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Inside DoorDash: From 2013 to Now Into a $2.5 billion business

Startup Type:

Headquarter: San Francisco, USA

Current Status: Active (public since 2020)

Founders: Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, Evan Moore

Founded Year: 2013

Investors: Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, Sequoia Capital

Funding Raised: $2.5 billion

What Is the business model of DoorDash?

On-demand food delivery platform that connects customers with local restaurants and employs gig-economy couriers, taking commissions on orders

How DoorDash got started?

Started as PaloAltoDelivery.com by Stanford students who began delivering restaurant food around campus. Then expanded the service as DoorDash in 2013

what growth strategy has DoorDash followed?

Used a hyper-local expansion strategy—dominating suburbs and smaller markets that competitors overlooked—and offered a subscription (DashPass) to build customer loyalty and scale to market leadership

what are the top products/features of DoorDash

DoorDash food delivery app, DashPass subscription, DoorDash for Merchants tools

what was the biggest challenge faced by DoorDash?

Facing thin margins and high driver turnover while competing in an aggressive food-delivery race that required heavy subsidies and fundraising