Valuation of the Week #1: Narrative and Numbers

In this week's valuation, I try to illustrate the importance of narrative in valuation, using Uber as my example. In particular, as Uber's profile and estimated value (based on VC investments) soars, it is worth asking what the company's value is and what that value depends on.

The place to begin this journey is with this blog post that I had on Uber in December, where I looked at the different narratives (stories) you can tell about how Uber will evolve over time. Thus, the post starts with the fundamental question of what type of business you believe Uber is in, with your choices ranging from urban car service (taxicabs and limo services) to transportation (where Uber becomes an alternative to buying a car), thus determining your total market potential. It then moves on to questions about whether Uber has a local or a global network benefit (which determines the market share that you use in the valuation), how strong and sustainable its competitive advantages are (which determine margins) and what you think the chances are that the company will not make it. The spreadsheet that is attached to the post takes your choices and converts them into a value for Uber.

Once you are done with your narrative choices and come up with a value for Uber, please do go into the Google shared spreadsheet that is also linked to in the post and enter your estimated value for Uber.

Blog Posts

1. My initial post on Uber's value (June 9,2014)
2. My "build your own valuation" of Uber post (December 2014)

Attachments

1. Build you own valuation spreadsheet
2. Google Shared Spreadsheet