Assertion certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Bill Walsh's book defined DoorDash's culture of chasing excellence

Tony Xu · 20VC: DoorDash CEO Tony Xu on The Art of Great Leadership Today, Why The Best Give All of the Credit and Take All of the Blame & How DoorDash Have Won The Best Talent Against the Toughest Competition · Jun 7, 2021 · at 31:57

Tony Xu is the co-founder and CEO of DoorDash. Here he explains the key literary influence behind DoorDash's operating culture during a quick-fire segment on 20VC.

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“The one that has quite a lot of influence on the building of DoorDash is The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, and just this notion of trying to chase excellence as opposed to the scoreboard. That has been, I think, the defining history of the company and how, and a big part of how we operate.”

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