Travis Kalanick intentionally cut prices to trigger a growth flywheel: lower fares led to more riders, which attracted more drivers, enabling even lower prices. This strategy didn't just steal share from taxis; it fundamentally expanded the total addressable market for personal transportation.

David Risher dismisses the zero-sum view of competing with Uber. He points out that the total rideshare market (2.5B annual rides) is dwarfed by the personal car market (160B rides). Lyft's true growth strategy is to convert personal car trips into rideshare, making direct competition a much smaller part of the picture.

Airbnb beat standardized hotels not by competing on price, but by reframing the experience. They turned potential negatives (less service, more variability) into a desirable positive: the authentic experience of 'living like a local.' This emotional branding made the established, safer option feel generic and boring.

While Airbnb experiments with new offerings like 'experiences' and services, analysts believe its most sensible and proven growth strategy is the geographic expansion of its core rental business. Deep localization for new markets, such as adding local payment options in Brazil, has proven more effective than product diversification in saturated markets.

Lyft's CEO argues the competition is not a binary battle with Uber for their combined 2.5 billion annual rides. Instead, the true target market is the 160 billion rides Americans take in their own cars. This reframes the opportunity from market share theft to massive market expansion and conversion.

The narrative of startups "destroying" incumbents is often wrong. As shown by MongoDB coexisting with Oracle and HubSpot with Salesforce, disruptive companies can create massive value by expanding the total market, allowing both new and old players to grow simultaneously.

Early competitors failed because they tried to partner with existing taxi fleets, inheriting their inefficiencies. Uber's key strategic advantage was building a parallel system with non-taxi drivers, allowing it to scale frictionlessly and deliver a superior, technology-driven experience.

Having captured one in ten nights stayed away from home in the US, Airbnb's growth is slowing. To expand further, it is now forced to compete directly with hotels by integrating hotel listings and adding hotel-like amenities and services, shifting its strategy from disruption to direct competition within the traditional travel industry.

Dominant aggregator platforms are often misjudged as being vulnerable to technological disruption (e.g., Uber vs. robo-taxis). Their real strength lies in their network, allowing them to integrate and offer new technologies from various providers, thus becoming beneficiaries rather than victims of innovation.