Riding with Via (or “NE Corner of 53rd and Park, in front of Citibank”)

It is not always the first to market that successfully delivers  innovation. “Success” is measured in many ways in our business of company building. Sometimes just changing the equation slightly is what brings true disruption – and if done correctly a positive force in the world.

We all know the basic elements to success in successful hyper-growth new company creation: innovation, passion,  timing, and luck. Of course there are some other necessary ingredients, like leadership, management skills, and money.

Once in a very long time I directly touch companies that manage to pull together the above mix, and it is simply magic. The magic can be felt by all the stakeholders in the venture  -- and it is infectious. In a good way, as long as the forces stay calibrated.

In my (still somewhat new) role as part of McKinsey (more on that in a post to come) I get to play cheerleader and coach to some of the most exciting disruption going on, particularly that coming out of Start Up Nation. And I am privileged to help in the scaling up.  

When it speaks directly to issues that I feel passionate about, it’s really fun.

RidewithVia (or simply Via) is such a unique combination – determined to make a difference in the world of on-demand transportation.

 Transport is one of the major areas of life in the developed world that is crying out for serious positive disruption. Every time I watch the thousands of cars coming into downtown Tel Aviv in the morning with one person in each car I get shocked anew that in 2015 both the systems and the regulations have not moved the needle – and the result is traffic jams, pollution of many kinds,  avoidable death and injury, and poor use of our limited resources.

Uber (and it’s smaller cousins Gett and  Lyft and all the copycats around the world) basically took a very conservative view toward disrupting this space – but still are looked at as massive innovators worth tens of billions of dollars. Why conservative? They  give the same product that existed prior, but flouted regulations to make that same product slightly cheaper (at times). Reminds me of the work we did in the VoIP industry back in the 90s. We replaced circuit switch minutes with packet switched – but left the experience quite similar. An Uber driver is a car service driver with a nicer way to “call” them (button on your phone) but the experience is the same. Point to point, quite expensive, servicing one person at a time. I don’t call that disruption. If even the “Uber et al”  model made the same experience vastly cheaply I would agree to call it positive disruption. But that is not the case.

An Uber ride from JFK airport to downtown Manhattan costs similar to what a yellow cab cost BEFORE Uber came on the scene. An experience out of reach of budget conscious folks.

Uber is at best slight disruption for the elite that took cabs BU (Before Uber).  For the rest of us who consume public transportation (for reasons of budget, convenience, or ideology), AU (After Uber) and BU look the same.

Then Via comes along, and using algorithms designed to make the world’s best Humus, they create a new experience. Via demands of its users to change their behavior and accept different conditions precedent as well as travel in ways that perhaps were not part of their lexicon. Via saw the matrix – the industry spaces left untouched and the pathways to people’s consciousness that would allow for trans-formative experience.

Via takes people out of their comfort zone. It says to the multi-millionaire, “hey dude, you are heading downtown, so are a whole bunch of other folks – why not travel together?” Better for the planet, the pocket, and there is a chance to meet folks who think like you.

As Via is real disruption, the price is within reach for the average person as well, the guy with a metrocard, who knows the subways, and can appreciate paying just a little but more for a much nicer experience that takes you to where you need to be (not where the designers of the subway lines think you need to be).

Via is ride sharing without the end user needing to think about the massive logistics and computing power that go into getting it right. And more and more New Yorkers (currently VIA only operating in Manhattan) are getting hooked on the service. Initially flat priced at $5 anywhere in Manhattan, Via is used by student and stock broker, hedge fund manager and hair stylist.

In order to use Via you need to be ready to walk a block over to benefit from common sense. If you are standing on Madison and want to head south, you are asked to walk over to Park. If you are on a busy side street you will be asked to go out to the corner. You enter the car (currently all Suburbans) and chances are there will be a few people already in the car. Via requests that you do not speak on your cellphone during the trip – so often you strike up conversations with the people in car – how quaint!

Via has a lot of challenges ahead as it continues to scale (company hasn’t publicly released usage statistics yet, but when I saw down to lunch with a friend and mentioned Via, he immediately pulled out his phone and showed me the Via app in a prime spot – he and his wife use it daily).

If Via it doesn’t [quickly] figure out answers to some of the big questions it could stumble. But for now it is magic at work. Give it a try if you are in Manhattan, but be ready for a new experience.