4 ms·

That is wonderfully brutal. Beautiful.

aerosmile 6y ago
Except that it's entirely wrong and cost a lot of people a shot at building their own DoorDash before someone else did it. DoorDash will still face many regulatory challenges, but none of the points made in that parent statement are reflected in the S-1. This type of statements and the type of people behind them are the only reason why startups are successful. On paper, two people in a garage have no chance against a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Except that in many of those companies, there's a dude walking around and sharing those wonderfully brutal views. Let's get very specific - why didn't Amazon launch food delivery? Clearly, they are keeping an eye on the space and are trying to make Instacart's life as difficult as possible. There's a very good chance that there's someone at Amazon who at some point said a bunch of rubbish about this idea and slowed down their expansion into this space, which is now going to be extremely expensive. But it will certainly come, and that dude will have cost his employer billions of dollars. The same way that we drag people over the coals when their startups fail and burn millions of dollars, I think we should do the same with the people who cost their employers the same amount of money.
- pointcloud 6y ago
  Amazon actually launched restaurant delivery 5 years ago, and shut it down last year.
  - aerosmile 6y ago
    I didn't know that, thanks for sharing. A quick Google search reveals that in that same year Amazon led a $575 round in Deliveroo. Seems like I picked the wrong example, and in this case Amazon correctly identified the opportunity but failed in the execution. Makes me just realize how much credit the DoorDash team really deserves.
    - Judgmentality 6y ago
      > Amazon correctly identified the opportunity but failed in the execution Everyone failed in execution because nobody has done it profitably yet. Maybe the opportunity doesn't actually exist?
      - aerosmile 6y ago
        From elsewhere in this thread: > In the first 3 quarters of 2020, Doordash has $131 million loss on $1.9 billion revenue If a startup starting from 0 can pull that off, Amazon should have been able to do (even) better with their customer base and logistics know-how + infrastructure.
        CrazyStat 6y ago
        I don't see how Amazon's logistics and infrastructure translate to restaurant delivery. They can't stock orders in their warehouses.
        aerosmile 6y ago
        Amazon has built a delivery network that is almost on par with DHL and others. I would say that's not only a pretty good starting point to get involved in restaurant delivery, but would also increase the utilization of the delivery vehicles (think Uber Eats).
        CrazyStat 6y ago
        Amazon's delivery network is built around pre-optimized multi-hour routes. Like DHL and others it's completely unsuited for restaurant delivery.
        peteradio 6y ago
        How is losing money a positive? Amazon should have been able to lose even more given more of an investment? Amazon realized its bound to be a big loser and left it.

Except that it's entirely wrong and cost a lot of people a shot at building their own DoorDash before someone else did it. DoorDash will still face many regulatory challenges, but none of the points made in that parent statement are reflected in the S-1. This type of statements and the type of people behind them are the only reason why startups are successful. On paper, two people in a garage have no chance against a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Except that in many of those companies, there's a dude walking around and sharing those wonderfully brutal views. Let's get very specific - why didn't Amazon launch food delivery? Clearly, they are keeping an eye on the space and are trying to make Instacart's life as difficult as possible. There's a very good chance that there's someone at Amazon who at some point said a bunch of rubbish about this idea and slowed down their expansion into this space, which is now going to be extremely expensive. But it will certainly come, and that dude will have cost his employer billions of dollars. The same way that we drag people over the coals when their startups fail and burn millions of dollars, I think we should do the same with the people who cost their employers the same amount of money.

pointcloud 6y ago
Amazon actually launched restaurant delivery 5 years ago, and shut it down last year.
- aerosmile 6y ago
  I didn't know that, thanks for sharing. A quick Google search reveals that in that same year Amazon led a $575 round in Deliveroo. Seems like I picked the wrong example, and in this case Amazon correctly identified the opportunity but failed in the execution. Makes me just realize how much credit the DoorDash team really deserves.
  - Judgmentality 6y ago
    > Amazon correctly identified the opportunity but failed in the execution Everyone failed in execution because nobody has done it profitably yet. Maybe the opportunity doesn't actually exist?
    - aerosmile 6y ago
      From elsewhere in this thread: > In the first 3 quarters of 2020, Doordash has $131 million loss on $1.9 billion revenue If a startup starting from 0 can pull that off, Amazon should have been able to do (even) better with their customer base and logistics know-how + infrastructure.
      - CrazyStat 6y ago
        I don't see how Amazon's logistics and infrastructure translate to restaurant delivery. They can't stock orders in their warehouses.
        aerosmile 6y ago
        Amazon has built a delivery network that is almost on par with DHL and others. I would say that's not only a pretty good starting point to get involved in restaurant delivery, but would also increase the utilization of the delivery vehicles (think Uber Eats).
        CrazyStat 6y ago
        Amazon's delivery network is built around pre-optimized multi-hour routes. Like DHL and others it's completely unsuited for restaurant delivery.
      - peteradio 6y ago
        How is losing money a positive? Amazon should have been able to lose even more given more of an investment? Amazon realized its bound to be a big loser and left it.