# DoorDash: Tony Xu

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2018-11-12
- Length: 50m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu

## Summary

Tony Xu, co-founder of DoorDash, explains how he and his Stanford classmates launched a manual food delivery service called Palo Alto Delivery to help local restaurants expand their reach. Xu details the early 'garage' phase, where he and his team manually processed orders via a simple website and delivered food themselves using a 2001 Honda Accord to validate demand and logistics. The episode covers their pivot to Y Combinator, securing seed funding, and building the backend technology required to scale DoorDash into a $4 billion company serving over 100 million orders.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=0) Introduction: Tony Xu and DoorDash
- [4:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=289) Tony Xu's Early Life and Business Instincts
- [11:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=663) Identifying the Restaurant Delivery Gap
- [17:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=1070) The Palo Alto Delivery Pilot and Manual Operations
- [27:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=1634) Y Combinator, Seed Funding, and Rebranding to DoorDash
- [31:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=1886) Building Backend Logistics and Technology
- [36:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=2196) Market Dynamics and Future Vision
- [46:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu#t=2770) Postscript: Ashlin Cook and Winnie Lou

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- DoorDash (company)
- Palo Alto Delivery (company)
- Y Combinator (company)
- Grubhub (company)
- Uber Eats (company)
- Postmates (company)
- Square (company)
- Winnie Lou (company)
- Honda Accord (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Garrett McCurrach and Canon Reeves (Co-Founders, Pipedream Labs)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/just-gonna-send-it/2025-12-17-garrett-mccurrach-and-canon-reeves-co-founders-pipedream-labs) (Just Gonna Send It)
- [An AWSM (Sauce) Bonus Episode with Carl Starkey](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2023-05-04-an-awsm-sauce-bonus-episode-with-carl-starkey) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [From Hand Sanitizer to Tomato Sauce - How Sauz Went From 10 Doors to 3,500 in a Year](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-08-29-from-hand-sanitizer-to-tomato-sauce-how-sauz-went-from-10-doors-to-3-500-in-a-ye) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [The Recipe For Creating a Culinary Connected Device](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2021-11-09-the-recipe-for-creating-a-culinary-connected-device) (Over the Air)
- [Founder Feature:  Elan Halpern & Kiki Couchman of Sourmilk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-11-07-founder-feature-elan-halpern-kiki-couchman-of-sourmilk) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-11-12-doordash-tony-xu. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.