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20VC: DoorDash CEO Tony Xu on The Art of Great Leadership Today, Why The Best Give All of the Credit and Take All of the Blame & How DoorDash Have Won The Best Talent Against the Toughest Competition

Jun 7, 2021

Tony Xu, CEO and co-founder of DoorDash, shares insights on leadership and entrepreneurship. He candidly discusses his 'a-ha' moment in founding DoorDash and the influence of his parents' work ethic. Tony emphasizes the importance of humility in leadership, taking blame while giving credit to his team. He outlines his decision-making process, advising on risk evaluation by reducing scope. Additionally, he reflects on hiring for cultural fit and the challenges of maintaining diversity while scaling DoorDash rapidly.

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ANECDOTE

Macaroon Store Inspiration

DoorDash's founding moment stemmed from a Palo Alto macaroon store.
The store owner had to refuse delivery orders due to lack of resources.

ADVICE

Nurturing Work Ethic

Encourage children's curiosity and let them choose their interests.
Set constraints so they learn the value of earning what they desire.

INSIGHT

Followership over Reports

Great leadership equates to great followership, not just direct reports.
Leaders should actively participate in all aspects of their business.

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Tony Xu is the CEO and Co-founder of DoorDash, the company empowering merchants to grow their businesses by offering on-demand delivery, data-driven insights, and better in-store efficiency. Prior to their IPO in December 2020, Tony raised over $2.5Bn for DoorDash from some of the best including Sequoia, Coatue, Softbank, Kleiner Perkins and DST, to name a few. Before co-founding the business in 2013, Tony worked in Product at Square, led special projects for the CEO and CFO at eBay, and began his career at McKinsey and Company.

In Today’s Episode with Tony Xu You Will Learn:

1.) How did Tony make his way into the world of startups and what was that founding a-ha moment for Tony with the founding of DoorDash? What were Tony's biggest takeaways from seeing his parents work ethic at such a young age? How did it impact his operating mentality?

2.) Leadership Style: What does great leadership mean to Tony today? In what ways has Tony's leadership style changed over the DoorDash journey? How does Tony assess his own persistence and grit? Through what framework does Tony decide what to delegate vs what to control?

3.) Decision-Making & Risk: How does Tony evaluate his decision-making process today? What does Tony mean when he says, "you have to reduce the scope"? How does Tony think about understanding the interplay of different variants in a decision? Through what framework does Tony assess risk today? How has Tony's approach to risk and decision-making changed over time?

4.) Talent Acquisition: What have been Tony's biggest lessons in acquiring the best talent? What has worked well in the past? In what ways have they not acquired talent they should have acquired? What type of talent worked in the early days? How has that changed? Through what framework does Tony decide between a stretch VP and a stretch too far?

5.) Culture & Diversity: How does Tony think through the breakpoints in the scaling of culture? At what points did Tony feel the DoorDash culture was not what he wanted it to be? How did he react to change it? Through what process has Tony measured the success of DoorDash's diversity efforts? Which initiatives have worked? Are there any that have not?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Tony Xu

Tony’s Favourite Book: Score Takes Care Of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership

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