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#9 - The Accountant Turned Engineer – Early Uber Employee Ryan McKillen | The Early Podcast
For this episode, we’re going EARLY EARLY… Uber employee #3!
Ryan McKillen helped build Uber from the ground up — literally. He walked in on day one to find a stack of pristine coding books… and one beat-up Spanish dictionary.
“Why?”
“All the code’s in Spanish. Welcome to Uber.”
Ryan went from CPA to self-taught engineer, joined Uber pre-hypergrowth, helped launch Paris in 5 weeks, and was there for the infamous cease & desist moment that put the company on the map. He shares what it was like building through chaos, working side-by-side with Travis, and how the early Uber culture shaped his career — and life.
In this episode, we cover:
• The very first days of Uber — and why all the code was in Spanish
• What Travis Kalanick did after the cease & desist
• How Ryan helped launch Uber Paris in 5 weeks
• What made early Uber’s engineering culture so special
• Ryan’s post-Uber chapter: sailing, startups, and owning the U.S. SailGP team
This one’s packed with real stories, startup grit, and some hilarious early tech chaos. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to build from day one — listen up.
Episode 9 is live. Let’s go. 🚀
👇 Connect with Ryan
📱 Ryan on LinkedIn: / ryan-mckillen
🎧 Listen to the full episode here:
🔹 Spotify: https://shorturl.at/xyzRY
🔹 Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/abc12
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe — new episodes every Tuesday!
⸻
🚀 New episodes drop every Tuesday. Let’s build this together!!!!
👉 Like, Subscribe, and Drop a Comment — I want to hear from you!
📩 Email me at [email protected] with your thoughts or guest recommendations.
📱 Follow along for daily updates on social media platforms.
🐦 Follow on X (Twitter): https://x.com/maxjcrowley
✨ Follow on TikTok: / earlypod
📸 Follow on Instagram: / earlypod
💼 Connect on LinkedIn: / maxjc
📩 Newsletter & More Content: https://www.earlyemployee.com/subscribe
#EarlyPodcast #Uber #StartupStories #Founders #TechFounders #SiliconValley #EngineeringLeadership #StartupCulture #ScaleUp #ProductDriven #FoundersJourney #Podcast
View all episodes
By Max CrowleyFor this episode, we’re going EARLY EARLY… Uber employee #3!
Ryan McKillen helped build Uber from the ground up — literally. He walked in on day one to find a stack of pristine coding books… and one beat-up Spanish dictionary.
“Why?”
“All the code’s in Spanish. Welcome to Uber.”
Ryan went from CPA to self-taught engineer, joined Uber pre-hypergrowth, helped launch Paris in 5 weeks, and was there for the infamous cease & desist moment that put the company on the map. He shares what it was like building through chaos, working side-by-side with Travis, and how the early Uber culture shaped his career — and life.
In this episode, we cover:
• The very first days of Uber — and why all the code was in Spanish
• What Travis Kalanick did after the cease & desist
• How Ryan helped launch Uber Paris in 5 weeks
• What made early Uber’s engineering culture so special
• Ryan’s post-Uber chapter: sailing, startups, and owning the U.S. SailGP team
This one’s packed with real stories, startup grit, and some hilarious early tech chaos. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to build from day one — listen up.
Episode 9 is live. Let’s go. 🚀
👇 Connect with Ryan
📱 Ryan on LinkedIn: / ryan-mckillen
🎧 Listen to the full episode here:
🔹 Spotify: https://shorturl.at/xyzRY
🔹 Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/abc12
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe — new episodes every Tuesday!
⸻
🚀 New episodes drop every Tuesday. Let’s build this together!!!!
👉 Like, Subscribe, and Drop a Comment — I want to hear from you!
📩 Email me at [email protected] with your thoughts or guest recommendations.
📱 Follow along for daily updates on social media platforms.
🐦 Follow on X (Twitter): https://x.com/maxjcrowley
✨ Follow on TikTok: / earlypod
📸 Follow on Instagram: / earlypod
💼 Connect on LinkedIn: / maxjc
📩 Newsletter & More Content: https://www.earlyemployee.com/subscribe
#EarlyPodcast #Uber #StartupStories #Founders #TechFounders #SiliconValley #EngineeringLeadership #StartupCulture #ScaleUp #ProductDriven #FoundersJourney #Podcast