Table of contents
For now, the decision to IPO appears to be the right one, as DASH started trading at $182 a share on Wednesday morning after its initial IPO price was listed at $102.
It starts with co-founder and CEO Tony Xu, who famously used to make deliveries himself when DoorDash was still young. An immigrant from China who came to the U.S. at age 5, Xu first learned about the food business from his mother, who was a server at a local Chinese restaurant. It was one of her three jobs to support the family, as the U.S. didn’t recognize her Chinese medical license, and Tony eventually became a dishwasher there.
“We started DoorDash for people like my mom who, after deferring her dreams for more than a decade, saved up enough money to return to school and open her own medical clinic,” Xu said in an email to DoorDash users announcing the IPO. “From the beginning, the DoorDash mission has been to help grow and empower local economies. And today, as we become a public company, that mission has never been more important.”
As one of the many food-delivery companies that have boomed in a year where no one is leaving the house, the core DoorDash product will be key to maintaining its user base. That responsibility mostly falls on the shoulders of VP of Product Rajat Shroff, who joined the company in 2017 after leading product management at Groupon. VP of Engineering Ryan Sokol, who led and scaled Uber Eats from inception, will also play a big role in product development.
In terms of attracting both new users and restaurant clients, a factor that will be crucial over the next 18 months as the world begins to open up again post-vaccine, DoorDash is fortunate to have Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean on board. The VP of Communications & Policy joined the company in August 2019 after an impressive career leading communications for Airbnb, Nuna, Civis Analytics, and Tesla. She also spent four years working at The White House and Obama for America.
Two other major players are the company's co-founders, Andy Fang, the Head of Consumer Engineering, and Stanley Tang, the Head of DoorDash Labs. In his role, Tang explores robotics, autonomous systems, and last-mile delivery, all factors that could be hugely important for the future of food delivery.
--
The Org is a professional community where transparent companies can show off their team to the world. Join your company here to add yourself to the org chart!