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DoorDash from Application to IPO

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#41

Post by daniellarusso »

jgalt212 wrote: post #23
pb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's so easy to convince yourself that you knew all along that a company would succeed, which is one reason why it's helpful to keep actual notes. It's also a great example of a company that was not popular on Demo Day. This kind of success is so hard to predict.

> that a company would succeed has it succeeded? What happens if their cost of capital goes positive? What happens if people start going to restaurants again?

Succeeded as an exit strategy for the founders, yes, but according to the filing, I do not see them expecting to be profitable.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#42

Post by ta988 »

They also created a "chicago tax" to make customers believe that it was a tax from the city when it is something entirely created by them ($1.5 per order). Just because they were asked to stop overcharging orders (sometimes 15% overcharge). Yet another dishonest and poorly functioning company. Experience has been worse with time, that and the fake restaurant pages...

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#43

Post by zacharyz »

ta988 wrote: post #42

They also created a "chicago tax" to make customers believe that it was a tax from the city when it is something entirely created by them ($1.5 per order). Just because they were asked to stop overcharging orders (sometimes 15% overcharge). Yet another dishonest and poorly functioning company. Experience has been worse with time, that and the fake restaurant pages...

They did something similar to where I live. When I found out just how much of the cost goes to them rather than the business I stopped using them. It is better to support local businesses by just ordering pick up and and tipping them directly.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#44

Post by PenguinCoder »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #16
sxg wrote: post #15

As a customer, DoorDash is just consistently a terrible experience. I have the DashPass, which was advertised as free delivery for many restaurants. Turns out it only works if you spend $12, and even then sometimes it doesn’t apply. If you check prices between the app and the actual restaurants’ websites, there’s often an extra $2-3 added on for each item on DoorDash (I don’t blame the restaurants). When it’s all sai…

There's a nearby restaurant me and the wife love to order from for breakfast every other month cause its so good, but we stopped ordering from that location and pick a slightly further location because they upcharge on things in a ridiculous way. I'm talking a $20 difference if not more depending on if we're both trying to order the same thing, imagine overpaying by $40 to feed two people.

Imagine having that luxury to choose to overpay by $40 to feed two people.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#45

Post by foobaw »

sxg wrote: post #15

As a customer, DoorDash is just consistently a terrible experience. I have the DashPass, which was advertised as free delivery for many restaurants. Turns out it only works if you spend $12, and even then sometimes it doesn’t apply. If you check prices between the app and the actual restaurants’ websites, there’s often an extra $2-3 added on for each item on DoorDash (I don’t blame the restaurants). When it’s all sai…

All other platforms like UberEats and Postmates do the same thing for their "passes" and all the upcharges or else they wouldn't be profitable. Not saying it's good for consumers and users and I personally don't like it, but it has become the standard, not just DD.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#46

Post by gonehome »

danenania wrote: post #36
mynameisvlad wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My order from a restaurant that's a 5 minute drive away (raising a puppy, I can't really leave him alone right now) arrived almost 40 minutes after it was picked up. I was given a credit that didn't even cover the delivery and service fees, let alone the tip that they don't let you edit after the order.

UberEats has a "guaranteed delivery time" feature that they pretty much never go past in my experience. The delivery usually arrives sooner, but at least you know what the worst case scenario is. They also recently added "priority delivery" which lets you ensure the driver won't make any other stops between the restaurant and your house for a few extra bucks--this seems to drastically improve predictability and is we…

I've found UberEats to be a similarly mixed bag with timing (and the only service where I've had the driver steal the food).

Pre-pandemic eats drivers would also almost never come to the door or get out of the car. Doordash drivers tend to be find the door more reliably in my experience and the service is usually more reliable.

They're all a kind of weird business for me - I don't see how the margins work, but I use them sometimes because it's convenient. Usually if I use something then I'd be willing to buy stock for it, but I don't really want to here.

It feels like the 'we have massive revenue, sure we're losing money on every sale, but we'll make it up in volume' kind of company. IPO, take your cash out and then leave it to die in the public's hands.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#47

Post by outworlder »

ta988 wrote: post #42

They also created a "chicago tax" to make customers believe that it was a tax from the city when it is something entirely created by them ($1.5 per order). Just because they were asked to stop overcharging orders (sometimes 15% overcharge). Yet another dishonest and poorly functioning company. Experience has been worse with time, that and the fake restaurant pages...

> Yet another dishonest and poorly functioning company.

So, a company?

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#48

Post by boberoni »

Congratulations to DoorDash! Their IPO is quite an achievement.

I'm curious to see what the state of aggregated food delivery will be in, say, 2024. Not too far in the future, but long enough for losers to start giving up.

My current understanding is that DoorDash-like start-ups are consistently in the red. The upfront expenditure on engineering and marketing for a 3-sided marketplace is huge. The business model would be to take a bit from each transaction and achieve profitability on volume. Thus, a winner-takes-all (or few-takes-all) situation seems inevitable.

It seems there's many players right now in the space, and the only differentiator I see thus far is restaurant selection and price.

I may be in my own bubble, but I have no loyalty to DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub, etc. I usually flip through each app to compare prices and pick the lowest one.

As an investor, how would you differentiate these food delivery start-ups?

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#49

Post by anaphor »

lambda_obrien wrote: post #32
anaphor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consistently get late orders, missing items, or the app is just completely down after I order and I can't access anything. Literally the only reason I keep using it is because of the lax refund/credits policy which results in me getting free food.

I have an honest question: do you feel like you're taking advantage of the situation in an unethical way? You seem know the service will suck and would normally not use it, but you do it anyways because you get free food, which is in turn effectively paid for by everyone else using the service, VC investors, and by Doordash taking advantage of employees/contractors by stealing their tips (in the past).

No, because it's not like I'm quiet about it to them so they have the opportunity to fix it, and also I'm not lying to them either. I give good ratings and tips otherwise. The tip-stealing thing is bad, but it seems like they've fixed it?

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#50

Post by akarma »

strictnein wrote: post #37
danenania wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The users apparently feel they are getting something in return. Otherwise why download and use the app (and pay extra for the food)?

Users get something, restaurants lose, delivery people are abused and underpaid, but the founders will be very rich. Looking at the entire system there was very little added, there's just a lot of money being shifted to a small group of people.

At least in DoorDash's YC application, they pitched that delivery drivers wanted to make more money.

When the drivers worked for one restaurant only, they would be sitting around most of the time waiting for an order.

By delivering for many restaurants at once on DoorDash, they would be able to make more money and have less idle time.

I'd love to see data, but I can intuitively imagine this being true, and the common view of "underpaid" being a view that isn't consistent with the history of the space.

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