DoorDash at YC Summer 2013 Demo Day

DoorDash says it delivers restaurant food in under 45 minutes by providing drivers and managing delivery logistics for restaurant owners. The presenter argues that many restaurants around Menlo Park and Palo Alto do not deliver, and estimates that more than 70 percent of the United States lives in areas where restaurant delivery is unavailable.

The presenter contrasts DoorDash with courier services that place takeout orders without partnering with merchants, saying those services are slower and structurally more expensive. DoorDash says it handles both merchant partnerships and its own delivery logistics to control the full experience.

Orders appear immediately on an iPad installed at the restaurant. DoorDash has also built logistics software intended to make it easy for drivers to join its network.

DoorDash reports more than 3,500 deliveries with an average order-to-door time of 44 minutes in suburban Palo Alto. It says weekly orders were growing by more than 30 percent week over week and that its restaurants had generated over $1.5 million in annualized sales.

The presenter says DoorDash’s driver network and logistics software could support deliveries beyond restaurant food. The company describes a vision for on-demand local delivery, comparing it with a modern version of FedEx.