????Uber已經(jīng)整整5歲了。對于許多用戶來說，那些只能靠出租車或打電話叫車外出的日子，似乎已經(jīng)成為一段難以想象的歷史。Uber當然已經(jīng)長大，就算它還沒有成長為一家巨頭級企業(yè)。目前，Uber已進入全球58個國家的311個城市。為了紀念成立5周年，Uber在它的家鄉(xiāng)和第一個市場舊金山舉辦了一系列推廣活動。該公司CEO特拉維斯?卡拉尼克將對Uber的員工、司機和各路貴賓發(fā)表演講。演講的主題包括大城市面對的挑戰(zhàn)（比如，怎樣讓道路變得更安全，怎樣應對交通擁堵，怎樣提高經(jīng)濟增長機會等），以及Uber計劃如何應對。此外，Uber在舊金山的員工本周也將分頭趕往城市各處，志愿參加一些市政工程建設。

????為了紀念成立5周年，Uber最近允許最早加入該公司的5名員工接受媒體采訪，談談他們是如何來到Uber的，最早的任務是什么。他們的故事都有一些共同的主題，比如意外加盟了一家一開始似乎毫不起眼的公司，然后拼命創(chuàng)新，利用Twitter求職，與重要的科技發(fā)展保持同步等等。以下是采訪記錄。

????Uber turns five this week. For many users it’s hard to imagine a time when taxis or dial-a-number car services were the only way to be driven around. If Uber isn’t quite grown up yet, it certainly has grown. It is now in 311 cities in 58 countries, and it employs more than 3,000 people worldwide. To celebrate its anniversary the company is running a series of promotions in its home town and first market, San Francisco. Travis Kalanick, the company’s chief executive, also plans to give a speech to Uber’s employees, drivers, and various dignitaries. He’ll focus on the challenges that cities face (including safer roads, congestion, and economic opportunity) and how he thinks Uber can help. As well, Uber’s San Francisco employees plan to fan out across San Francisco over the weekend, volunteering on a handful of public-works projects.

????In celebration of its anniversary, Uber recently made five of its earliest employees available for interviews to talk about how they came to Uber and what some of their first tasks were. Their stories have some common themes, including the serendipity of joining something that didn’t look like much at first, scrapping to get something new going, and using Twitter to job hunt and stay abreast of critical developments. Their comments follow.

????2009年，萊恩?格拉維斯還在為通用電氣工作，他覺得自己需要改變。

????我說：“我不能當一個通用人?！蔽蚁脒M入創(chuàng)業(yè)界。于是我在Twitter上關注了紐約的很多人，以及全國各地的天使投資人，因為我猜想天使投資人知道下一個大事件是什么。

????我想了解下一個創(chuàng)新。我去見了Foursquare（一家基于用戶地理位置信息的手機服務網(wǎng)站）的人，當時他們只有四五個人，也沒有提供任何實習機會或業(yè)務崗位，但我還是去了芝加哥，其實就算開始為Foursquare工作了。我干了大約3個月，然后通過我關注的某位天使投資人的Twitter賬號看到了特拉維斯發(fā)的一條推文。他談到了Uber獲得大機構投資，有大人物支持。我覺得那聽起來非常有意思。

????于是我給他發(fā)了私信，然后寫了幾段話介紹我自己。我們整整聊了兩個小時，一直聊到凌晨一點鐘。然后，我在半夜叫醒我妻子說：“嘿，我們搬到舊金山怎么樣？”當時我們住在芝加哥。她說：“如果你覺得好，我支持你?！?/p>

????格拉維斯于2010年2月搬到舊金山。新公司當時有很多工作要做，特別是要繼續(xù)完善Uber聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人加勒特?坎普開發(fā)的產(chǎn)品。

????加勒特有一個原型產(chǎn)品，但運行得不是很好。所以我們首先做的，就是在進入蘋果應用商店之前，找家公司重新構造。那家公司名叫Mobley，后來被團購網(wǎng)站Groupon收購了。然后，我們設計了UberCab.com的網(wǎng)站。我們還完善了注冊流程和集成信用卡支付系統(tǒng)。所有最基礎的商務框架都需要被構建出來。當時我們經(jīng)常約一名司機在咖啡店見面，問他問題，以了解現(xiàn)實世界能否接受我們的理念。

????Ryan Graves was working for GE in 2009, and he decided he needed a change.

????I said, “I cannot be the GE guy.” I wanted to get into the startup world. I started following on Twitter a lot of guys in New York and angel investors around the country, figuring that angel investors know what’s coming next.

????I wanted to know what was coming next in terms of starting something. I met the Foursquare guys when there were four or five them. They weren’t offering any kind of internships or business roles at the time, but I went out to Chicago and essentially started working for Foursquare. I did that for about three months. Then I saw a Tweet from Travis through some random angel investor who I was following who didn’t know him from Adam. He talked about big equity, big people involved. And I thought that sounded interesting.

????So I tweeted at him and I shot him a couple of paragraphs about who I was. We spoke that night ’till one in the morning. It was a two-hour conversation. I woke up my wife in the middle of the night and said, “Hey, what do you think about moving to San Francisco?” We were in Chicago at the time. To her credit, she said, “If you think it’s a good idea, I’m up for it.”

????Graves moved to San Francisco in February 2010. There was a lot of work to do at the new company, including improving on the work of one of Uber’s co-founders, Garrett Camp.

????Garrett had a prototype that didn’t work very well, so one of the first things we did was go out and get a firm to rebuild it before we pushed it to the App Store. They were called Mobley and were later acquired by Groupon. Then we designed the site for UberCab.com. We also worked on things like the sign-up flow and integrated credit card payment systems. All of the basics of commerce needed to be built out. We had one guy who was a driver that we would meet with at coffee shops, asking him questions so we could get an idea if the real world would accept this idea.