Slush Tony Xu grew Doordash’s $ 60 billion company in eight years, now growth is fueled by the Wolt deal: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it yourself.”

American transport giant Doordash founding partner and CEO Tony Xu on Wednesday, a technology event in Slush’s media space gave twenty minutes of interviews to various media in a steady stream.

The contract began as early as the morning when Wolt was in charge of international expansion Marianne Vikkula Xuta and Wiki, CEO and founding partner of Wolt, talked about their management experiences.

On both men have a similar success story behind them as a commercial food courier.

Stanford University student Tony Xu and his partner founded Doordash 8.5 years ago. Now it’s more than $ 60 billion worth of food delivery giant, and in terms of sales, the largest food courier service in the U.S. – bigger than Uber Eats.

Doordash has never made a profit except for one quarter of 2020.

Doordash On November 9, it announced that it would buy the Finnish Wolt for a purchase price of approximately EUR 7 billion, or USD 8.1 billion, so that the purchase price was paid in the form of a share exchange in Doordash shares.

Initially, investors rejoiced at the deal. Doordash’s share price rose more than 15 percent, partly driven by strong revenue figures published by the company.

Even the purchase price paid for Wolt rose as the Doordash price rose to more than $ 250, already close to $ 10 billion.

Then the enthusiasm subsided. Now Doordash’s stock price has fallen to a lower level than it was before the Wolt deal was announced, below $ 190.

Stateside The Wall Street Journal called Wolt the “Doordash of Europe”. The reason was that both companies have grown rapidly by operating in markets that have been overlooked by larger players.

“We’re both very product-focused,” Xu says.

By product focus, he means striving for a quality experience for all involved.

Xu says that when he first met Miki Kuusen in 2017, he thinks very similarly about what is important in business.

“Best service and success for team members,” Xu sums up.

He also emphasizes how, in both companies, leadership is not based on a great personality, but rather on a humble “leadership as a servant” attitude.

According to Xun, when considering Wolt’s acquisition, it was by no means intended to buy a fast-growing competitor away in time before it would challenge Doordash.

“We never thought so.”

The companies operate almost entirely in different market areas, so there was no overlap, Xu says.

In addition to a similar corporate culture, Xu says Doordash was impressed with Wolt’s growth figures and how many of Wolt’s customers returned and remained Wolt’s customers.

The numbers were among the best in the world.

“We used to run towards something good,” Xu says.

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Neither company has ever made a profitable year, but Doordash is already worth about two Nokia, for example.

Many investors accustomed to traditional economic metrics don’t want to grasp the wild valuation levels of Doordash and Wolt.

Neither company has ever made a profitable year, but Doordash is already worth about two Nokia, for example.

According to Xun, the value of Doordash alone is not in the fact that its envoys carry restaurant food or various groceries and food bags home.

“Major part of the GDP is generated by the sale of small and medium-sized enterprises, ”Xu begins.

All of these companies are facing a huge change as business models digitalize. Customer acquisition, marketing and sales will be largely new, Xu explains.

Xu says, for example, that his mother, who ran the restaurant, had previously advertised the restaurant ‘s services mainly on the yellow pages of the telephone directory.

“It’s no longer a reality. Everything is digital. The big challenge is how to teach these actors to operate digitally.

Doordash is both a marketplace and a digital platform at the same time, Xu says. For example, it has a Doordash Drive service where companies can build their own application services, Xu says.

And this broader vision of the future is of interest to many investors.

Do you believe Tony Xu himself to see the future more closely than others?

Xu is confused about the question, and asks to clarify what the question means.

I say I know a few investors who, almost ashamed, sometimes say in confidence that they feel they see future developments more clearly than many others.

Perhaps such a feature could help explain why the value of the Xun company has risen from nearly zero to $ 60 billion in eight years?

Xun’s expression brightens.

He understands what time is behind.

“The best way to predict the future is to come up with it yourself. And staying close to customers helps and teaches a lot, ”Xu says.