Many unique and extremely successful businesses have started right on college campuses. Businesses like Facebook, Microsoft, and Reddit were all founded by college students. DoorDash was also one of these businesses.
Founded by four Stanford students, DoorDash got its start by trying to build “technology for small business owners and getting feedback on an app we’d built,” according to the website. They started working with a macaroon shop owner who expressed her frustrations with a surplus of orders coming in and a lack of drivers to deliver them.
Their new website was called PauloAltoDelivery.com. The team says that they didn’t put much thought into the initial design or look of the site, because they were just testing the idea.
The idea was obviously well received, with DoorDash being valued at nearly $74 million by its second year.
Something that I love so much about DoorDash is that they are encouraging an entrepreneurial mentality amongst their drivers. Similar to Uber, DoorDash drivers have flexible hours and are able to make extra money on the side or as a job. The company explains, “The impact we’ve had on local communities has been humbling: we’ve helped small businesses grow, offered underemployed people flexible work, and delivered delight to customers.”
DoorDash is a great example of a company that helps many different people at once — not only their customers, but also their employees and the small businesses that they make more accessible to others. It is important for a company to keep in mind their purposes for businesses and who exactly benefits from their activities.
Attending a small school, I appreciate this. I think it would be extremely beneficial for Grove City to integrate this on their campus to help the businesses in the town. Small college towns rely on students’ business, yet a lot of students don’t have a car on campus. Having a delivery system would allow businesses to better reach Grove City students. With that being said, I think that shows that there was a need, and those students fulfilled it with Door Dash. It’s cool to see people take action.
DoorDash has a great business model, and similar to Uber. It will be interesting to see how sustainable DoorDash’s business model will be in the future though.
Door dash is a pretty great business idea and seems to address the problem that many students have. Encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset among it’s employees is also very cool and I can imagine that being very beneficial to the culture around the company. Great article!
-Asher
Door dash is something that we need in Grove City. It is a very helpful business similar to Uber Eats. I am excited for what is in the future for this company.
Great article about a very interesting topic. Door Dash is fits the problem with a simple solution. It’s a great business idea that has been beneficial to the founders immensely.