Uber IPO and the Morgan Stanley Banker / Driver

Is this real life? Apparently MS banker Michael Grimes has been "moonlighting" as an Uber driver for years. This is the same guy who has led some of the hottest tech IPOs in the past decade. Why would somebody like him part-time drive for Uber?

The cynic in me thinks that this is A) a gimmick - leaked to WSJ by MS to one-up bakeoff competitors B) vastly exaggerated (maybe the guy drove once or twice) or C) done as a strategic ploy, years in advance, to gain positioning for the eventual IPO.

Thoughts?

25 Comments
 

Do you realize the kind of market surveillance he could do as an uber driver? The calls he can listen to, the meetings he takes people to, the information people tell their uber drivers is insane.

SO smart.

 
Funniest

I didn't ask for these feels

Don't beat yourself up on this, Eric. Some people like taking the long way home. Who the fuck knows?
 
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Good god this is beyond belief. Uber drivers are independent contractors, but they are still contractors. I'll bet you Uber's latest valuation that even a low level company employee can confirm in about two mouse clicks that Michael Grimes is or is not one of their drivers, and if he is, exactly where, when and how many miles he's driven.

And FB was a disaster? The stock is up 5x since the IPO. I need more disasters like that in my portfolio. And you have a poor understanding of how entrepreneurs are wired if you think Uber's CEO and board members would be offended by one of their potential bankers driving for them. Grimes probably doesn't need to work at all, let alone as an Uber driver. What this says it that he is making an extraordinary and unique effort to understand their business, which is probably the single biggest factor in banker selection.

 

success doesn't necessarily mean they're flush with cash. had that experience recently. got into a very clean uber and the guy had a custom suit hanging up in the backseat. without hesitation, proceeds to tell me his life story, here are the highlights:

  • big hitter in 2006-2007 in PWM, making probably $500k a year in a tier 2 city in the midwest (think StL, Cincy, KC, Milwaukee, etc.), and had the lifestyle to go with it
  • got served divorce papers in 2008
  • market crash, income with it, down 50%
  • wife gets alimony and assets based upon date of separation (which was the top of the market), in other words, the guy got cleaned out
  • guy takes a deal to transfer firms but wife gets half of that, simply keeps bill collectors away
  • still in PWM but drives uber to help pay for his kid's college

it's possible this guy is still a rockstar dealmaker but has to dole out 50% of his gross income to an ex wife, pay her mortgage, pay his mortgage, and pay for kids in college, maybe uber is just a way for him to not spend money and make a little extra scratch.

I bet it's more of a gimmick, but these kinds of things are not outside the realm of possibility.

 

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