‘Super Pumped’ Follows The Murder, Mayhem And Misogyny Of Uber’s Early Days

Ideas for world-changing technology are aplenty in Silicon Valley. As fascinating as the concepts are, the brilliant minds behind them are even more so. And for those who have the fortitude to turn these ideas into reality, there’s an undeniable interest in their rise to the top and oftentimes dramatic fall from grace. If we are to be fully honest, perhaps there’s even a smidgen of schadenfreude?

TV lovers are currently binge-watching a few series about tech moguls who dared to dream big in the valley, including Showtime’s new seven-episode anthology series Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, which is currently airing Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Viewers are hungry for these types of rise-and-fall stories as proven with the popularity of Hulu’s The Drop Out centered on Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos. At one time, Holmes was considered the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in America with her company garnering a $9 billion valuation. Everyone is also talking about the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed about WeWork, which grew from a single co-working space into a global brand worth $47 billion in under a decade. In both instances, these life-changing giants crashed and burned.

Super Pumped is centered around the birth of Uber, which is known as one of Silicon Valley’s most successful and most destructive unicorns. At one point, Uber touted a $17 billion valuation. The series is based on Mike Isaac’s bestselling book of the same name and features an all-star cast with Joseph Gordon-Levitt at its helm as Uber’s hot-headed CEO Travis Kalanick.

Super Pumped comes from creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien of Billions fame. For this, they joined forces with writer, director and executive producer, Beth Schacter, who serves as a co-showrunner following her work on Billions as a writer and producer on season five and showrunner for the current 12-episode sixth season.

“We’re all incredibly intrigued and excited about stories focused on modern-day people that are moving huge parts of the culture,” Schacter explained in an interview. “What we wanted to do was tell a story about a disruptor who truly changed the world and we wanted to dissect the cost of that.”

The storyline details Kalanick’s extremely tumultuous relationship with angel investor and mentor Bill Gurley (Kyle Chandler) who is regarded as a brilliant venture capitalist. Kalanick, as rumor has it, didn’t quite like taking orders or advice from anyone. There was one exception, however, with Arianna Huffington (Uma Thurman), who became a trusted confidante and Uber board member. The stellar cast also includes Elisabeth Shue, Kerry Bishé, Hank Azaria, Babak Tafti, Eva Victor and Jessica Hecht.

The rise to the top wasn’t without its challenges for Kalanick who had a penchant for putting success above all else, even the well-being of his employees and drivers. The early days of Uber saw the company face a multitude of controversial news headlines. There were the tragic murders of 12 drivers in Brazil, the debauchery of employees at company retreats with $25 million price tags that covered the cost of property and other damages, and a toxic misogynistic workplace culture. The rollercoaster ride eventually led to Kalanick’s ousting from his own company in a boardroom coup.

For Bishé, who portrays one of Kalanick’s top employees, Austin Geidt, one takeaway is how challenging it was to be a woman at Uber in the early days. In a recent interview, Bishé says that though she didn’t meet Geidt as she prepared for the role, she admires her. Geidt not only made it to the top in a male-dominated environment but she did so despite the hard-partying culture as she struggled with addiction.

“I think she is an incredibly cool person. The fact she was able to get sober by 20 years old and in such a high-pressure environment says a lot about her. One could imagine it wasn’t easy,” says Bishé. The real Geidt has been open with her struggles and has credited her success at Uber with the skills she learned in rehab.

Geidt started her career at Uber as an intern in 2010 and was the fourth employee hired. She would go on to climb the corporate ladder landing top executive roles and even rang the company’s IPO bell in 2019 at the New York Stock Exchange.

When asked if she thinks Kalanick was a misogynist, Bishé pauses before answering. “I’m not sure if his direct behavior towards women reflects that but he created a culture where that behavior existed and was tolerated. I think he was certainly culpable for the things that happened to the women at his company. He seemed to prize success above anyone’s personal growth or well-being. He was the head of a misogynistic culture for sure and even if he didn’t act this way towards the women there, he allowed those actions to slide as long as the company was operating successfully.”

Bishé points out that many women who have worked at Uber over the years have been supportive of Kalanick. “I’ve spoken to women who say they were inspired by Travis. They felt as if they were part of a company that was changing the world and they were moved by his enthusiasm and found him to be extremely compelling and passionate.”

Privacy, or a lack thereof, was another source of controversy for Uber. If you were in the back of an Uber in the early days, you were likely being watched. “The value of privacy is something we had before the internet that we don’t have now,” explains Bishé. “We focus on the convenience of these apps but we don’t understand that the technology used to make life convenient is truly scary. The fact Uber was able to turn on cameras in the cars back then is mind-boggling and terrifying. Some of their behaviors in those early days were quite damaging.”

As for Kalanick, Schacter agrees with Bishé that he may not have necessarily caused the toxic workplace culture but he didn’t stop it either. “He fostered it by allowing it to exist and he profited from it,” Schacter explains, adding the series only covers what is in Isaac’s book. “We didn’t want to accuse anyone of anything. When adapting a book, you’re compressing both characters and time but what we know from the book and various news articles is that he allowed and sometimes encouraged that type of behavior and the women that worked there were caught in the crossfire. Uber was his responsibility and it doesn’t matter if he committed those acts or allowed them to be committed, that was all on him whether or not he wanted to accept that responsibility. To be clear, we are not talking about the Uber of today, we are talking about the genesis of Uber and we’re not here to say Uber is bad. Disruption has a cost and now that you know, how do you feel about it?”

Each season of Super Pumped will focus on a different story that rocked the business world and changed our culture. Showtime recently announced that season two will be based on Isaac’s next book which is a deep dive into Facebook’s transition from a groundbreaking start-up to the power it has become. The new season will focus on the relationship at the center of that metamorphosis between Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg.