30% of Uber drivers in the US have never had a bank account, but they need a minimum of a debit card to get paid on the app. So Uber has allowed drivers to sign up for a bank account as part of the application process, and in doing so has become the largest acquirer of small business bank accounts in the US.
Business & Brands
Uber was was originally a luxury brand before it went mass market; targeted at wealthy professionals and positioned as ‘Everyone’s Private Driver’. It only allowed users to hail a black luxury car and the price was around 1.5 times that of a regular taxi.
What’s worth £99.2bn a year according to one trusted source and £147bn to another? The UK grocery market. Some sources rely on EPoS (electronic point of sale) data – every transaction a retailer has made – but Aldi and Lidl famously don’t share this data, leaving out a huge chunk of the market. Others rely on consumers scanning barcodes of items they’ve bought, but this only covers products that are brought home after purchase and excludes products consumed outside the home after purchase.
In recent years, credit income has made up half of all income for the likes of Nordstrom and Kohl’s.
Roy Raymond founded Victoria’s Secret so that he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable buying lingerie for his wife.
The online marketplace was started by Milda Mitkute, a 22 year old student, who had a wardrobe stuffed full of clothes but couldn’t fit them all in her small flat. What if she could sell them online?
Richard Branson set up Virgin Records when he was only 20 years old. Lacking experience in the music industry – and business more broadly – he promoted music that he thought was cool, even though it was shunned by traditional labels. It was this alternative positioning that built the brand’s fame, helping it sign musicians like the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols.
How could Volkswagen hope to outsell competitors with a cheap, slightly ugly German car? Flaunt its flaws, and ask consumers to “think small.”
Cars aren’t even VW’s best selling product. They produce roughly 8 million currywursts (sausages) every year, which they sell in factory restaurants, as well as supermarkets and football stadiums.
The opening of a new Waitrose supposedly adds £36,000 to the value of nearby properties. But this ‘Waitrose effect’ is the result of reverse correlation: the supermarket chooses store locations that are already expensive.
Once a poster child for the DTC model, the glasses brand now generates 2/3 of its revenue from physical stores.
The legendary investor drafts his annual letters with his sister Bertie in mind. “She’s smart, but she’s not active in business and she doesn’t read the business pages every day… so, what would interest Bertie this year?”
Waymap is a revolutionary navigation app that works underground and in crowds, where conventional services are notoriously unreliable. It was borne out the frustration of Tom Pey, who lost his sight after falling from a roof. “We saw that there was a problem for blind people, which actually mirrored a similar problem for everybody. Google Maps and its equivalents only work outdoors for some people, some of the time, and work indoors for no one.”
Tim Martin started Wetherspoons in the 1970s, basing the name of his company on a former teacher who believed he wouldn’t amount to anything.
It’s no wonder WH Smith disappeared from British high streets in 2025. It is really a travel business, generating £1.5 billion in sales from branches in airports and stations vs £452 million from shops on high streets.