Rob SnyderGrix VC · Founder + Advisor | Fellow @ Harvard Innovation Labs | Founder @ Restack | Operating Partner @ Grix VC | HBS, ex-McK

How Uber addressed "BLOCKED" and "COPING" demand

16 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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1:19

In this brief dialogue, the speakers critique early Uber valuations that estimated the company’s total addressable market (TAM) by simply equating it to the existing taxi market—what they call “coping” demand, i.e., people already using taxis despite a sub‑par experience. They argue that this approach ignored a much larger “blocked” demand: individuals who avoided travel because taxis were impractical or unavailable, especially in rural or small‑town settings where full‑time taxi services are not viable. When Uber entered these markets, it not only captured the existing taxi users but also unlocked latent travel demand, expanding the TAM beyond the traditional taxi revenue base. The discussion highlights the importance of distinguishing between coping and blocked demand when sizing platform markets and notes the specific opportunity Uber created for rides in previously underserved rural areas.

Chapters

when people were initially valuing Uber and saying, well, here's the market size of Uber. What they did is they said, well, here's the market size of taxis, like how much money people are currently spending on taxis. Uber is a better taxi. People, when they are in taxis, are coping, but they hate the experience relative to Uber. And so we'll, we'll assume most people are coping in taxis, so Uber can attack that taxi market. What people valuing Uber did not understand was that there was also blocked pull, blocked demand, which is there were a ton of people who were just not going out. Taxis were just too unworkable of an option, but they had this project on their to-do list in that category of like, would do this if only there was a way such that when Uber shows up, they are traveling, they're going out, they're going places much more frequent, which means that the market size for Uber was, yeah, the taxi market plus the amount of blocked pull there was.
Thinking through that, like actually rural, uh, rides, small town rides that couldn't have, that couldn't or previously didn't support, uh, like a, a full-time taxi driver or, or company.