Lyft's 2019 IPO letter from its co-founders
- Written by
- Logan Green and John Zimmer
- Organisation
- Lyft
- Published
- 1 Mar 2019
- Sector
- Ridesharing and transportation
Read the original at sec.gov (opens in a new tab)
About this letter
Logan Green and John Zimmer, Lyft's co-founders, signed this letter in the registration statement on form S-1 that Lyft filed with the SEC on 1 March 2019 for its initial public offering. Titled 'Our life's work', it sits inside the prospectus rather than at the front.
The founders open by arguing that it is time to redesign cities around people, not cars. They trace the company's roots: Green launched the first car-sharing programme at the University of California, Santa Barbara, while Zimmer studied at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration and wanted to bring hospitality to transportation. Together they launched Zimride, a carpool matching service, in 2007 and Lyft in 2012. The letter then makes the case for a shift to transportation as a service, restates the mission to improve people's lives with the world's best transportation, reports results for 2018 and ends with three principles for running the business.
Why read it
It shows founders using the prospectus to set investors' expectations before listing: growth before profitability in the early days, and long-term health before the market's daily reactions.
What to notice
- 1
The economic case rests on an idle asset: Americans spend over $1 trillion a year owning and operating cars, their second highest household expense, yet each car is used only five percent of the time.
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“It’s time to redesign our cities around people, not cars.”
Companies discussed
- Lyft (LYFT)
Topics
- ipo
- long term thinking
- growth
- strategy
- business model
- culture
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