UberCab was founded in May 2010. Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick had only three cars at that moment. The idea was born on a winter evening when the two couldn't get a cab. They thought that taking a ride with a simple screen tap would be a great thing.
UberCab was Camp's side project. He worked on it between 2009 and 2010. The guys looked for employees on the Internet (e.g. Twitter). The first ride order was placed in San Francisco, Uber's starting place.
In its beginnings, Uber let its users order only a black luxury car for the price of 1.5 times the taxi price. This way, the perceived value of the service was high, and it kickstarted the word of mouth.
Then they recognized the weeks and the weekends with the highest demands on the cab services (Austin's SXSW Conference, late parties, concerts, sporting events, BBQ deliveries) and offered their services (sometimes even for free). This way they acquired thousands of customers within the shortest possible time periods, with a minimal budget.
