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DC
Dalton Caldwell
02/10/22
@ Y Combinator
DoorDash founders initially handled all deliveries themselves to ensure customer satisfaction and build relationships with users and restaurants.
Video
YC
What Does It REALLY Mean To Do Things That Don't Scale? – Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel
@ Y Combinator
02/10/22
Related Takeaways
TX
Tony Xu
12/10/20
@ Y Combinator
DoorDash is the only company that manages its own logistics while partnering with merchants, allowing for efficient consumer deliveries.
TX
Tony Xu
12/10/20
@ Y Combinator
DoorDash enables every restaurant to deliver food to customers in under 45 minutes, managing logistics and providing drivers for the service.
DC
Dalton Caldwell
02/10/22
@ Y Combinator
The founders of DoorDash learned valuable insights by personally delivering food, which helped them understand the challenges of the business.
YC
Y Combinator Cast
05/31/24
@ Y Combinator
DoorDash's initial product was created in one day using manual methods to test whether people wanted the service, demonstrating the importance of validating ideas before scaling.
TX
Tony Xu
03/26/25
@ Y Combinator
During the early days, we ran experiments to confirm that consumers would pay for DoorDash's service, which gave us confidence in our business model despite initial doubts from investors.
TX
Tony Xu
03/26/25
@ Y Combinator
Our initial idea for DoorDash came from observing a macaroon store owner who had turned down numerous delivery orders, which highlighted a significant market opportunity.
TX
Tony Xu
12/10/20
@ Y Combinator
By controlling the entire delivery experience, DoorDash offers the best performance in food delivery. When an order is made in our system, it gets placed immediately at an iPad installed at the restaurant.
TX
Tony Xu
03/26/25
@ Y Combinator
The first demo day for DoorDash was not successful, and we struggled to raise funds, putting the company at risk of going out of business.
TX
Tony Xu
03/26/25
@ Y Combinator
We ran a test comparing DoorDash drivers and Uber drivers, offering them the same pay, but found that the groups were very different and self-selected based on their preferences. Almost 60% of DoorDash drivers, known as Dashers, are women, and they come from diverse backgrounds, including retail and service jobs, often using scooters or bicycles for deliveries instead of cars.