Episode
Tony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
48:20
Published: Fri Mar 24 2023
Description
In this episode we catch up with Tony Xu, founder and CEO of the food delivery service, DoorDash. Tony and his cofounders were students at Stanford when they first launched DoorDash as a class project. Y Combinator funded them as part of its summer batch in 2013. In this episode, Tony takes us through version 1 of their idea to what is now a public company (DASH) operating in 27 countries across the globe.
Chapters
The speaker shares their experience of coming to the US from China at the age of five with their family and their mother working tirelessly at three jobs for the first 12 years of their upbringing.
00:00 - 03:17 (03:17)
Summary
The speaker shares their experience of coming to the US from China at the age of five with their family and their mother working tirelessly at three jobs for the first 12 years of their upbringing. They also mention how working in local businesses helped them learn English and get to know the neighborhood.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
The speaker discusses their experience with moving from a different area where academics were not as important and using playing sports to make friends and integrate into their new community.
03:17 - 07:07 (03:49)
Summary
The speaker discusses their experience with moving from a different area where academics were not as important and using playing sports to make friends and integrate into their new community. They also mention applying to business school, specifically Stanford, on the advice of a friend.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
Four co-founders united by their interest in helping small businesses, shared their stories and took a class on working on different projects which led to them working on marketing tools for small businesses.
07:07 - 10:29 (03:22)
Summary
Four co-founders united by their interest in helping small businesses, shared their stories and took a class on working on different projects which led to them working on marketing tools for small businesses.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
The founder of Palo Alto Delivery shares the story of how his business was discovered through a Google search and discusses the importance of focusing on solving a specific problem rather than trying to cater to everyone's needs.
10:29 - 15:59 (05:29)
Summary
The founder of Palo Alto Delivery shares the story of how his business was discovered through a Google search and discusses the importance of focusing on solving a specific problem rather than trying to cater to everyone's needs.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
The founder of DoorDash talks about the importance of being curious and competent at logistics, the early confidence in DoorDash's success, and the importance of solving actual problems.
15:59 - 22:15 (06:16)
Summary
The founder of DoorDash talks about the importance of being curious and competent at logistics, the early confidence in DoorDash's success, and the importance of solving actual problems.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
Two-thirds of the growth in the food delivery business came from the suburbs in the last decade.
22:15 - 27:48 (05:32)
Summary
Two-thirds of the growth in the food delivery business came from the suburbs in the last decade. By answering three important questions about what consumers, restaurants, and drivers want, the industry can achieve organic growth.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
As a business grows, it experiences unforeseen consequences like apartment owners inquiring about availability in specific zip codes where their restaurant delivery service is available.
27:48 - 35:38 (07:50)
Summary
As a business grows, it experiences unforeseen consequences like apartment owners inquiring about availability in specific zip codes where their restaurant delivery service is available. These were things that could not have been predicted from the onset of the business, as they tend to reveal themselves with scaling up.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
The speaker emphasizes the significance of setting routines in one's life to maintain balance between work and personal life, and gives examples of his own routines like running every day and not missing date nights before having kids.
35:38 - 38:20 (02:41)
Summary
The speaker emphasizes the significance of setting routines in one's life to maintain balance between work and personal life, and gives examples of his own routines like running every day and not missing date nights before having kids.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
DoorDash CEO, Tony Xu, discusses the importance of not resting on past accomplishments due to the rapidly changing nature of the world and how this applies to both his company and the wider business world.
38:27 - 45:30 (07:03)
Summary
DoorDash CEO, Tony Xu, discusses the importance of not resting on past accomplishments due to the rapidly changing nature of the world and how this applies to both his company and the wider business world.
EpisodeTony Xu, Founder & CEO of Doordash
PodcastThe Social Radars
The podcast hosts discuss the need to continue creating and innovating, and question whether other organizations have looked at Tony Hsieh's success with Zappos as a model.
45:30 - 48:15 (02:45)
Summary
The podcast hosts discuss the need to continue creating and innovating, and question whether other organizations have looked at Tony Hsieh's success with Zappos as a model.