Notable Quotes
"What you cannot measure, you cannot ship."
"I try not to look at experiment as winners or losers, because any experiment, the result is showing us something. It's teaching us something."
"Price by itself doesn't matter, whether it's cheaper or even more expensive. What matters is different customers, they want different things at different times."
"It's a three-sided marketplace because Dashers are also our customers. People who are delivering food are another type of customer."
"Experimentation is all about testing your hypothesis, and avoiding debating on opinions."
Takeaways
DoorDash's price experiment proved price by itself doesn't predict orders. Different customers want different things at different times, which pushed the team toward personalization.
A three sided marketplace (buyers, merchants, Dashers) makes metrics compete. Running the test is easy; deciding what to optimize when goals conflict is the real work.
There are no losing experiments. A flat result is a signal to either refine the hypothesis or step back and look from a completely different angle.
