Defining DoorDash's North Star and Marketplace Health Metrics

Imagine you are a product manager at DoorDash. Which metrics would you treat as the most important for the company, and how would you organize them? ```hint Who makes one order work A single delivery only succeeds when several different parties each do their part. Look for a number that rises only when all of them succeed, then decide what to watch for each party. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the metrics cover the whole company, including grocery, convenience and other retail, or focus on restaurant delivery? - Are these for a leadership dashboard that tracks overall company health, or for one product team's goals? - Should the DashPass subscription and advertising sold to merchants be in scope, or only the core order flow? - Is the company currently optimizing for growth or for profitability, which affects how I weigh order volume against profit per order? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - DoorDash's goal and the needs of each side of the marketplace: consumers, merchants and Dashers - One north-star metric, defended against alternatives such as gross order value, revenue and active users, with its blind spots named - Supporting metrics for each side, organized along the order from browsing to delivery and repeat purchase, at local granularity - Guardrails for delivery quality, Dasher earnings, merchant health and profit per order, split into leading and lagging indicators ### Follow-up Questions - Your north star is growing while contribution profit per order is falling. What could explain that, and what would you check first? - How would you notice a shortage of Dashers in one city before consumers start complaining? - Which metrics would you add or replace if the focus moved to grocery delivery?