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book2017

The Upstarts

Disciplines:
technology
business
uber
airbnb

Summary

Brad Stone's 2017 account of how Uber and Airbnb transformed their industries — tracing the founding stories, growth, and early battles with regulators of the two most consequential sharing economy startups.

Core Contribution

Creates the comparative narrative of platform disruption — The Upstarts traces how Uber and Airbnb used the same regulatory playbook (move fast before regulators could respond, then use customer pressure to fight back when they did) to transform transportation and hospitality.

Historical Influences

The Everything Store Ben Horowitz

Intellectual Lineage

Brad Stone Little, Brown

Allied Works

The Everything Store Super PumpedThe Airbnb Story

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

Startup journalism

Intellectual Posterity

The Upstarts Uber-Airbnb comparison

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The Upstarts

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