A (GTM) Lesson from an Uber Driver

"Thanks for picking me up. I just woke up from a nap…if I don't happen to make sense. How are you?" I was trying to get my bearings for an evening out in San Francisco.

"That makes two of us. Waking up from one too. Took it right here at Crissy Field in the car before I got your request."

My Uber driver was charming. I was relishing the opportunity to get my neurons firing with a good conversation before reaching my final destination.

I went through my usual routine, "How long you been driving for Uber?"

"Oh, just a couple of years. And I only do it part-time", he responded.

"Interesting…what else do you do?"

"Well, I run a digital marketing agency here in town. Been doing for years. Actually founded it."

Something didn't quite add up. 'Why would this guy drive Uber if he was running an agency? Was business tough for him right now? Was he really needing to make ends meet?' My internal monologue got louder.

Deciding to put a stop to it, I asked him directly, "What got you driving Uber?"

Little did I know I'd get one of the more interesting business stories of my life.

"Well, my main competitor is also a friend. He owns an agency here, too. And he was starting to do very well. I could tell they were growing like a weed. After about six months of him kicking our ass, I decided to find out how. Took my buddy out to dinner. Fed him a few drinks until he got a little tipsy. And then, point-blank, asked him how he was crushing it. He ended up spilling the beans. ‘I've been driving for Uber, ’ he told me. ‘Most of the people I pick up are tech folks. A lot of them are potential customers. And I have them as a captive audience for fifteen minutes on average. It's been a great way for us to generate leads. And it's laid back. Folks don't feel like they're being pitched. And usually I'm able to qualify them and get their contact info. We follow up with a more formal pitch meeting.’ So there you have it. I now drive for Uber about twenty hours per week. And it's been great. In a city like San Francisco, the hit rate is awesome."

I couldn't believe my ears.

Pure genius.

The guy had seen his competitor run circles around him. He had taken matters into his own hands. Found a way to get his rival to confess his GTM secret. Only to replicate it himself and now compete on equal footing.

The moral of the story is twofold. Closely monitor what your competitors are doing. Not only from a product perspective. From all angles. Including go-to-market. And then have the wherewithal to obtain game-changing information. Most importantly, don't be afraid to be creative. Experiment. Iterate.

I ask every new client if they have crazy ideas they'd like to try from a go-to-market perspective. It's my attempt at getting them (and me) to think outside the box and come up with potentially transformative ideas.

Who would have thought I would get a lesson in go-to-market from an Uber driver?

The world is a treasure trove of go-to-market tactics if you're paying attention and curious enough to ask questions.