05-13-2026MY FIRST JOB

Lyft CEO David Risher on his first job and what he learned from it

‘Reliability is a form of respect’ — and other invaluable lessons.

[Photos: Lyft, Adobe Stock]

I mowed a lot of lawns and cleaned a lot of gutters as a kid, but my first consistent job was delivering newspapers. Today that sounds quaint, but it was a rite of passage back in the day.

I grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., raised primarily by my mom and in the most modest house of anyone I knew. She used to say we were never poor– we just didn’t have a lot of money. So at age 15 when I heard that a Washington Post delivery route paid $100/month, I jumped at the chance.

This was........

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