DoorDash’s Post

🚀 From Sales to Leadership: My Journey at DoorDash In 2016, I joined DoorDash as one of the first 10 Account Executives, tasked with bringing restaurant owners onboard via cold calls—a challenge given our limited footprint in many regions. By the end of my tenure in 2022, I had earned six promotions and learned invaluable lessons about advancing from an individual contributor to a sales leader. Here are three key takeaways: Embrace Continuous Learning: From day one, I immersed myself in learning. I visited HQ to engage with our sales trainer, listened to top performers, and avoided pitfalls by observing common mistakes. Networking with regional managers and understanding market dynamics were crucial in tailoring our approach and improving our offerings. Commit to Outworking Everyone: Success in sales often comes down to effort and strategy. I was the first to arrive and the last to leave, pushing through days when motivation was low. I focused on maintaining a balanced pipeline—equally prioritizing new prospects and follow-ups to maximize closure rates. Declare and Chase Your Goals: I always communicated my career aspirations to my managers and seized every challenging opportunity, especially those that pushed me out of my comfort zone. By training peers and embodying DoorDash's core values, I showcased my leadership potential. These strategies not only fueled my career growth but also helped me support and elevate my team. I'd love to hear from others—what strategies have helped you transition from sales to leadership? Let’s inspire and learn from each other! #SalesLeadership #CareerGrowth #DoorDash #SalesStrategy #ProfessionalDevelopment

Here is the original pitch for DoorDash created by the founding team in 2013. What amazes me about this pitch is the fact that they lay out the pitch perfectly. They start with explaining who is on the team, the problem they are focusing on, how they uniquely solve this problem, what steps they took to create the minimum viable product and the traction they got so far. If anyone needs a great example for how to craft a start up pitch, use this video and share it!

I met the co-founder of DoorDash Stanley Tang in SF (a while ago). Here are the lessons learned: 1) It’s a numbers game: They interviewed 200-300 small biz owners, and it was in this 1 interview that they discovered there are so many ppl requesting delivery services 2) Don’t do startups, do projects: DoorDash was a class experimental project that happens to get overwhelming traction for their MVP launch & they either had to shut down or scale up (people were blowing up their phones for deliveries!) 3) Competition is a myth: We often worry about competitions too soon in big markets. The truth is competition only exits later when fighting for the same customers. 4) Being 1% better: If founders can become 1% better at making extremely tough decisions, progress will drastically compound overtime.

Last week we hosted a webinar featuring Matt Birnbaum. He talked a lot about how he approached building a talent team at Instacart. He also discussed frameworks for prioritizing, when you have way too much to do and not enough time or resources to do it. At one point, he talks about the 2 things he cares most about: 1- activity levels 2- conversion rates "I say those are the most important is because if you have an understanding from the top of the funnel to the bottom of the funnel, you're actually able to understand and predict what your throughput is at current capacity. You need to have a baseline there." – Matt Birnbaum, Talent Partner at Pear VC Check out the on-demand version: https://lnkd.in/exMAJ7Da

The obvious first step for kicking off a project 2 years ago was ramping up a new team. What do you do now, when teams keep ramping down, not up? I had a very insightful conversation with Anne-Laure Huin on this topic, discussing how priorities change depending on the circumstances and how to adapt as leaders. Here's what they do at Mollie: 🚀 During high-growth, they hire at scale (read technical expertise). During slowdown, they hire for retention (cultural fit, alignment with the company's vision and values). 🎁 To keep creating the same value for customers, they focus on investment vs. impact. They end up delivering the most impactful features while keeping a leaner team. 📈 They measure to understand, not to punish. Metrics and KPIs are taken with context in mind and used to improve the overall performance of the team. Improved performance = improved ability to create value for customers. Anne-Laure brings a ton of experience both from her role at Mollie, and her previous role at Uber. Check out the whole conversation - https://lnkd.in/dsQZ3Mz9

Lever alumni reunion! Spread far & wide, coast to coast, so some awesome Brooklyn pizza brings you back to good ol' times 🍕💜 "Not all those who wander are lost"(credit: Tolkien, reframed by Jeff Bezos) - captures the journeys Andrew Shapiro and I have gone on post-Lever. Andrew has been advising early-stage startups, and now channeled his Sales & Customer Success experiences into building something incredible valuable for the community - both job seekers & hiring managers. With a closely followed newsletter sharing the latest job opportunities with the community, sharp timely insights from hiring managers and talent pros, and advice everyone can use. Super exciting to see his labor of love and how it continues growing. We chatted at length about - Career journeys: It's fascinating how every role in your career is an expected or unplanned stepping stone toward your next opportunity or opening a new door. Think long-term and you'll outperform your own expectations. Grow & enjoy yourself along the way. Shoutout to all the Leveroos (haven't said that in awhile) wherever you are forging your new paths 👋 - Partnerships (of course 🤠): How this is a key part of any startup's growth. Especially when tightly coordinated with other channels like Outbound, Events, and Marketing. We are in a Nearbound era where working with the ecosystem absolutely matters. - Ambassadors: Many of us are remote or working in distributed teams. You couple that with the constant current of job changes, the interest in solo-preneurship & fractional leadership - we are highly networked individuals so tapping on that collective power opens up many more promising conversations. I'm most grateful for such friendships. While last night's food was good, our conversation & reconnecting without rushing was the best thing. Appreciate you my friend 🤝 Sales & Customer Success friends: You gotta follow Andrew and get in on the good work happening with .Community - you'll be glad you did 🙌 #alumni #networks #talent #partnerships #pizza #catchups #flipcx

Talking about big ideas is easy and temporarily fulfilling, but intense operational rigor drives results. One of my most significant learnings from hyper-growth at DoorDash is this. Here are some lessons learned: 1/ Extreme accountability: Progress against key results is tracked weekly at a minimum and daily if you’re behind. DRIs live in a glass box and should always have answers. 2/ Lowest level of detail: The best way to start solving a problem is to pop the hood and see what’s happening. Peel that onion. 3/ First principle thinking: Don’t accept the status quo. Ask ‘why’ until you get to the root cause. 4/ Operational efficiency: Regularly audit cadences to ensure you’re maximizing your time. Tight agendas and clear documentation are critical to avoid wasted time. 5/ Outliers, not averages: You don’t learn much from the averages. Talk to your best and worst customers, and you’ll find out what’s working and what’s broken. 6/ Customer obsession: Everything you do should be in service of your customers. Solicit their feedback and take action on it. 7/ Fail faster: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Take the shot. If/when you fail, learn and iterate. These are life-long lessons if you want to be a great operator. What am I missing? Let me know in the comments ⬇️ #growth #venturecapital #startup

The first pitch of a $52 Billion idea... Imagine this - a small room in Stanford's student housing, the hubbub of co-founders bustling about, the only dashers around. It’s August 2013. Tony Xu, CEO and co-founder of DoorDash, stands nervously before a crowd at the Y Combinator demo day. Prior to that, they were just Palo Alto Delivery. Their marketing strategy? Bland fliers plastered on dorm bulletin boards and car windshields. Fast forward to today - DoorDash, the epitome of a start-from-scratch success with a $52B valuation. Remember, every giant enterprise starts with just a spark. Founders, keep kindling your fires. The world awaits your ideas. Stand tall and keep pushing forward! PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu

🚗 Uber's Turnaround: A Lesson in Strategic Leadership 📈 Many have criticized Uber's profitability over the years, but the tide seems to be turning under the leadership of the new CEO. Instead of repeating past mistakes, the CEO embraced a fresh approach. 🔄 Breaking the Cycle: Operational & Financial Revamp 🔄 Rather than sticking to the status quo, the new CEO took a deep dive into the company's operations and financial fundamentals. The result? A strategic plan that focuses on efficiency and financial discipline. 📊 Numbers Speak Louder Than Words 📊 The shift in strategy is not just a talking point. Recent financial reports indicate a significant turnaround, showcasing the power of reevaluating and reimagining business operations. 🌐 A New Era for Uber 🌐 It is inspiring to see a leader break free from the cycle of non-profitability. This serves as a reminder that innovation and adaptability are crucial in today's business landscape. 👏 Kudos to Leadership 👏 Celebrating not just the financial success but the strategic mindset that brought about this change. It is a lesson for us all – sometimes, a fresh perspective can make all the difference. #Uber #BusinessStrategy #Leadership #Profitability #Innovation #operationsmanagement https://lnkd.in/gAV7_EtF

$53 Billion Valuation: The Meteoric Rise of DoorDash Imagine, 10 years ago, DoorDash was merely a spark - a small startup pitching for funding at Y Combinator. Blink, and now it's 2023 and that spark has ignited a wildfire. DoorDash is a publicly traded juggernaut, valued at an astonishing $53 billion. This success story isn't a stroke of luck. It's a testament to the power of the right people, brought together by a shared vision. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, nor by one person. It's about forming connections, nurturing relationships and crafting a team that shares your passion. That is the secret sauce to transforming a 'what if' into a 'look at this'. Aim high. Surround yourself with people who lift you up, not hold you down. If you join forces with the right people, the impossible becomes the achievable. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu