Sep 26, 2020 · 24m · how-i-built-this
How I Built Resilience: John Zimmer of Lyft
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this Resilience Edition of How I Built This, host Guy Raz interviews Lyft co-founder and president John Zimmer about navigating severe pandemic downturns, championing California's Proposition 22, and advancing a multimodal vision for urban mobility.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 37.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.6 Guest teaching 1.7 Guest disagreement 0.7 Guy pushing back 1.6
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:56 Zimmer rejects the 'trust us' premise
Zimmer immediately pushes back on Raz's framing that Lyft is asking the public for blind trust, arguing instead for explicit new statutory regulations.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 15:11 Raz challenges Lyft's anti-regulation perceptionRaz directly challenges Zimmer's argument on driver benefits by asking if Lyft is essentially lobbying against government regulation and oversight.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:55 Zimmer breaks down consumer car ownership inefficienciesZimmer educates the host with concrete statistics showing that Americans spend $9,000 annually on cars they only use 4% of the time, dwarfing health and food spending.
Guy holds their own ▶ 10:35 Raz provides Manhattan average vehicle speedWhen Zimmer searches for the metric for car speeds in Manhattan, Raz instantly demonstrates domain knowledge by supplying the 7 mph figure.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guy Raz Announces the How I Built This Book | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Guy Raz introduces the interview by framing the operational and financial challenges Lyft faces during the pandemic. He probes into cash preservation and corporate debt decisions, which Zimmer elaborates on collaboratively. | |
| Adapting Rider Safety Protocols and Essential Travel Demands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Raz asks about user demand shifts and internal conversations regarding revenue diversification beyond rideshare. Zimmer shares metrics on Citi Bike ridership records and essential worker usage. | |
| Resilient Streets and Redesigning Urban Mobility Infrastructure | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | Raz questions the counterintuitive logic of Lyft backing 'Resilient Streets' when its core business relies on cars, and chimes in with Manhattan traffic speed data when Zimmer forgets. | |
| Listener Questions on Contactless Rentals and Lyft Pink | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz relays audience questions regarding Lyft Rentals and subscription services. Zimmer explains the mechanics of contactless rentals and the Lyft Pink program in an entirely cordial manner. | |
| Proposition 22 and Independent Contractor Classification | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | Raz presses Zimmer directly on Proposition 22 and asks whether Lyft is simply resisting state regulation. Zimmer provides a nuanced defense centered on part-time driver flexibility and tiered benefits. | |
| Restoring Public Trust Through Smart Regulatory Frameworks | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Raz questions whether the public is cynical about trusting corporate self-regulation. Zimmer pushes back on Raz's premise, agreeing that people shouldn't blindly trust businesses and reiterating the need for updated regulatory frameworks. | |
| Starting Businesses in Downturns and Managing Leadership Stress | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Raz draws on previous summit discussions to ask reflective questions about starting companies in downturns, stress management, and founding regrets. Zimmer answers with personal reflections. |
Statements from this episode (13)
Zimmer: Lyft rides fell 75% at pandemic peak, recovering to half down
“We were down about 75% at the peak in terms of rideshare rides. We, we've now returned to a little under half down which is actually good progress.”
Zimmer: Lyft's pandemic cuts were healthy for the business in hindsight
“Some of which I think actually In hindsight, we're very healthy for the business, but very difficult to make, especially for people that are all in this tough time where, where, where the job market is difficult.”
Zimmer: Lyft had nearly $3 billion in cash entering the pandemic
“We're lucky that we went public when we did and have, you know, nearly, nearly three billion dollars in the bank.”
Zimmer: Lyft rides among essential workers increased during the pandemic
“We've seen a lot of essential workers using this way more because there are other options, potentially public transportation are things that they're more concerned about from a health safety perspective. And so we've seen those rides increase.”
Zimmer: Citi Bike hit a record of over 100,000 daily rides
“And for City Bike in New York, I believe it was last weekend, we hit our record of over, over a 100,000 rides in one day.”
Zimmer: Lyft refuses to build a consumer food delivery app
“So we have no intention to be another kind of food delivery consumer app. We will not do that, but there's a lot of small and local businesses That are having to pay 30%, 20% of their revenue to be on those platforms.”
Zimmer: Americans spend $9,000 annually on cars used 4% of the time
“Americans spend 9000 dollars every year owning and operating a car that they use four percent of the time. They spend more money on their car than they do on food than they do on health care. The only thing they spend more money on than their car is their hous…”
Zimmer: Micromobility can become the fastest urban transit option
“In urban cores, micro mobility or bikes and scooters as those vehicles get better and better and safer and safer, and as the street infrastructure adapts to make the environment safer, absolutely, it can be the best way, the fastest way, the cleanest way, and …”
Zimmer: 86% of California Lyft drivers work under 20 hours a week
“The majority, something like 80% of our drivers Maybe in California it's 86% of drivers drive less than 20 hours a week.”
Zimmer: App-based drivers support California's Prop 22 by four to one
“Four to one driver support Prop. 22 versus the alternative.”
Zimmer: Autonomous vehicle adoption remains limited by technology and cost
“It's still a technology limitation and a cost limitation at this point. And so those haven't changed materially during this time.”
Zimmer: Lyft avoids mandatory rider photos because it would reduce ride volume
“We don't want it to be a blocker in the sense that we don't want to get less rides, which would be less income earning opportunities for you and the company. But we have increased the percent of riders that are posting a photo and we're working on more feature…”
Zimmer: If founding Lyft today, I would start with a subscription service
“I think if we were starting over today, I might start with Pink, which we talked about as the subscription, as a way to get people to interact with Lyft. To say, hey, there's a membership service, it's gonna be more affordable than owning a car, and we're gonn…”