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DoorDash from Application to IPO

blog.ycombinator.com

91–100 of 277 posts

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#91

I don't use food delivery services so I'm not familiar with industry but from the business point of view can somebody explain me how GrubHub being 15 years old has $1.3bn of revenue but UberEats and DoorDash being much younger have $2.5bn and $1.9bn of revenue respectively.

Because it's revenue.

If I spend $10 to acquire a customer worth $50 in revenue, my revenue is $50.

If I spend $150 to acquire a customer worth $100 in revenue, my revenue is $100.

In the second situation I have twice as much revenue. The fact that that revenue has been heavily subsidized and isn't profitable doesn't make it any less "revenue".

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#92
post #63

The revenues will go down after covid. Unless they lobby no-vaccine.

Would be comically villainous to have humans siding with the virus against fellow humans

When people are sufficiently separated and it doesn’t affect them, people can make very poor decisions on the fate of others.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#93
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…

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.

> raising a puppy, I can't really leave him alone right now

Off topic, but why not take the puppy to pick up the food? Might even be a decent walk, if there are sidewalks along the way.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just IPOed to the tune of $70B market cap... This comment really comes across as out of touch... The company just went public and based on their S-1 has been massively growing even pre-pandemic! (both huge measures of success)

It's not out of touch to question metrics when it appears a company was dumped on public investors with no profitability in sight. Growth is not success; profit is, growth is simply the mechanism by which you're supposed to reach profitability. If we define success as cashing out, sure, success. It feels like the delta in journey between building a sustainable, profitable business that handsomely rewards you at your…

> If we define success as cashing out, sure, success.

That's the only definition of success that matters to VCs.

Even if the company is not around in a year, if they were able to dump their stock to investors^Wspeculators^Wsuckers before the meltdown then it's bagged as a win.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#95
post #53

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.

> 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 I'm opposed to the whole idea of tipping, but putting that aside, I can't see how it makes any sense to tip before you've had the service?

Oh 100% agreed. It's my biggest annoyance with the platform. I don't want to contact support to change my tip, whether to increase or decrease it.

Every other service lets you change your tip up to 24 hours after delivery if they ask you for it up front.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#96
Why does anyone want cold food delivered by a rando? I never understood to value proposition because I never got the value proposition of delivered food, outside of coldcut sandwiches and pizzas, especially once you stop being 18 living in a dorm. To each his own, I guess.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#97
post #45
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.

Which is confusing, because the premise of these delievery services is that the advanced routing algorithms would make it cheaper to provide delivery than it had been before.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#98

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.

Interesting, I order to work every once in a while, and I once ordered to the wrong jobsite. A coworker took my meal and customer support refunded the whole thing. I was under the impression they were very generous with customer support

If your order is completely missing, they'll refund it. If it's late, even exorbitantly late, they will only do a paltry credit for the inconvenience as they consider their job done, even if it was done horribly.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#99

Why does anyone want cold food delivered by a rando? I never understood to value proposition because I never got the value proposition of delivered food, outside of coldcut sandwiches and pizzas, especially once you stop being 18 living in a dorm. To each his own, I guess.

I've ordered DoorDash a lot this year (pandemic and all) and the food has literally not been cold once.

Re: DoorDash from Application to IPO

#100
I just don't get it. Who's buying this stock and why do they think that a company that is not profitable during a pandemic, with people locked in their homes and in-person dining outlawed, is going to be worth billions of dollars?

There's no loyalty in food delivery. Everybody is chasing the same promos. There's no moat. Just VC funded revenue.

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