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This week, WeWork got a huge bailout from an investor after its plan to go public went belly-up amid disclosures of rampant mismanagement. Now the company can\u2019t even afford to lay off the thousands of employees it would like to because it can\u2019t afford to pay their severance packages. The parallels to Uber, which did go public this fall, are striking: just like WeWork, Uber was a unicorn startup\u2014lavishly funded and poised to take its place in the tech pantheon. And like WeWork\u2019s Adam Neumann, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was ousted by investors and made millions on the way out the door. When that happened in 2017, Uber went through a public reckoning, but the full details of the company\u2019s misdeeds were only revealed this fall. Award-winning New York Times technology correspondent Mike Isaac has reported on Uber from its beginnings, and his new book, Super Pumped, tells the whole story of how Uber came to symbolize everything that has gone wrong with Silicon Valley. Isaac joins us in the studio to take us inside Uber, while it was rising and as it was falling.

Go beyond the episode:

• Mike Isaac\u2019s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
• Listen to \u201cGet Rich or Die Trying,\u201d our podcast interview with reporter Corey Pein on his experiences in Silicon Valley
• For more on Adam Neumann\u2019s downfall, read Matt Stoller\u2019s take on \u201cWeWork and Counterfeit Capitalism\u201d in his newsletter

Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on Facebook.

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Have suggestions for projects you\u2019d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman.

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