Lyft’s Creators Used to Hand Out Flyers in Animal Costumes. Soon They’ll Ring the Nasdaq

On Friday, Lyft Inc. filed to go public, in an offering that could value the business at $20 billion to $25 billion. The prospectus fits a classic Silicon Valley-company-in-growth-mode archetype: skyrocketing revenue (doubling annually to $2.2 billion last year), mounting losses ($911 million last year) and an aspirational motto that ties it all together: “Improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.”

Lyft also fits the mold in another way: Its original business was a dud. Lyft was founded in 2007 as a company called Zimride. The founders’ goal was to let people find carpools for long road trips. Zimride co-creator Logan Green was frustrated by his experiences on the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District board in college, when he tried unsuccessfully to improve the quality of local bus service and bring the car-sharing service Zipcar to campus. He was also inspired by the packed minivan taxis he saw on a trip abroad one summer to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.