Advice Line with John Zimmer of Lyft
with John Zimmer
Executive Summary
John Zimmer discusses leaving Lyft’s operating role and later its board, then joins Guy Raz for three founder calls. Alan of ShowerSpaah weighs US expansion and positioning; the hosts propose small demand tests and relevant distribution partners. Teri of RUKSTR asks about inventory cash, prompting financing and pre-order ideas. Kobi of slowcocoa asks about personal sustainability and future worker ownership. Zimmer and Guy describe routines that helped them, not clinical treatment or a universal exercise schedule. Financing, pension withdrawals, equity and employee ownership require separate suitability and professional checks; no introduction or offer is treated as completed.
Key Takeaways
Takeaway 1
Zimmer's Lyft exit was staged over two years - operating role to board in 2023, off the board entirely weeks before this recording - and the harder step was leaving the operating role: three months of relief, then feeling 'a little bit lost.'
Takeaway 2
Zimmer describes a new consumer-business platform and his interpretation of a political speech. His criticism of certain products is a personal business view, not a finding that a particular product or category causes a disease.
Takeaway 3
Alan (ShowerSpaah, ~2,000-2,500 units and ~$200,000 in year one, bootstrapped from his pension) got a test-first expansion playbook from Zimmer: run cheap acquisition experiments across the use cases (mobility, luxury, even dog-washing) in the UK before US warehousing, use 3PL/Amazon to learn, and don't wait too long given the fast start.
Takeaway 4
Guy favors a focused mobility use case and considers business-development help. His Peloton and Warby Parker comparisons are analogies, not proof of a required beachhead. A role or equity arrangement needs deliverables, fair terms, customer evidence and available cash.
Takeaway 5
Teri reports repeated sellouts and inventory pressure. The hosts discuss specialist finance, friends and family and discounted pre-orders, but no option is a confirmed offer or automatically cheap. Compare fees, repayment, guarantees, personal relationships, fulfillment and refund obligations, not a prior platform loan alone.
Takeaway 6
Kobi asks about a business that consumes his time. The hosts discuss their own exercise, sleep and phone routines, and possible employee ownership. These are personal approaches, not treatment. A profit share is not legally the same as equity or an ESOP, and the named companies’ ownership percentages are not independently verified here.
Takeaway 7
Zimmer's closing answer on what he'd tell his younger self: enjoy the journey - the hard times made him a better entrepreneur, parent and husband - echoing a friend's early advice: 'Don't forget that this is not just about whatever you define as success. This is about learning.'
The Conversation Breakdown
Zimmer's update: leaving Lyft and starting Yes And
The speakers recount: The staged two-year exit from Lyft (operations to board in 2023, off the board weeks before recording); the relief-then-lostness of going from 100 miles an hour to an empty calendar; the mental-health basics he wishes he'd held to (sleep, diet, exercise - 'it felt selfish almost to take time for myself'); and Yes And, his new platform for consumer businesses with positive built-in outcomes, inspired by hearing Argentina's President Milei praise growth without asking growth of what.
Caller Alan: ShowerSpaah
The speakers recount: Nottingham, UK inventor of a screw-on showerhead that mixes soap and water on demand ('a car wash for people but way nicer'); born from a 20-year-old technical idea and his mother's balance problems; ~2,000-2,500 units and ~$200,000 in year one, sold DTC via Shopify with a UK 3PL, funded by cashing in part of his pension. Question: how to scale into the US while balancing mobility versus luxury positioning. Zimmer's advice: test the use cases cheaply at home (AdWords/Amazon experiments to learn CAC), enter the US through third-party logistics rather than own warehouses, and treat care homes as a channel-sales conversation. Guy's additions: keep the mobility focus, hire a biz-dev up-and-comer for equity.
Caller Teri: RUKSTR
The speakers recount: Los Angeles founder making weighted vests and backpacks that make rucking accessible, designed for women (comfort, padding, removable waist belt); discovered rucking four years ago as running recovery lengthened; $400,000 first-year DTC revenue, bootstrapped, five sellouts; tariffs and customs inspections worsening inventory lead times; iron-pellet raw material makes US/Mexico manufacturing impractical (her answer to Guy's Mexico question). Question: funding strategies to front inventory and grow sustainably. Zimmer's advice: keep searching for specialist inventory lenders (he offered an introduction to a friend whose credit fund finances DTC/Amazon sellers), benchmark a friends-and-family round off the Shopify Capital terms she already used, and run pre-orders with a small discount as community financing - honesty about the story makes it work.
Caller Kobi: slowcocoa
The speakers recount: Bronx craft-chocolate maker (co-founded with his sister Tovia), one-to-four-ingredient bars from single-origin cacao they visit in Guatemala; four and a half years in, farmers markets across the tri-state area plus online, more than doubling, three full-time staff growing to ten total, quarterly profit share for market sellers already in place. Question: how to practice personal sustainability when the business is his life's work. Zimmer's counsel: frame self-care as caring for the people who depend on you; Logan Green's rule - work out before work, 'make it your priority.' Guy's counsel: decide the business is better when you are better, then make it mechanical - his 'Brick' device locks the phone to 20 apps until after the morning workout; Zimmer adds no phones in the bedroom and his Light Phone 3 setup. On Kobi's worker-ownership ambition, Guy's advice: start the ESOP now, not at exit - New Belgium, Bob's Red Mill and Clif Bar did it early; Zimmer cites Lyft's IPO driver-equity program.
What Zimmer would tell his younger self
The speakers recount: No regrets, but: enjoy the journey - the hard years made him a better entrepreneur, parent, husband and a more empathetic human - and a friend's early line he returns to: 'Don't forget that this is not just about whatever you define as success. This is about learning.'
Archival clip: the beaver costume
The speakers recount: From Zimmer's 2017 founding episode: marketing Zimride on Cornell's quad in a frog-and-beaver costume the day before a Lehman recruiting event - and the student who recognized him in the suit.
Edition and sponsor notes
The speakers recount: Standard Advice Line frame with call-in details (1-800-433-1298, hibt@id.wondery.com) and Guy's newsletter promo (guyraz.com / Substack); credits: produced by Chris Messini, music by Ramtin Arablouei, edited by Andrea Bruce, engineer James Willetts.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Test-and-learn before you expand
Editorial synthesis: define a bounded demand test, permitted claims and a cash ceiling before entering a new geography. Compare channel economics, import and safety requirements and customer support; a 3PL or marketplace does not remove those duties.
Own a niche first
Editorial synthesis: compare a specific initial user with a broader promise using real behavior and operating constraints. A focused niche can help learning but is not always the correct market or a reason to dismiss another use case.
Community-financed inventory
Editorial synthesis: compare pre-orders with other funding only after assessing deliverability, timing, consumer rights, refunds and honest disclosures. Discounts create costs and orders create obligations; customer enthusiasm is not a guarantee of free working capital.
Founder sustainability as strategy
Editorial synthesis: inspect workload, recovery, support and decision rights. Choose routines that fit the person, and seek appropriate help for persistent health concerns. Employee ownership is a separate legal and financial decision, not a wellness shortcut.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Before a geography test, define audience, legal requirements, supported claims, budget and a stop condition. Compare evidence from the present market without assuming it transfers.
- ✓Compare marketplace, third-party logistics and direct channels including fees, returns, compliance and support. Lower headline setup cost does not necessarily mean low total risk.
- ✓Map the inventory cash gap and compare qualified financing, terms and downside. Use pre-orders only with credible delivery and refund plans; do not copy friends-and-family terms from an unrelated loan.
- ✓Choose one manageable workload or phone-boundary experiment that fits your needs. Treat the hosts’ routines as personal examples, not health treatment or an obligation to exercise first.
- ✓If worker ownership is a real goal, discuss lawful structures, tax, valuation, governance and worker preferences with qualified advisers. Keep profit sharing, shares and an ESOP distinct.
Notable Quotes
“it's a privileged problem to have”
“It gave me a lot of purpose and meaning, you know, outside of my family life.”
“Peloton started with serious cyclists”
“Why don't we pass that to the customers?”
“you have to believe that your business is better when you are better”
“take the phone out of your bedroom if it's still there”
“Don't forget that this is not just about whatever you define as success. This is about learning.”
The One Thing to Remember
Treat founder capacity as an operating constraint alongside cash and customer demand. Zimmer and Guy describe personal routines and structural options, but the right choice depends on the person, obligations and qualified support where needed.