Why Kayak co-founder Paul English sold his business for £2bn and became an Uber driver

Paul English said he 'wanted to know what it feels like to be rated'

English started driving for Uber on Halloween last year

An ex-CEO who sold his business for $2 billion could be your next Uber ride.

Paul English co-founded the flight-finding website Kayak, which he then sold to Priceline for around $2 billion in 2012.

After realising most of his meetings were with people involved in tech or non-profits he decided to broaden his circle and started to work as a driver for Uber, the ride-hailing app.

“I went out driving from midnight to 2 am,” English told Inc.

“People thought it was kind of hilarious that someone dressed up like a vampire was driving a Tesla,” he added.

English started his driver’s career on Halloween last year using his Tesla Model S P85, an all-electric car whose base price is $105,000.

According to Inc, English writes down a sentence about every rider and doesn’t hide the fact that he is an engineer from his customers.

Leila Cambers, executive director Flying Kites with Paul English and Jenny Johnson (Getty Images)

“Why are you driving a car if you teach at MIT? I have many lives,“ English told one his passengers.

English uses his experience as a driver to get a better understanding of how the service-economy is rated.

On Uber his current rating is a 4.97 out of 5 stars.

”Being a competitive person, I wonder: Who didn't give me five stars? What did I do wrong?“ English said.

The research will go towards his new venture Lola, an invite-only travel booking service, which launched on the Apple App Store and has already secured $19.7 million in funding.

Lola promises to simplify the process of online travel booking. Customers will be able to send their requests to a representative through a chat but the rest, from arranging flight to booking a hotel, will be done by the app team.

Described as an app that will act as a travel concierge, it explains why customers service is so important for Paul English

“I want my agents to be competitive. Having ratings allows you to say, ‘I want to get better.'” English said