I would really recommend watching this talk[1] TK gave at Failcon back in 2011. It's a great insight into Travis's background and the mindset that he imbued into Uber in the early days.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QrX5jsiico

The Dollop (a history comedy podcast) recently did an episode on Uber and Kalanick.

http://thedollop.libsyn.com/271-uber

Brad Stone covers it in great detail in "The Upstarts". Great read.