrowshahi: Uber's investment in self-driving division ATG was a mistake
“Where we got it wrong was when we went outside of our core. So for example, we had a very large self-driving business, ATG, trying to develop autonomous tech, and that wasn't what we were passionate about every day, and it was outside of the core, and ultimate…”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 14:35 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Khosrowshahi: Uber Eats is as big as DoorDash globally
“Uber Eats is actually as big as DoorDash on a global basis, and so when we think about Uber, we think globally, right? And we are the global leader along with DoorDash.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 17:35 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Khosrowshahi: Best Travis legacy was talent; worst was brand damage
“Best thing I'd say is is a bar for talent. Travis went after incredibly talented people, and I got to keep some of them, which is great. Worst thing, I think it was just the brand damage as it related to Uber, the enterprise.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 42:26 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Agreeing with your team on obvious choices yields average performance
“If you're agreeing with your team, and you're doing what is obvious, then essentially you're going to perform a in an average way, your output will be average. As a leader, you have to be willing to kind of bust out of the obvious, do something non-obvious, di…”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 8:23 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Khosrowshahi: Uber's past allocations into hardware products were a mistake
“We're not particularly good in hardware, and I think our investment or the capital that we allocated in hardware in the past was a mistake.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 15:13 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Khosrowshahi: Uber Eats initially bet on the wrong delivery strategy
“So I think the biases that we had Which is coming from an urban rides business that was all about the five minute ETA, made us early on bet on the wrong thing.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 18:54 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Predictable delivery ETAs beat fast delivery with fewer choices
“As long as you're accurate in the prediction of the delivery time, as long as you let the person know, Harry, that your delivery is going to come in 35 minutes, if it gets you in 35 or 40 minutes, most people are fine with that, because then they can plan acco…”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 19:44 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Khosrowshahi: Kareem and Transplace acquisitions are or will be major hits
“I would say probably Kareem or there's a, we're pretty early on in terms of development, but a, an acquisition that we made in with Uber Freight Transplace, which really runs the logistics outsource logistics function of a lot of companies out there. Both of t…”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 23:28 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Held up
Khosrowshahi: Uber will focus exclusively on software moving forward
“I will tell you right now, based on everything I see, we're going to stay squarely in software, because we're really, really good at it.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 27:21 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Khosrowshahi: Uber slowed feature updates for drivers to avoid payment errors
“We've actually slowed down in terms of some of the velocity of features that we ship for our earners, right? So it's, we're iterating constantly as it relates to eaters, riders, et cetera trying X out or trying Y out. But as it relates to earners, this is how …”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 29:54 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Khosrowshahi: Society has gone soft by protecting kids from adversity
“If you're protecting your kids from adversity, is not doing them any favors, because the real world, you know, is, can be really difficult. And I think the same applies with our generation, which is have we gone too soft? Yeah, of course we've gone too soft. I…”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 37:18 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Khosrowshahi: Travis Kalanick will lead dark kitchen success if anyone does
“He has a, he's built a dark kitchen company that we do work with, and I think it's the biggest dark kitchen company out there, so if anyone succeeds in that area, I think it'll be Travis.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 43:13 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Khosrowshahi: A CEO's job is to make mistakes and learn
“If I didn't want to make mistakes, I'd be a treasury bond manager, right? Like, my job is to make mistakes and learn from them.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 0:00 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Khosrowshahi: A great CEO's legacy is defined by post-departure performance
“The hallmark of a great CEO is isn't necessarily how the company did while the CEO was there, but also how the company performed after the CEO left.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 7:25 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Khosrowshahi: Uber completed two billion trips in the previous quarter
“Now in this last quarter, two billion times a quarter.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 12:09 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Khosrowshahi: Uber lost 85% of volume overnight while losing $2B
“You know, we lost 85% of our volume overnight, and the business was already losing two billion dollars.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 44:26 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Family ambition stems from rebuilding after Iranian Revolution
“God, it's I do think that the events of Iran and our family losing everything, and we had a huge family, big family business, etc., I don't know if it's something that we're running from, but I think the whole family to some extent is running to rebuild essent…”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 0:41 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Khosrowshahi: Uber provides income to over five million earners globally
“You know, we are an incredibly important entity in terms of Transportation and cities in terms of earning power for over five million earners.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 12:22 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Khosrowshahi: Australia is overall Uber's best geographic market
“Overall for Uber, I'd say Australia is, is the best market.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 20:48 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Khosrowshahi: Postmates backend integration enabled aggressive cost cuts for Uber
“While Postmates as an app is still in the app store, they've got millions of loyal customers, all of the backend is essentially being served by our infrastructure, which allowed us to save pretty aggressively as it related to the cost side.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 22:46 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Khosrowshahi: Technical candidates who explain complex issues simply possess superior clarity
“If they are able to simply explain a deep technical problem, then they've got clarity of thought, and they're generous in terms of their information sharing, which is something that I'm looking for.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 33:11 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
What-if
Khosrowshahi: Decision-making could have been faster when taking over Uber
“In hindsight, I didn't know what I was getting into. I needed to meet everyone. I needed to get input, but I think that my decision making could have been faster right up front.”
Dara Khosrowshahi Mar 27, 2023 ▶ 45:30 Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisition | E994 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

The other half of the tape: Dara Khosrowshahi's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 89 times in 14 episodes on 20VC. 6 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 58Wayne Ting 5Mudassir Sheikha 5Shervin Pishevar 4Emil Michael 3Andrew Macdonald (Mac) 3Mo Koyfman 2Delian Asparouhov 2

Statements about Dara Khosrowshahi, by other people (6)

Opinion
Emil Michael gives Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi an 'F' grade for performance
“He was a diplomat. He was able to get the company public, but in terms of hiring talent, innovating, and succeeding from a financial standpoint, you know, it's not, it hasn't happened. It's a, it's an F, you know.”
Emil Michael Oct 25, 2022 ▶ 46:32 Emil Michael: How I Negotiated the $4B Uber-China Deal, Why DoorDash Caught Up to Uber | 20VC #941 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Replacing Travis Kalanick with Dara Khosrowshahi was a mistake for Uber
“I don't think so. I'm a big fan of founder led businesses, and I think Travis is an incredible founder who, you know, should have been given the opportunity to lead Uber into the next generation. It's really unfortunate how things happened and played out. And …”
Scott Gorlick Aug 30, 2024 ▶ 31:55 Scott Gorlick: How Uber Acquired 1M Drivers & The Uber’s Expansion Playbook | E1196 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Partly supported
Emil Michael: Uber's valuation under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi trails the Nasdaq
“The company's valuation Is lower today than it was when Dara took over. And even if you account for the macro environment, the Nasdaq's still up 50%, he's down 50%.”
Emil Michael Oct 25, 2022 ▶ 45:22 Emil Michael: How I Negotiated the $4B Uber-China Deal, Why DoorDash Caught Up to Uber | 20VC #941 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lehmann: Postmates prioritized deal structure over headline price in Uber merger
“And I think he came out with a number that was around 2.2 or something, and we negotiated it up a little bit, but I didn't want it to push too hard, because the two things that we negotiated for are no breakup, Absolutely no way out and no color on the deal be…”
Bastian Lehmann Apr 8, 2024 ▶ 21:00 Bastian Lehmann: How the Uber Deal Went Down and How a $2.65BN Deal Turned into $5BN | E1137 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Lehmann: Dara Khosrowshahi has made Uber his own
“And a for non-founder CEO, he really has, I think he has made this company his.”
Bastian Lehmann Apr 8, 2024 ▶ 23:56 Bastian Lehmann: How the Uber Deal Went Down and How a $2.65BN Deal Turned into $5BN | E1137 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Partly supported
Dara Khosrowshahi and Jeremy Liew Ran IAC's Strategy Team in 2001
“I joined the strategic planning team who, interestingly enough, we were just talking about this, was then being run by Dara Khosrowshahi, who's now the current CEO of Uber, who hired me into IAC, as well as a guy named Jeremy Liu, who you may also know who led…”
Mo Koyfman Aug 8, 2022 ▶ 4:11 Mo Koyfman: The Secret to Winning in Venture; Why Small Funds Outperform Large Funds | 20VC #915 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0020240420222023202420252026episodesmentions
02420222023202420252026episodes it came up in
005210420222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 15 mentions in 2 episodes 8 per episode
2025 18 mentions in 4 episodes 5 per episode
2024 33 mentions in 4 episodes 8 per episode
2023 12 mentions in 2 episodes 6 per episode
2022 11 mentions in 2 episodes 6 per episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: What are the World's Tech Leaders Running From? Fear? Insecurity? Poverty? What Driv compilation Jun 9, 2023 1m
Dara Khosrowshahi: How I Became CEO of Uber; Uber Eats vs DoorDash; The Postmates Acquisit Mar 27, 2023 35m
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