The hardest thing for us is to build is lasting consumer loyalty. The average consumer shops at three sites; we want to be two of those three sites.

If you don't optimize for the consumer on the Internet, you're dead.

My father had to go back to Iran to take care of his father when I was 13 and was detained for six years before returning. My mom was raising three kids without a dad.

I started in investment banking at Allen & Company in 1991. It was the go-go days of media mergers, and we were incredibly busy with one deal after another. Unlike typical investment banking groups, even in the midst of merger mania, we didn't have a formal face-time culture - and I felt empowered by that.

Failure can teach you something, and as long as you're moving very, very quickly, you're going to start piling up the wins. Speed gives you the luxury to be able to fail.

Uber is a company that is redefining the transportation industry on a global basis; to be part of that story is something that is interesting and would be a real privilege.