1.

Kalanick is influencing and controlling the board members and management responsibility
became a serious issue. So he is responsible for all the mess. Uber is not a private company and
it was not regulated to implement any specific guidelines or organization structure. The
company has a CEO and a board but other employees should also be blamed for this. Their
responsibility gaps have also created problems.

Kalanick is surely an excellent innovator and entrepreneur. He is very good at showing value of the idea
to potential investors and VC’s. He was spot on in securing investments which is the main reason to
carry the company as a private for so long. He is responsible for introducing the concept of ride share
which gave rise to new business opportunities. At the same time, there are few issues which resulted in
poor governance. He made many leadership mistakes which made the corporate culture chaotic. The
scandals and lawsuits issues might have reduced if he had shared his responsibilities with the other
board members.

He was controlling board members and there were hardly independent members. He did not have
members like CFO or COO. He was worried that too much power decentralization will slow down the
decision making process as he wanted the company to grow at a very rapid rate.

The board is completely dysfunctional. Out of the 11 members, only 8 of them were typically filled. And
again out of these, 3 were permanently occupied by Kalanick, Graves and Camp. Among the open seats,
Kalanick had the power to recruit without voting. There is no appreciation and importance for true
individuals.

He appointed Thain and Burns because both of them will support his decisions at any cost which will
also normalize the rising concerns from other board members. He wanted to show his authority. So he
appointed them without consulting anyone.

2. He was very valuable because he was a strong leader with great vision and never scared to
challenge the status quo. He was ready to challenge the traditional business model and was not
intimidated at all. He very well knew that they have to be first in the market in order to be
successful. He had the vision that expansion is the key and acted upon it at the right time.
3. Challenges are developing the corporate structure with proper investments at the same pace as
the company’s growth. There were many levels of funding and valuations that the structure of
the company grew out of hand before changes could be made to prevent some scandals and
lawsuits.

Public companies have specific independence requirements for boards are also required to report
financials quarterly and annually to public officials. Private companies have to follow legal guidelines but
don’t have much restrictions.

Gurley left the board due to the conflict with ongoing issues in the board, especially due to the
unexpected revision of Uber’s governance rules. This allowed him to speak publicly regarding the
challenges and issues within the company. He held 40% of the voting rights and that allowed him to
demand Kalanick’s resignation. After Kalanick’s resignation he also resigned which is a typical trend for
activist investors.