DoorDash

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:

• Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
• ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
• Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
• Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

More Acquired!

• Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
• Join the Slack
• Subscribe to ACQ2
• Merch Store!

© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

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/