Acquired

DoorDash


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Live from the scene of its blockbuster IPO, we recount the crazy, roller coaster journey of this "Palo Alto delivery company". From Sand Hill darling during their Series A and B fundraises to all but left-for-dead during the great unicorn massacre of 2015/16, DoorDash has clawed their way back from the brink and emerged as America's dominant meal delivery service, and its only unit-economic positive standalone logistics player. Is this the dawn of the next great Amazon-like story, or is the company simply benefiting from temporary tailwinds due to the pandemic? As always, we dive DEEP to find out. 


Sponsors:

  • WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
  • Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
  • Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
  • Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25


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Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/doordash


Carve Outs:

David:

  • Hades on the Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hades-switch/

Ben:

  • Watchmen on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/watchmen
  • Succession on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/succession
  • Palm Springs: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9484998/
...more
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AcquiredBy Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

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