In just one year (2014 – 2015), popular ride sharing app Lyft grew five-fold. From it’s humble beginnings as a long distance ridesharing app called Zimride in 2007, Lyft’s popularity has literally exploded since their pivot and relaunch in 2012.
Now you can find their fuzzy pink mustache cars in more than 65 US cities where users can get picked up by one of their 100,000+ drivers. This astonishing growth has earned them a $2.5 billion valuation and more than $1 billion in funding.
How has Lyft pulled off this massive growth spurt? And what can you learn from their success?
That’s exactly the question we put to Lyft CTO Chris Lambert who will be speaking (on exactly this topic) at Extract on October 30th at Dog Patch Studios in San Francisco.
The answer is – you guessed it – data!
And he should know. As CTO, Chris is responsible for everything from core algorithms to mobile development. In other words he’s the brains behind the development and expansion some of Lyft’s most revolutionary offerings like the recent Lyft Line.
It’s not just Chris, the whole Lyft team is committed to making the Lyft experience more efficient. And as Chris says, data plays a major role in that.
“We rely on data to provide accurate, efficient ETAs to drivers and passengers. ETAs enable passengers to know exactly when they need to be outside waiting for their Lyft. Using historical data, Lyft is able to more precisely estimate how long it will take a driver to arrive and make sure the route is maximally efficient.”
Given their rapid growth – Lyft’s engineering has grown more than 70% since January – it should come as no surprise this reliance on data won’t be changing anytime soon.
“With even more ambitious innovation planned as we look to the future, Lyft’s data continues to be one of the most important factors in our growth, efficiency, and overall success as a company.”
What sort of ambitious innovation? I guess we’ll have to wait until Extract to find out!
What is Extract?
Extract is one full day jam-packed with data stories that will entertain, educate and inspire you. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about data, told by the people who know it best. Our speakers hail from some of the most successful and innovative companies in the business. You’ll hear data-driven talks on everything from beating the competition to creating the next unicorn. And our workshops will showcase the best of the best in data tooling. You’ll get an exclusive look at some of the latest technologies and pick up first-hand tips on implementing new strategies.