Tony Xu
Co-founder 2013Background
Co-founder and CEO who helped build DoorDash from the Palo Alto delivery test into a global local-commerce platform.
Role at DoorDash, Inc.
DoorDash possesses a pragmatic, analytical founding story, emerging directly from the hyper-competitive environment of Stanford University and built upon a foundational obsession with fixing local logistics. The company was founded in 2013 by four Stanford students: Tony Xu (CEO), Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, and Evan Moore. The initial concept did not start with a vision for global food delivery; it started as a project to help small business owners in Palo Alto utilize technology. In the fall of 2012, Xu and Moore were interviewing a local macaroon shop owner, asking her what her biggest business problem was. She pointed to a thick binder filled with delivery orders she couldn't fulfill because she lacked the staff to physically drive the food to the customers. Recognizing an unaddressed logistical bottleneck, the founders launched a rudimentary prototype in January 2013 called 'PaloAltoDelivery.com'. It was scrappy. They simply uploaded PDF menus of local restaurants to a basic website, listed their own personal cell phone numbers as the dispatch line, and when an order came in, the founders themselves would physically drive to the restaurant, pick up the food, and deliver it. This unscalable, manual process provided invaluable data regarding the severe complexities of local dispatch algorithms. They were accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator in 2013 and officially renamed the company DoorDash. Under Tony Xu's brilliant, aggressive leadership, they ignored the saturated urban markets and focused entirely on the logistical challenge of suburban delivery, eventually raising billions in capital to dominate the American gig economy.