How Rachel Holt Helped Fight for Ridesharing in DC and beyond | Early Podcast Ep. 7

Recorded in person, in New York City!

In this episode of Early, Max Crowley sits down with Rachel Holt — one of the earliest and most impactful operators at Uber and one of the company's first General Managers. Rachel shares never-before-heard stories from the company’s early days, including regulatory showdowns in D.C., the launch playbook, hiring her first team, and what it was like working directly with Travis Kalanick during Uber’s most high-stakes moments.

👀 What you’ll hear:

• The viral tweet that triggered a taxi war in Washington D.C.

• The 83-year-old cab commissioner who ordered an Uber… and had it impounded on the spot

• Rachel’s journey from Stanford MBA to General Manager of the U.S. and Canada

• How Uber scaled with humans first—and product second

• Lessons from Travis and Dara on leadership, pressure, and building generational companies

• Why Rachel left Uber and co-founded Construct Capital to back the next wave of real-world tech founders

If you’ve ever wondered what it really looked like inside Uber during hyper-growth, this is the episode for you.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here:

🔹 Spotify: https://shorturl.at/e6FUf

🔹 Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/Crg2V

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