Tony Xu
From Chinese Immigrant Childhood to Food Delivery Billionaire
Net Worth
$1.5B
Born
1987 (age 39)
Country
China
Occupation
Co-Founder and CEO of DoorDash
Gender
male
Generation
Millennial
Marital Status
married
Children
2
Single Parent Household
No
Education
College Dropout
University
University of California, Berkeley
Industries
tech, business
Wealth Category
billionaire
Wealth Origin
self-made
First-Gen Wealth
Yes
Immigrant
Yes
Overcame
- • Immigrated to US at age 5 with limited English
- • Worked in family restaurant washing dishes as a child
- • Dropped out of UC Berkeley to start DoorDash
- • Initial investors passed on DoorDash multiple times
- • Faced intense competition from well-funded rivals
Tony Xu is the co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, the largest food delivery platform in the United States. Born in China, he immigrated to America at age 5, he built DoorDash from a small team in 2013 into a company now worth billions. His journey from washing dishes in his parents' restaurant to building a tech empire embodies the classic immigrant success story.
Career Timeline
Notable Quotes
"We didn't want to be the smartest people in the room. If you have to wash the, go do it yourself."
"Execution is what wins in the early days. Ideas are cheap. What's expensive is the long term."
"I've always been a big believer in the underdog story. There's something beautiful about being underestimated and having to fight for it."
"In the early days, I literally did menus by hand. I built relationships with restaurant owners. We say, 'You guys should use DoorDash.' We'd say, 'Oh, I wish someone had told me about DoorDash earlier.'"
"Immigration is a big part of my story. It but it think it also about about how to build something meaningful, something about hard work and grit."