Like Uber, But For … Everything Else

The digital savant explains how new apps and start-ups frame themselves in a widening field of tech and on-demand services.

By Alain StephensJanuary 28, 2016 3:09 pm

If you need a ride from point A to point B, you have a few of options. You can take a bus or  taxi – or like thousands of people across the state you can whip out your smartphone and grab an Uber.

We don’t have to spell it out much further: the on-demand concept has become so popular that other services have now taken up the model. It’s a trend that caught the attention of the digital savant of the Austin American-Statesman, Omar Gallaga.

Gallaga has noticed a lot of start-ups pitch to him, a tech reporter, with the line “We’re the Uber of…” their particular service or industry.

“It’s just a shorthand,” he says. “It usually means connecting people in some way and turning that into a product or service.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– How calling an app the “Uber” or “Facebook” of its field helps companies frame themselves in the market

– The “Uber” of roommate hunting and the “Uber” of medical apps, among others