In this first‑person account, a DoorDash founder recounts the company’s most critical early‑stage crisis in September 2013. A heavy rainstorm coinciding with a high‑profile Stanford football game caused a massive surge in food‑delivery orders that the fledgling team was unprepared to handle. Deliveries were delayed by up to two hours, threatening customer trust. At the same time, the startup had only about three weeks of cash runway left after graduating from Y Combinator. The founder calculated that issuing refunds for the failed orders would consume roughly 40% of the remaining cash. To preserve the brand’s reputation, the team spent the night writing handwritten apology notes and hand‑delivering freshly baked cookies to every affected household, emphasizing a commitment to doing what’s right for customers despite the financial strain.
