Serial entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee) was an early investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Snap and Venmo. Vee was also an early investor in Uber, before the company completed a highly anticipated IPO in May 2019.
What Happened: Ride-share company Uber Technologies Inc UBER is a leader in the sector that didn't exist decades ago. The company's May 2019 IPO was one of the largest at the time.
Investors who bought into Uber before the company went public could be up on their investment
Vee invested in the company early, but not as early as he wished.
"One of the greatest mistakes of my investing career was passing on investing in Uber in the angel round twice," Vee recently said on his Facebook account.
Vee recalled being in the "room where Uber was invented," but passing on investing in the company early on two different occasions.
The entrepreneur was friends with Uber co-founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp and recalled being in a room with Camp after giving a speech at LeWeb.
"Wouldn't it be cool if on your phone there was an app and you could order a limousine that would pick you up right away," Vee recalled Camp said in a backstage room to a few people.
Vee said his first thought was this sounded like a rich person's problem. Months later Vee ran into Camp and was told that the concept had been created and was called Uber Cab.
Uber co-founders Camp and Kalanick hired a CEO and outsourced the building of the company's app while they worked on other projects.
"The biggest reason I didn't invest is because it was a side project."
While Vee didn't invest in the angel rounds, he later invested in Uber before the company went public.
"Part of the reason I invested in the next round was because my brother AJ took the first Uber ride in New York City when the founder of Uber came and asked us to test it."
It was at this moment, Vee learned the importance of what Uber was as a company.
"That was the moment I realized, Uber doesn't sell transportation, Uber sells time."
Vee said Uber provides an app that is seamless and less friction than other transportation methods.
"The number one emerging thing in society in value is time … people value time over everything."
Why It's Important: Uber raised $8.1 billion in their 2019 IPO with shares priced at $45 each.
Vee previously recalled that if he had invested his normal $25,000 to $50,000 angel round check in Uber when he had the early chance, the investment would be worth $500 million to $800 million at the time of the IPO.
Here's a look at how Uber stock has performed since going public, with a Benzinga Pro chart.
While he missed out on the early fortune from Uber, Vee has had several success stories with early investments and the companies he has founded. Vee has also utilized the missed opportunity as a learning lesson.
"I regret not investing in the company, but I'm also glad the market punched me in the face," Vee said, as shared by CNBC. "I deserved it — and I'm even more driven now because of it. That's why I grab every opportunity I can."
Vee also shared in 2016 that Uber was a company which shouldn't have happened the way it did, but is an important lesson for entrepreneurs and business leaders.
"Everything from calculating your tip to ordering on-demand cars is now at scale — at our fingertips — and the market has taken hold of that notion. When these technological shifts happen, too many businesses get left in the dust because they're too comfortable with their current successes."
At the time, Vee said he wakes up every morning and thinks about how he could put himself out of business, focusing on how other businesses could disrupt his financials.
"By thinking about what they could do, I can do it myself and innovate my business."
Vee said the Uber co-founders put most taxi cabs out of business and Airbnb co-founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia was able to compete with hotel chains like Hilton.
"They innovated where their traditional rivals didn't. They were innovators that saw the white space in the evolving internet marketplace."
Read Next:
Photo: Vaynor Media, public domain
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
