The "right way" is hard, and more likely to be painful, certainly. But when you're done, you're done. The "forgiveness>permission" way has the added downside of your customers getting screwed too, and likely considering litigation.
By "worked" I meant building a large business. Sort of undeniable that Uber has done that. That lawsuit, despite its merits, isn't going to slow Uber's growth a whit.
Every U.S. business gets sued, it's the American way.
As a gratuitous side-note: despite the HN hatred of Uber (and I'm one of those who hate the company), the company wouldn't be growing if it's users didn't love it. Unlike the other most hated companies--mainly airlines, cable TV providers, and telecomms--users of Uber can very easily choose to use an alternative. Here in NYC, the alternative--flagging down a yellow cab--is probably actually easier to use than Uber, yet everyone I know uses Uber anyway. They're clearly doing something right.
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Asking for forgiveness rather than permission is a risky strategy, but one that pays off well when it works.
Where it seems to have worked: Uber, Paypal, et al.
Where it failed: Twitter clients, Craigslist front-ends, et al.
I'm not so sure it's worked for Uber, given this:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9694530
The "right way" is hard, and more likely to be painful, certainly. But when you're done, you're done. The "forgiveness>permission" way has the added downside of your customers getting screwed too, and likely considering litigation.
By "worked" I meant building a large business. Sort of undeniable that Uber has done that. That lawsuit, despite its merits, isn't going to slow Uber's growth a whit.
Every U.S. business gets sued, it's the American way.
As a gratuitous side-note: despite the HN hatred of Uber (and I'm one of those who hate the company), the company wouldn't be growing if it's users didn't love it. Unlike the other most hated companies--mainly airlines, cable TV providers, and telecomms--users of Uber can very easily choose to use an alternative. Here in NYC, the alternative--flagging down a yellow cab--is probably actually easier to use than Uber, yet everyone I know uses Uber anyway. They're clearly doing something right.