{
 "company": "sidecar",
 "as_of": "2026-09-25",
 "choices": [
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p01",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Concepts rejected before launch",
   "statement": "In late 2011 the founders dropped a fixed-route smartphone bus copying the 38 Express (lawyers judged it illegal), a routed shuttle for groups of friends and coordinated shared black-car or taxi rides (too complicated).",
   "event_date": "2011",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC7"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p02",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Donation pricing",
   "statement": "Rides were priced as suggested donations the rider could change, modeled on carpooling and a volunteer car service, with \"not making a profit\" measured annually rather than per mile.",
   "event_date": "2011",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC7"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p03",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Driver vetting and insurance",
   "statement": "Drivers passed electronic background checks matching San Francisco taxi standards, and the company provided liability cover up to $1 million on top of personal policies.",
   "event_date": "2012",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC7"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p04",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Payment, navigation and ratings",
   "statement": "The app took card payment electronically and offered GPS navigation, turn-by-turn directions for drivers and ratings.",
   "event_date": "2012",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC7"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g01",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "First customers",
   "statement": "The first hundred customers came through the founders' networks, including University of Michigan connections on the founding team.",
   "event_date": "2012",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC9"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g02",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Category name",
   "statement": "Paul coined \"ridesharing\" for the service, chosen to describe a future of strangers sharing rides and to align with the sharing economy.",
   "event_date": "2012",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC7"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p05",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Single-rider first version",
   "statement": "The original plan for multi-passenger, multi-stop rides was cut: the first version carried one passenger to one destination. A test site was live by February 7, 2012.",
   "event_date": "2012-02",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC7"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g03",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "San Francisco launch",
   "statement": "The public service launched in San Francisco in June 2012; by October it had hundreds of drivers and more than 50,000 completed rides.",
   "event_date": "2012-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC10"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p06",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Insurance status",
   "statement": "In October 2012 Sidecar was still working to put supplemental insurance for drivers on duty in place.",
   "event_date": "2012-10",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC10"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g04",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Series A for a city-by-city rollout",
   "statement": "Sidecar raised $10 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Google Ventures to roll out city by city in dense areas with constrained taxi supply.",
   "event_date": "2012-10-10",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC10"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g05",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Operating through enforcement",
   "statement": "The state regulator fined Sidecar $20,000 for unlicensed charter-party service; Sidecar kept operating.",
   "event_date": "2012-11-14",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC11"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p07",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Heyride acquisition",
   "statement": "Sidecar acquired Heyride, an Austin ride-sharing startup, to improve its app design and user experience; four Heyride staff joined.",
   "event_date": "2013-02-14",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC13"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g06",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Seven markets announced",
   "statement": "Sidecar launched Philadelphia, Austin and Los Angeles at once and named New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington as next.",
   "event_date": "2013-02-14",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC13"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g08",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Free festival rides",
   "statement": "In Austin during South by Southwest the company gave free rides, drawing more than 20,000 requests, and sued the city over its ruling that the service was illegal.",
   "event_date": "2013-03",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC14"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g07",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Weekend-night launch hours",
   "statement": "Boston, Brooklyn and Chicago opened from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekend nights until each reached critical mass.",
   "event_date": "2013-03-15",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC14"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p08",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Driver-set prices and rider choice",
   "statement": "Drivers set their own prices and riders chose among nearby drivers by price, rating and distance, instead of being assigned the nearest driver.",
   "event_date": "2014-02",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC20"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p09",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Driver profiles",
   "statement": "Drivers could describe themselves in the app with a picture and a short profile, and riders could see drivers before choosing.",
   "event_date": "2014-02",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC21"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g09",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Personal positioning",
   "statement": "Union Square Ventures invested on the thesis that \"Uber is efficient and Sidecar is personal\", comparing the two to Amazon and Etsy.",
   "event_date": "2014-02",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC21"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p11",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Shared Rides test",
   "statement": "Sidecar tested shared rides for people traveling in the same direction and counted 13,000 requests during the test.",
   "event_date": "2014-05",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC24"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p10",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Upfront price, no surge",
   "statement": "The price was known before every trip and there was no surge pricing.",
   "event_date": "2014-08-18",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC9"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g10",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Acquisition channels",
   "statement": "Riders came mainly by word of mouth, a $5 referral coupon, digital advertising and email.",
   "event_date": "2014-08-18",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC9"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g11",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Drivers from UberX",
   "statement": "Paul said many Sidecar drivers had switched from UberX for the flexibility and control over rates.",
   "event_date": "2014-08-28",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC16"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g12",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Follow-on round and footprint",
   "statement": "Sidecar raised $15 million from Union Square Ventures, Avalon Ventures and Richard Branson, for $35 million in total, while serving eight metro areas.",
   "event_date": "2014-09-15",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC15"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p13",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Packages with passengers",
   "statement": "Same-day deliveries were routed in the same cars as passengers, after a six-month Bay Area test.",
   "event_date": "2015-02-09",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC17"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g14",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Delivery partners",
   "statement": "Eat24 was the pilot partner for Sidecar Deliveries; deliveries were already 10% of San Francisco volume and were meant to be half the business by the end of 2015.",
   "event_date": "2015-02-09",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC17"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p12",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Destination entry",
   "statement": "Every user had to enter a destination, which let the system match trips going the same way.",
   "event_date": "2015-03-05",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC2"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g13",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Driver hourly guarantees",
   "statement": "Sidecar offered hourly guarantees to drivers who booked blocks of at least three hours, completed a ride an hour, kept a 90% response rate and drove within designated areas.",
   "event_date": "2015-03-18",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC23"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g15",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Delivery-only focus",
   "statement": "In August 2015 Sidecar redirected most of its resources from rides to delivery.",
   "event_date": "2015-08",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SC18"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-p14",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Features claimed as firsts",
   "statement": "The co-founders list Destination, turn-by-turn directions, Shared ETA, Shared Rides, Back-to-Back rides and the driver-set price marketplace as Sidecar firsts.",
   "event_date": "2015-12-29",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC4"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "sidecar-g16",
   "business": "Peer-to-peer ride marketplace",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Shutdown",
   "statement": "Ride and delivery service ended at 2 p.m. Pacific on December 31, 2015.",
   "event_date": "2015-12-31",
   "date_precision": "day",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SC4"
   ]
  }
 ]
}