Kalanick: Expanding a tech business into China requires starting from scratch
Travis Kalanick · Excellence Is the Capacity To Take Pain | Travis Kalanick, Founder of Uber · Aug 16, 2026 · at 7:58
Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber, reflects on the structural differences and localized infrastructure challenges Uber faced when entering China.
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“What you learn when you go and do what we did in China is you learn that when you go and take your business and go to China, you have to start over. So many people think that you can take your business and take it somewhere, which by the way, Uber kind of like trademarked that if there's such a thing... But China was different because of how that country works. Everything's different. And that means you have to start from scratch, right?”
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