And I think the first lesson again is to really simplify where youre trying to do because I think oftentimes when you try to solve a really hard problem as the first, I guess, quote on quote go to market to test your ideas you might not even know what it is that youre actually trying to solve. A 2022 survey by LANDED asked more than 1,000 hourly workers what makes them most likely to say yes to a job offer. And we were effectively operating a portfolio of markets, some of which are much the majority of which are longer and therefore not yet profitable. The food delivery company DoorDash on Friday offered the public its first full look at the company's business and finances. I think that was important. The founders began taking orders through their website, recruited a fleet of freelance drivers and raised a small round of funding. But thats one half of the goal. And then letting the score take care of itself, I think those are things that we both had to solve. And then over time, its about learning how do you build systems? It launched in 1978 and is supported in part by the F. Kirk Brennan Speaker Series Fund. Adding real-time order tracking and notifications for customers. Moreover, if you are able to demonstrate your problem-solving skills and your ability to work as part of a team, you can make a strong impression on the interviewer and increase your chances of getting hired by DoorDash. They dont necessarily sell through DoorDash. To approach teamwork, I listen to and value the perspectives and ideas of others, communicate openly and effectively, and work together with my teammates to achieve a common goal. What could go wrong? Its why I decided to mow lawns when I was nine years old and effectively knock on doors so that I can create different shapes because if you cut grass at different heights, thats how you can create different shapes and in places like Illinois, where theres a lot of land theres a lot of grass you can cut, which means that you can earn your way to more video games. And, but I think one thing that Ive always really believed about both my family, as well as many of the different moves Ive made as a kid, because I moved a lot actually, even when I was in Illinois, different schools, things like this is really that I had gained confidence even by then that I could survive in new environments. After discovering that many local merchants did not deliver, they created PaloAltoDelivery.com, a simple site with eight PDF menus and a phone number that rang their cellphones. By collaborating, we can achieve more than we could individually and create a positive and productive work environment. PM basics such as product understanding . And then, what kind of morphs even over time is, how do you actually scale this culture that you built? Anyone can read what you share. DoorDash is a prepared food delivery service founded in 2013 by Stanford students Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, and Evan Moore. Thank you again for joining us. In this View From The Top interview conducted by Joy Huang, MBA 21, the cofounder and CEO of DoorDash explains why problem solving means focusing on the smallest details, like working out logistics issues by making deliveries yourself. These are not necessarily skills I had. And were trying to get to the lowest level branch and to really understand and were really looking for the disconfirming evidence to try to see whether or not were just confirming our own bias or actually were on the right path to seeing what the right problems are. DoorDash said last week that it had confidentially filed to go public, setting itself up as a test for whether highly valued money-losing start-ups can make it onto the stock market at a time when Wall Street is deeply skeptical of such companies and the coronavirus outbreak has caused market turbulence. Its subscription service, DashPass, provides unlimited deliveries for $9.99 a month and has 1.5 million customers. Whether thats buying a gift for someone, or starting an orphanage, or using the money and buying their kids something for school. Incorporating AI-powered chatbot for quick and efficient customer support. Then, I brainstorm and propose different options to resolve the issue. You can work alongside governments and elected officials on that, but you cant control that outcome, but you have to be prepared for what the consequences are. And so, or I mean, I know were in a pandemic, but post pandemic, wheres the last, you know, parking space in San Francisco or Los Angeles? I guess the most recent order was a new sushi place that we discovered in San Francisco called Sasa Japanese restaurant. I think the third thing is you have to trust your team, because no one person is going to get you through any sort of difficult situation, and certainly not a pandemic. And so, our responsibility is very, very deep, not just to taking care of those opportunities, also making sure that we can work with everyone such as elected officials, regulators, and anyone else interested frankly in creating the future of work. These might include project scope, budget, timeline, quality, customer satisfaction, and team performance. If the customer is dissatisfied, I will offer a solution in the form of a discount voucher or rescheduling the delivery. I used to attend to customer queries and grievances through phone, email, and face-to-face interactions. Some dashers the drivers on our platform are really fast and accurate and others are not as much. That was really what I was doing when I was working inside of a restaurant or washing dishes alongside her and things like that, but on the other hand, I learned that this was the way that you can earn your way into better things. And Id like to expand on the second point a bit too, because like you mentioned, the four of you drove as drivers for FedEx and Dominos to learn about how delivery works. That changed in the past two years, when DoorDash raised $1.9 billion from investors including SoftBank and DST Global. (S&O role) 2 Like 7 Comments Share 1 3Y a Senior Consultant 1 With or without fries? I think it shows you the resilience of how cities go through, obviously, economic cycles as well as even, you know, pandemic cycles. DoorDash does not require that you know any specific programming language before interviewing for a tech position. Doordash values are on this page but organized poorly - https://careers.doordash.com. Joy Huang: And as that business grow and like you mentioned at the very top, its kind of a different company every six months, right?. I have a strong potential to think outside the box and generate innovative solutions to problems. Ive never worked a day in finance before in much of my life. Tony Xu: Yeah, I think, again, there isnt a silver bullet and youre right. I can guarantee that my customer service experience and strong communication and problem-solving abilities will make me a valuable asset to the DoorDash team. And so, for me growing up as a kid, I came to this country with my parents when I was very young, I was five years old, we immigrated here from China. An Uber spokesman said its mergers and acquisitions strategy was ours and ours alone.. ago. Food delivery requires timeliness, accuracy, and attention to detail. I think in the US thats north of 50%, that number has been true in pretty much every decade that its been measured. Tony Xu: Sure, well, the first thing Id say is I think cities are always gonna get better. In this View From The Top podcast episode, Tony Xu talks about adaptability and solving problems by going deep. Lazy people. So, this is why, for instance, we have everyone at the company do deliveries once a month or do customer service once a month. Hear career advice from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella or learn how to build your startup team. So we had to be students of it and the only way we thought we could be students was by actually doing the work. They want to see influential behaviors, such as using data to establish trust in your decision rather than supporting an idea based on opinions or feelings. This in many ways, is, at least in what Ive observed, never have I seen this type of behavior in any work environment before. Obviously, when we started the company, out of my apartment off campus, we werent thinking about what DoorDash would look like seven, eight years later. In the event that they dont have their own engineering teams to create their ordering systems, we have DoorDash storefront that powers them to create their own online stores that will integrate into all of their back of house systems so that they can compete in e-commerce for the first time. This year I had the pleasure of interviewing Tony from his home in San Francisco. Depending on the interviewers, you might expect this round to last anywhere from 30-75 mins. I would first carefully read and confirm the order details and then prioritize the organization of the order to ensure timely and accurate delivery. Youre listening to View From The Top, the podcast. Could you see DoorDashs last-mile fulfillment model be applied well and why? And so, I think unless you are maniacally focused on it, I think it is difficult to maybe make it all the way through all the ups and downs and so find something that youre obsessive about. And because of the pandemic, Tony, I think, all of us had to face unexpected challenges this year. I think by demonstrating that not just to a small group of people at the company, but really to pretty much everyone at the time. If so, youll want to prepare to answer some common interview questions. However, you should be familiar with the syntax of your preferred language such as Java, Python, C#, C/C++. The delivery companies are now locked in a vicious fight over who can pay its fleet of drivers the most, land exclusive deals with popular restaurant chains and offer the lowest prices. Moreover, customer satisfaction data could highlight issues with certain menu items or delivery locations and inform the changes to restaurants and drivers to improve the overall delivery experience. So operating at the lowest level of detail is pretty much trying to find your way to the right problem and it almost never is at the surface. We expect DoorDash to see a significant valuation haircut, he said. And maybe what some outsiders have written about us or thought about us. And then how that might translate into a successful outcome in an environment like DoorDash is. I would apologize to them for the inconvenience and provide them with an estimated time of arrival while offering them to check our application regularly for updates. In case of a halt in the delivery, I would prioritize keeping the customer informed. Tony Xu: Yeah, well, I think the first lesson that we learned is, whats ultimately the almost overly simplified problem that youre trying to solve and, if you can ask yourself that question very crisply, I think thats a very clarifying way to really test ideas very quickly. Were focused on improvementfrom moving faster to.css-epvm6{white-space:nowrap;}.css-epvm6{white-space:nowrap;} More, Copyright 2008-2023, Glassdoor, Inc. "Glassdoor" and logo are registered trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc. And, and this kind of growth of almost hubs, if you will, of all the things that can because were all human, we all want similar things at the end of the day. Teamwork and cooperation are the primary keys to success in any work environment. I know Tony, many of us have been following DoorDash for a while, and seeing the wildly successful IPO that you recently had congratulations on that, by the way. I believe in going the extra mile to resolve any issues and ensure customer satisfaction. And so for you personally, how did you make sure that you could constantly learn and adapt as the CEO? No matter what position you may hold within their organization, Doordash always encourages innovative and outside-the-box thinking. What was going through your mind when you said that to your teacher? My all-time favorite food is Pizza. And, at the company, we tend to like to say, bring your data and your insights, but not necessarily your opinions. Those were the three questions that we were trying to answer. Now on the flip side, youre right. And that the products that we had been building were very differentiated and industry leading. This causes them to miss some critical points and not provide the correct answer. Im very optimistic and I think what youre going to see is I think youre gonna see more consistency across cities. In 2013, Mr. Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang and Evan Moore, all Stanford students, were future entrepreneurs looking for a problem to solve. But cities have been one of the most enduring, I guess organizations that have ever made it through the history of time, far more enduring than businesses have. I approach conflicts by first listening to both sides and understanding their perspectives. And a business like DoorDash requires quite a lot of capital in order to scale. DoorDash had many ups and downs and we still do. But also work with everyone else who created this labor system over the the last seven decades, eight decades in the US, and change it in a way that actually gives them also the protections that they deserve. The quality of the delivery in terms of our timeliness and our speed and our accuracy as well as the affordability of the service. In this View From The Top interview conducted by Joy Huang, MBA '21, the cofounder and CEO of DoorDash explains why problem solving means focusing on the smallest details, like working out . Interested to advertise with us? This list does not include technical or factual questions. And when we find that the data, I guess, conflict with what customers are saying that it just probably means were missing something. And I think that its that time that really taught me a lot of lessons about how do you learn things for the first time? The company is experimenting with autonomous vehicle deliveries, a partnership with Chase to offer free deliveries to credit card customers and a red-brick commissary in Redwood City, Calif., that houses kitchens for multiple restaurants, including Chick-fil-A. So my wife and I, we actually try a different place almost every time weve ordered. Joy Huang: Welcome to View From The Top, the podcast. Christopher Lee for The New York Times. These interviews typically take place in the second round, following your initial screening, and they are designed to assess both your analytical skills AND your coding prowess. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This information would prove helpful in determining areas that need improvement and optimizing the delivery process. And the vast, over 80% of them have full-time jobs of some form, and what theyre looking for is flexibility to pick and choose when they wanna work. Combo with drink? We werent looking necessarily at outcome metrics per se. It's a big banner which has the 12 values organized into 4 themes -. In this View From The Top podcast episode, Stacy Brown-Philpot discusses diversity, the gig economy, and leading with integrity. Overseeing product development. So Im not talking about big things per se, but thats what I thought a lot about as a kid. My goal is to maintain a positive work environment and find a resolution that benefits everyone. DoorDash has forged partnerships with over 340,000 restaurants in more than 4,000 cities, providing customers with an extensive range of cuisines to choose from. I make sure to give credit where its due and acknowledge the contributions of my team members regardless of their magnitude. Could you help us first understand what this principle means? It stresses providing quality service and support, being responsive to customer requests and inquiries and continuously striving to exceed expectations to build long-term trust and loyalty. Joy Huang: Yeah, my guess is a lot of audience dialing in are watching this interview with food they got from DoorDash right now. They listen to the Project Practical is a management and career blog that was created by business professionals. Thanks for having me. And, youre undoubtedly going to get your doubters along the way. I dont find it that rewarding if this is all up and to the right, said Mr. Xu, 35. You will be asked hypothetical questions in the interview, as well as checked on your technical skills and past work experiences. Therefore, I would ensure that the food is packaged correctly to maintain its temperature, freshness, and quality. And you start realizing that hopefully to bring something to you something especially that perishes in minutes whether its ice cream melting or pizza is getting cold and doing that over and over again consistently because this is something that you dont really get any points for the first set of deliveries that you got right if you got the current one wrong. Joy Huang: With that, Tony. Theme: We are one team. The founders placed, picked up and delivered orders themselves, pausing the service while they were in class. Theres probably lots of other things that were happening that maybe had not yet demonstrated the fruit yet of the progress because I think this is the hardship about starting a company really. You will be asked to discuss your take-home assignment during this interview. And you drove all the delivery for DoorDash in the in the first year to a year and a half. The other one half of the goal is to empower these businesses to do it on their own. Its always been about how do we grow and empower local economies? And the way we do that is really with two types of products. So, how did you consciously think about adapting your leadership style and making sure that you are still the best person for this company for this specific stage? If a resolution is not possible, I would apologize for the inconvenience and take note to help improve the customer service experience in the future. Tony Xu, MBA 13, says that immigrating from China at the age of five and moving around as a young kid taught him one of the keys to success how to adapt to new environments. DoorDash 1 year 10 months Legal Process Coordinator . The Stanford MBA Program is a full-time, two-year general management program that helps you develop your vision and the skills to achieve it. Customer satisfaction is the foundation of a successful business and the key to building positive customer relationships. And so, I think the second best thing when you dont have full control is that you plan for the variance. So weve ordered from from about 1,100 places so far in the Bay Area. Even so, DoorDash is battling legal and regulatory issues from a new California law that may force it to classify its drivers as employees to a class-action lawsuit over its tipping and another one over a data breach. And so this is what I mean when I say you cant influence that. I mean, these are tricky questions, where we first have to almost study the world first before we start, hopefully, bring value to different people inside that world. justafluke__ 2 mo. Jenna: My question is about cities and how theyll evolve. Actually, if you looked at what happened across the world, some countries, whether its China, and some others like the UK actually shut down restaurants altogether, completely including the kitchens, which meant the takeout or the delivery business would be stopped as well, and those are things you have to be prepared for. And so when we started doing deliveries, we started noticing that wow, some restaurants are really, really fast and efficient and other restaurants take a little bit longer. Interview process at DoorDash Overall experience Poor Excellent Easy Difficult Interview process length About a day or two 65% About a week 22% About two weeks 7% More than one month 3% About a month 3% Most reported steps They have no interview 58% Background check 49% Other 12% Phone call/screening 12% On-site interview 7% Least reported steps Doubters along the way would prove helpful in determining areas that need and. 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