Macdonald explains that membership programs get better over time because cohorts of members tend to ride more, consolidate more mobility business onto Uber, and use Uber Eats instead of competitors, increasing LTV and reducing churn. ✦ AI generated
Andrew Macdonald · 20VC · 2026-08-17 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 7:41
“You said it's not quite Amazon or Costco say in terms of membership dominance.”
Membership just gets better over time. The reason it gets better over time is, you know, if Harry becomes a member, not only do you ride more next month, but actually that cohort of members we acquired in that month tends to ride more over time. They can solve and part of that is because they're consolidating more of their mobility business onto Uber. Part of it is because actually that you get some Uber Eats benefits with your membership program, too. So now you start using Uber Eats instead of DoorDash or Deliveroo. And so the LTV of Harry just goes up over time with membership. You're less likely to churn. You're more resilient from a market share perspective. Like there's all these downstream long-term impacts that sort of multiply the value of that first dollar I put in.
verbatim transcript · starts at 7:41
7:41you know, if Harry becomes a member, not only do you ride more next month, but actually that cohort of members we acquired in that month tends to ride more over time. They can solve and part of that is because they're consolidating more of their mobility business onto Uber. Part of it is because actually that you get some Uber Eats benefits with your membership program, too. So now you start using Uber Eats instead of
8:02DoorDash or Deliveroo. And so the LTV of Harry just goes up over time with membership. You're less likely to churn. You're more resilient from a market share perspective. Like there's all these downstream long-term impacts that sort of multiply the value of that first dollar I put in a membership. Uh with with shorter term levels like price or promotion, there's some tail like you know, if I give you a dollar to
8:25take a trip next week, there's some value in the following weeks, but it tends to sort of dissipate faster. And so that that's often the debate. >> You said it's not quite Amazon or Costco say in terms of membership dominance. >> Yeah. >> I think that's fair. They've had more head start than you. When you look at that chasm between you, what do you not have that you would need to have to
8:47reach that dominance? >> From my perspective, we need to put more consumer value into the membership program. So today, uh I think especially if you're a mobility rider. So on typically on mobility, you're getting like 5% cash back, right? Is is our standard standard sort of offer. The consumer comprehension of that is still relatively low. Like for a membership program as big as we are, I think there's still a lot of people who