The Startup Ideas Podcast
The Startup Ideas Podcast

How The Rideshare Guy Turned Uber, Lyft Drivers into a Media Empire

May 25, 2023

AI Summary

5 min read

How a Boeing Engineer Built a Media Empire Around Uber and Lyft Drivers

Harry Campbell was working as an aerospace engineer at Boeing in 2014 when he started driving for Uber and Lyft on the side. He began blogging about his experience — how much he made on Friday and Saturday nights, what to do when a passenger vomits in your car, the nitty-gritty of a job that looked simple but turned out to be harder than it seemed. Within nine months, the blog was making enough money that he quit his engineering job. A decade later, The Rideshare Guy has grown into a media business spanning a blog, multiple podcasts, a YouTube channel with 150,000 subscribers, courses, Kindle books, and audiobooks — all built around serving gig economy workers.

The Name That Opened Doors

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:01) **Origin Story: From Boeing Engineer to Uber Driver** - Harry Campbell explains how he started driving for Uber and Lyft in 2014 while working as an aerospace engineer at Boeing, and how he latched onto the explosive growth of the rideshare industry.
  • 2 (03:22) **The Power of the "Rideshare Guy" Brand** - Harry discusses how he ripped off the naming convention from "The Points Guy" and the impact of the brand on his success.
  • 3 (07:27) **To Unbundle or Not to Unbundle?** - Harry explains his decision to keep all content under the "Rideshare Guy" brand rather than creating separate channels for scooters or delivery.
  • 4 (09:53) **The Business Model: Affiliates, Referrals, and Direct Ads** - A breakdown of the revenue streams that have built the media empire, starting with high-value driver referrals.
  • 5 (13:29) **The Exit Strategy: Building to Sell vs. Selling Out** - Harry compares his path to The Points Guy (who sold to Bankrate) and explains his philosophy on building a sellable business.
  • 6 (16:33) **The MMG Media Partnership: A "50-50" Deal with No Upfront Cost** - Harry details his partnership with MMG Media, a firm that handles the "boring stuff" (SEO, back-end) in exchange for significant upside.
  • 7 (21:43) **Framework for Evaluating Business Partnerships** - Harry provides a detailed framework for deciding whether to bring on an equity partner, based on his own experience.

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Show Notes

Today Greg is joined by Harry Campbell, the founder of The Rideshare Guy. In this episode, Greg finds out how Harry turned a blog into a media company that was built to sell.

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https://latecheckout.substack.com

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LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Harry Campbell:
https://twitter.com/TheRideshareGuy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwyU2RqlalzpKIrUhYWHfw

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
2:55 - Branding and The Guy Mafia
9:52 - The Rideshare Guy business model
13:30 - Media businesses built to sell
27:06 - Harry's wisest words




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