DoorDash’s cofounder, who earned $2.8 million last year, says he got lost making deliveries as an undercover boss

• DoorDash Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Andy Fang got lost while making deliveries.
• DoorDash’s app gave Fang the wrong address for a restaurant, a problem he said he’ll look into.
• Fang is among the executives who occasionally take shifts as regular workers at their companies.

DoorDash delivery workers sometimes get lost while delivering food. So did one of DoorDash’s co-founders.

Andy Fang, DoorDash’s chief technology officer and co-founder, is one of the executives featured in an AP story published on Tuesday about C-suiters who work shifts as regular workers at their companies. The news service rode along with Fang as he picked up and delivered food in San Francisco. 

But as Fang made the rounds, he got lost. The culprit: DoorDash’s app, which Fang figured out was directing him to the wrong address to pick up an order from a restaurant, per the AP. Fang eventually Googled the location’s correct address and picked up the food.

Fang said he would investigate what went wrong. “If it happens with one restaurant, it might actually be happening with a lot of other restaurants as well,” he told the AP.

As chief technology officer, Fang made $2.8 million in 2022, according to the AP. Forbes estimates that Fang is worth $1.1 billion.

But during the ride-along with the AP, he made just $15.50 for just under one hour delivering food from Korean fried chicken chain Bonchon.

DoorDash requires salaried corporate employees to make at least four deliveries per year as part of a program called WeDash. “We just want to make sure that people who are working here, who are supporting our audiences, are understanding what people are going through,” Fang said. 

Fang is far from the only executive to clock in as a rank-and-file worker.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said that customers who ordered food through Uber Eats often pulled their tip from orders at the last minute, a practice called “tip-baiting,” when he made deliveries through the app last September. Khosrowshahi also said he worried about maintaining a perfect rating as a driver and delivery worker.

Laxman Narasimhan, who started as Starbucks’ CEO earlier this year, has said that he’ll work at least half a day a month in a different Starbucks store. In preparation for taking the top job, Narasimhan received barista training.