Uber COO discusses challenges of scaling new businesses

Uber COO and President Andrew Macdonald has identified the ‘classic innovator’s dilemma’ as a primary challenge for the company due to its massive scale. Speaking on the 20VC podcast, Macdonald noted that Uber’s core business is so large that it often consumes the organizational capacity, resources, and attention required to develop and scale new ventures.

With annualized gross bookings approaching $250 billion, Macdonald explained that new products must demonstrate a clear path to becoming multibillion-dollar businesses to be considered viable, which can constrain strategic thinking.

Despite these challenges, Uber continues to invest heavily in new sectors. Autonomous vehicles currently represent the company’s largest single area of investment. This includes partnerships with robotaxi platforms such as Alphabet’s Waymo and the launch of Uber Autonomous Solutions, a service designed to help autonomous vehicle companies commercialize their technology.