Well that’s a wrap! After 10 years at Lyft I've officially signed-off from the 'stache. Looking back, it’s hard to summarize how much fun we had building the brand, the product, and the experience. Fuzzy mustaches, glowing mustaches, connected devices, bikes, scooters, Ecto-1’s, Weinermobiles, zombies, Undercover Lyft’s, the list goes on and on… I have immense gratitude that John Zimmer prioritized irreverence, surprise and delight, paving the way for all of these amazing projects. Rideshare is a commodity, and you differentiate commodities via brand. It’s very hard to justify long-lead brand investments within data-driven organizations seeking quick returns, and John carved out a space to make magic. What’s next? Well, I’ve still got one foot in the door at Lyft, consulting part-time on a passion project that John Zimmer, Jesse McMillin, Zach Greenberger and I have been cooking up for years. Beyond that, I'll take on some additional consulting and advising roles as I slowly and surely figure out what’s next. If you’re looking to make some magic, give me a shout. This Carstache 2.0 video was the first "brand video" we ever made for a whopping $20K. I think it holds up ;-)
Introducing Carstache 2.0
https://www.youtube.com/
Darron Nelson
11mo
On and On and Up. To our 1 hour meeting before you joined Lyft, when I was a young Recruiter in the game trying to do BD to acquire a new client and met with a younger hungrier version of you. You needed a CTO essentially and were budget conscious and said "I'll pay $50K base plus equity" this was for a unique multi platform app I believe, concept a monster who eats cheeseburgers and drinks beer, totally relatable. While pitching your idea, you also told me about a pink mustache you created for fun, to put on the front of cars and no one close to you at the time thought they were cool, somewhat of a gimmick. You said you still had containers full, from oversees. That 1 hour lunch in 2011 stuck with me and creativity and curiosity always wins. Cheers Ethan
Jesse McMillin
11mo
REGGIE FOR EVER!!!
Melissa Waters
11mo
You're a legend, Ethan! Well done on the epic, hot pink ride. 💖 🚗
Ryan Hupfer
11mo
Damn that video is Lyfty.
Anson Cheung
11mo
Good luck Ethan Eyler ! Great to have worked with you. Excited to see what’s next for you.
Nic Perez
11mo
Congrats mate - everyone who knows me and knows Lyft knows that I know the dude that created it :) IFKYK Cannot wait to hear about the next adventure. GenAI is a bit crowded, but you've never shied away from a fight
Paige Heavin
11mo
#butterballmode
Matthew Law
11mo
If I had to sum up what you added to my experience at Lyft in a short sentence it'd probably be "Weird shit at enterprise scale". Thanks for keeping it weird man. Can't wait to see what's next.
Karin Onsager-Birch
11mo
OMG I never saw this. So good
Managing Partner, AKQA LA | Global Marketing Leader | CMO | Mentor
11moWhat a run! Icon.