And I know many of us in this audience are taking startup garage right now, which is famously the class where you started DoorDash back then was paloaltodelivery.com. 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. It took some time to figure out how do you actually improve these inputs? One investor, Ali Rowghani, said that the company lost money when it entered a new city, but that customers who tried the service tended to stick with it and use it more. The food delivery app is losing money, battling rivals, facing lawsuits and trying to go public. Interview questions and answers were updated by William Swansen on September 28th, 2021 They dont necessarily sell through DoorDash. You can find more episodes of this podcast on our website www.gsb.stanford.edu. Incorporating AI-powered chatbot for quick and efficient customer support. Determined and self-motivated undergraduate marketing major. Many candidates will begin formulating their answers as soon as the interviewer begins asking the question. 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. And then, what kind of morphs even over time is, how do you actually scale this culture that you built? Stanford GSBs View From The Top is the Deans premier speaker series. And in fact, the company almost ran out of money by the end of 2017. And so, when I think back on some of our toughest years, I think the first is actually, it really centered around this value at the company in which we call truth seeking. Its only three questions. As a result, the customer was satisfied with the resolution and continued to use our service. Once a year, he and Mr. Tang, now DoorDashs chief product officer, race each other in a sprint. And you dont tend to just do that overnight. When it enters a new market, DoorDash adds restaurants that have not signed up for delivery as a way to show restaurant owners the value it can bring, Mr. Xu said. Joy Huang: Nice. Tony also shared his wisdom about the importance of truth seeking, optimism, and bias for action. And for us, we found that to be true as now were starting to deliver convenience items from places like CVS, Walgreens, 711 as were delivering grocery items from places like Smart and Final are Meyer, High V, and other places, that seems to be true, but we have a lot of work to do. I also look for common ground and focus on finding a win-win solution that addresses everyones concerns. For DoorDash, going public is a necessity.. Influenced by his entrepreneurial and hardworking parents, Xu started DoorDash in his apartment while attending Stanford Graduate School of Business. Tony recounted his entrepreneurial journey from saving up for a Nintendo as a kid, to taking DoorDash public. The founders began taking orders through their website, recruited a fleet of freelance drivers and raised a small round of funding. And I think what most consumers know us for which we bring you lunch or dinner, or now increasingly, convenience items and grocery supplies and things like this. You will be asked hypothetical questions in the interview, as well as checked on your technical skills and past work experiences. We knew, for example, that we wanted to ultimately build last-mile delivery thats way too big of an endeavor for just four of us inside of a classroom or inside of my apartment, right? I would also plan the delivery route in advance to avoid any delays. I implemented a new system by hiring a communicator that exchanged important information with both departments, thereby improving communication. As the market matures, they start making money, he said. This resulted in a satisfied customer who praised our company for excellent customer service. So if you could take us back with you to that moment, the investors have soured on the delivery space and you had spent six months trying to get a lead investor for the next round and all you heard was no. Tony is an intense and obsessive person, said Andrew Munday, DoorDashs former head of operations. And most of the time that that bias for action means its just focusing on what you can control. And over time youre trying to build a repeatable system in which you can take that product to more and more segments of the population. It was how we responded during a difficult time for everyone. We review 5 of our favorite Doordash interview. He said Mr. Xu often did the jobs no one else would, like 15 consecutive hours of customer support on New Years Day. Soon, a new group Wall Street investors will pick a side. I would document the customers feedback for recurring issues and provide feedback to the restaurant or delivery driver as well to take note of the mishap caused. Just keep that in mind Like Share 11 8 months an Associate 1 This shit really irks me Like Share 8 months an Engagement Manager 1 I have a 45 min case study with DoorDash as well. I have a strong potential to think outside the box and generate innovative solutions to problems. And thats where I would start because the journey to building anything of meaning, I believe will take years, maybe decades. 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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. It is vital to have knowledge about the companys services, its technology and rewards program, as well as its competitors. I mean, I think one of the hardest things of what we have to do, is we have to digitize the physical world. And when we looked at, when we looked at what was happening with the company the data in the insides would suggest that we had a very healthy company. In some ways much of the performance or the performance of the company came in many years before, I think when you saw some of the results. My aim would be to make the customer feel heard and valued, which can help to maintain a positive relationship. Armed with that funding, the company began spending to grow. Wait 45 mins for Mexican or get pizza? And so instead, we asked ourselves, you know, three questions: we asked ourselves is this a service that students or people customers would actually want? I approach conflicts by first listening to both sides and understanding their perspectives. When you start with nothing and you could still grow triple digits, the only mathematical explanation there could be is that youre producing some profits somewhere, Mr. Xu said. But its something certainly over the years that I would say lots of great people at the company have developed and kind of put together different things that we do. And so this is what I mean when I say you cant influence that. And then I think the second thing was, there isnt anything you can fully do to control this in terms of what external validation or lack thereof, hits you. And I think thats really what starting a company really is and so, when I think theres lots of variants and youre learning pretty much on the fly a new job every week in the beginning, later on maybe every month, every six months, you really have to find other maybe first principles that have accumulated in other parts of your life to really get you over the hump at times. Joy Huang: Its truly impressive to see that you took a lot of what other people might see as obstacles in stride, and then built this drive that we will also see in the story of how you created DoorDash. Now on the flip side, youre right. 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. 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. Thats most of the time what is actually happening. We consider research to be the backbone of what we do at DD. My career goal with DoorDash is to grow and develop my skills and abilities to eventually become a team leader or manager, where I can use my experience and knowledge to support and guide other delivery drivers to ensure the best customer experience. Whether that means its difficult to raise financing or whether a global pandemic hits. 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. So I think its really important to be intellectually honest. 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