Lenny AT (DoorDash)

	B	C	D	E	F	G
1	👋 Hey there! My name is Ben Erez. You might have ended up here after reading my guest post on Lenny's Newsletter.
2	🤖 Want help filling out or grading the template? --> Check out my AI practice Copilot.
3	Looking for a Product Sense interview template? Here is my PS interview template.
4	To understand this framework better, watch this free lecture: How to Ace Analytical Thinking PM Interviews. You can also check out my YouTube channel for more specific advice for AT interviews. For personal use only. Do not distribute for commercial gain.

5	Analytical Thinking - Setting a Goal
6
7	Interview Question	What should be the north star metric for DoorDash?
8
9	Before I dive in, would like to make some up front assumption if that works for you? 👇
10	⏰ <1 min	Assumptions
11	Assumptions	I'll focus on DoorDash's core food delivery marketplace in the US market I'll consider all key participants in the ecosystem including customers, restaurants, and drivers (Dashers) I'll consider the full multi-platform experience (mobile apps, website, restaurant tablets, driver app)			👈	Tip: clarify the prompt means something specific, state anything that'll help you proceeed
12
13	I’d like to start by reviewing the product's landscape reason for existing, touching on where I think it is along the maturity lifecycle, key competitors, the company's unique advantage and how the product generates revenue. We'll finish that part by setting a placeholder mission statement for the product. Then, I'd like to identify the product's key stakeholders players along with each of their primary motivations for participating in the ecosystem. I'll define key actions that indicate the motivations are being met and translate those into ecosystem health metrics. Once we have ecosystem health metrics, I'll try to identify a north star metric that reflects value creation for the ecosystem overall and I'll critique that metric to define 1-2 guardrail metrics that ensure we're growing the ecosystem sustainably. Once we have the NSM and counter metric, I'll identify a small set of goals that an individual team could focus on within a 3-6 month timeframe. At any point, happy to talk through tradeoffs. Does that sound like a good plan for spending time together?				👈	Tip: spend the 30-45 seconds to say this. It will set the tone for the interview.
14
15	Great, let me take a minute to gather my thoughts 👇
16	⏰ <5 min	Product Rationale (Product, Users, Value)
17	Describe the product functionality, maturity and how it makes money Current alternatives / competitors Why this company is uniquely positioned to deliver the best experience/product	DoorDash is a three-sided marketplace connecting customers, restaurants, and drivers for on-demand food delivery. The key problems it solves: - For customers: Limited access to convenient, diverse food options from home - For restaurants: Geographic constraints on customer reach - For individuals: Lack of flexible earning opportunities DoorDash is mature in urban markets but growing in suburban/rural areas and expanding beyond restaurants. Revenue comes from restaurant commissions, customer fees, DashPass subscriptions, and advertising. Competitors include Uber Eats and Grubhub, but DoorDash leads with ~65% US market share, broader restaurant coverage, and expansion into convenience/grocery delivery.			👈	Talk about why the product/experience matters to users, ecosystem and company. What problem does it solve and why does that matter to the market and the company (and why NOW). Talk about key gaps with current options.
18	Mission statement for the product	To empower local economies by efficiently connecting customers, merchants, and dashers in delightful ways			👈	Anchor for tradeoff questions later E.g. for Instagram Reels: "Empower creators to share engaging short-form videos that entertain and connect the Instagram community."
19
20	Next, I'd like to spend a couple minutes thinking through ecosystem players, primary motivations, and key activities for realizing value. Does that sound good? 👇
21	⏰ < 8 min	Ecosystem Players
22	Ecosystem Players	Value Prop	Key Actions to Realize Value Prop	Ecosytem Health Metric w/ Timeframe	👈	Good to mention revenue but likely not a top-line ecosystem health metric for the product
23	Customers	Convenient access to a wide variety of food options and other goods delivered quickly to their location	Browse restaurants/stores, place orders, track deliveries, enjoy food, provide ratings/feedback	# customers who place at least one order per week (WAC) # of orders placed per week $ Average order value per week = $ order value ÷ # orders
24	Restaurants/Merchants	Expanded customer reach, increased sales, and operational efficiency without managing delivery logistics	Onboard to platform, list menu items, fulfill orders, manage inventory/availability	# merchants who fulfill at least one order per week (WAM) # orders fulfilled by merchants per week $ merchant sales through platform per week
25	Dashers (Delivery Drivers)	Flexible earning opportunities with transparent pay and scheduling	Sign up, accept delivery requests, pick up orders, complete deliveries	# dashers who complete at least one delivery per week (WAD) # deliveries completed per week $ dasher earnings per week
26	DoorDash Platform	Generate sustainable revenue while facilitating successful marketplace interactions	Match supply and demand, optimize logistics, set pricing, facilitate transactions	$ platform revenue per week # successful deliveries per week $ marketplace transaction value per week
27
28	Now that we have our ecosystem health metrics, I'll take a minute to identify a north star metric and any guardrail metrics 👇
29	⏰ < 4 min	North Star Metric
30	North Star Metric	Timeframe	Strengths of this NSM	Potential Drawbacks of this NSM	👈	Tip: remember to critique the north star metric by stating drawbacks. The drawbacks will inform your guardrails.
31	Total Completed Deliveries	Per Week	Captures value creation for all ecosystem players: - For customers: more deliveries = more yummy food - For merchants: more deliveries = more orders - For dashers: more deliveries = earning opportunities - For DoorDash: Directly correlates with revenue generation Clear, measurable, and easy to understand. Grows with ecosystem scale.	Incentivizing quantity over quality can lead to poor customer experiences. Could be improved even while churning merchants, dashers, or customers if new acquisition is high Doesn't directly account for efficiency or unit economics
32
33	⏰ < 3 min	Guardrails and Countermetrics to Address NSM Drawbacks
34	Guardrails / Counter Metrics	Order Satisfaction Rate - % of orders involving reports about quality or poor experience - Ensures we're growing volume of deliveries without sacrificing quality - Should remain below a healthy baseline			👈	Tip: Guardrail metrics should map to key drawbacks of the NSM. Guardrails allow the ecosystem to stay within a healthy range as the NSM grows. E.g. if you're growing the number of messages sent, you want to do that without increasing spam reports as a % of messages
35		4-Week Retention Rate - % customers, merchants, and dashers who remain active over a 4-week period - Ensures we're growing sustainably rather than churning through participants - Should remain above healthy baseline
36		Profit Margin - $ avg order size minus $ cost to fulfill order and/or % profit per order to DD - Ensures growth is profitable and economically sustainable - Should remain above healthy baseline
37
38	Working backwards from the NSM and considering the guardrails, I'd love to focus my team on 1-2 specific goals 👇
39	⏰ <5 min	Team Focus for the next 3-6 months (Goals)
40	Ecosystem player to focus on and why (rationale)	I would focus on Customers. At DoorDash's current stage of maturity, focusing on customers can drive the most significant impact on completed deliveries. While all ecosystem players are important, customers initiate the transaction cycle. As the marketplace has already achieved scale, deepening customer engagement can unlock the most growth.			👈	Tip: which ecosystem player would unlock the biggest growth based on the current state and maturity of the product?
41	Selected ecosystem player's key user journey steps leading to NSM event/action	Customer opens the app/website Browses restaurants/stores Selects items and builds cart Completes checkout process Waits for and receives delivery (Completed Delivery - NSM event) Provides rating/feedback			👈	Tip: Work backwards from the action the chosen ecosystem player takes to contribute to the NSM to identify leading actions. These are your potential leading metrics.
42	Potential goals based on key actions along that journey that can be influenced within 3-6 months	Potential Team Goal/Metric	Ability to Influence	Impact on NSM
43		Increase Browse-to-Cart Conversion Rate % browsing sessions that result in adding at least one item to cart	High (Our team directly controls the discovery and menu presentation experience)	Medium (Improving this conversion is helpful but customers may still abandon carts)	👈	Tip: Prioritize one of these goals based on ability to influence and potential impact on NSM. Ability to influence includes internal friction (e.g. influencing Feed algorithm if you're not the PM for that will be Low-Med influence).
44		Increase Cart-to-Checkout Conversion Rate % carts created that result in completed orders	High (Our team can optimize the checkout flow and address abandonment reasons)	High (This directly precedes the delivery event and has a strong correlation with completed deliveries)
45		Increase Order Frequency Average number of orders per WAC	Medium (Requires effective re-engagement strategies and value proposition enhancements)	High (Directly multiplies our weekly completed deliveries)
46	Prioritized Goal with Rationale	I'd prioritize Increasing Cart-to-Checkout Conversion Rate since this goal combines high team influence with high NSM impact. Improving this conversion directly increases completed deliveries by turning more existing intent into actual orders. Our team controls the checkout experience and can implement targeted solutions for common abandonment reasons.
47
48	⏰ <10 min
49	Tradeoff Question	Let's imagine we shipped an experiment that increased total completed deliveries per week but decreased the average order size. Should we roll this new experience out to all users?
50
51	I'd like to start by clarifying the tradeoff and then I'll walk you through my thinking on how I would navigate the decision. 👇				👈	Tip: spend 15-20 seconds to say this. It will help.
52	Clarify Tradeoff
53	Describe	We've run an experiment that increased our North Star Metric (total completed deliveries per week) but decreased one of our guardrail metrics (average order value). We need to decide whether to roll this out to all users.			👈	Tip: clarify the prompt means something specific, state anything that'll help you proceeed
54
55	Let me think about the common goal for these options 👇
56	Common Goal/Mission	Both metrics serve DoorDash's mission to empower local economies by connecting customers, merchants, and dashers. They represent different aspects of a healthy marketplace: transaction volume and transaction value.			👈	How do both options contribute to a shared goal?
57
58	Frame the Tradeoff
59		Pros		Cons
60	Option 1: roll out	Directly increases NSM of completed deliveries Creates more earning opportunities for dashers Potentially increases customer ordering frequency		Reduces average order value, potentially hurting unit economics May reduce revenue for restaurant partners per order Could train customers to place smaller orders long-term	👈	What are the main advantages and disadvantages in each option
61	Option 2: don't roll out	Preserves higher-value orders that are likely more profitable Maintains better unit economics for the platform Provides better revenue per order for restaurant partners		Misses opportunity to increase our North Star Metric Limits growth in overall marketplace activity Could miss addressing a genuine customer need	👈
62	Summarize Fundamental Tradeoff	This ultimately boils down to transaction volume versus transaction value. We're trading off more frequent, smaller orders against fewer, larger orders.			👈	Convey what it ultimately boils down to
63	Decision with rationale	Assuming the overall $ spent on DoorDash in the test group was higher (even if the avg order size was lower), I would roll out the change to all users. While it decreases our average order value, the increase in completed deliveries is substantial enough to generate higher overall platform GMV. The increase in order volume is offsetting the smaller basket sizes, creating more total value for all ecosystem participants. I would reverse this decision and not roll out the change if: - We observed that smaller order sizes led to unsustainable unit economics (cost per delivery exceeding revenue) - Merchant satisfaction declined significantly due to operational inefficiency handling more small orders - Customer lifetime value decreased over time, suggesting the behavior change was unhealthy The key threshold would be if we determined this was driving short-term gains at the expense of long-term marketplace health and sustainability.			👈	Determine which option you believe aligns better to the company/product goal and articulate your rationale. Bonus: finish by sharing what would need to be true for you to change your mind.
64