Ravi Inukonda, the new CFO of DoorDash, started as an engineer and now oversees a finance team of over 400.
DoorDash, the popular food delivery platform, has promoted Inukonda to CFO from his previous role as VP of finance and strategy. Inukonda’s predecessor, Prabir Adarkar, has stepped into a new role as president and COO, succeeding Christopher Payne, who is retiring but will remain an advisor through the end of May. Inukonda, previously head of finance at Uber Eats, started his engineering career before completing an MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management. He has a background in investment banking and private equity. As CFO, Inukonda will lead a finance team with over 400 people and will be responsible for continuing DoorDash’s strategic focus on finance. “Finance needs to be an enabler, not a cop,” he told Fortune in an interview. “We’re constantly focused on the business and thinking about how we can further DoorDash’s mission of empowering local economies.”
Inukonda’s tech background has helped DoorDash embrace artificial intelligence in the finance function. He says the company has been using machine learning for the past four or five years, significantly improving its prediction capabilities. Inukonda is also excited about generative AI and has been reviewing potential use cases for the finance function. DoorDash’s Q1 2023 earnings call is scheduled for May 4, with Inukonda at the helm of finance. The company reported Q4 2022 revenue of $1.82 billion, with a 40% increase over the prior year. This beat estimates but had an adjusted loss of $1.65 a share. For the quarter, total orders increased 27% year over year.
Inukonda’s promotion to CFO will benefit DoorDash’s strategic focus on finance and strengthen its position in the highly competitive food delivery market. According to Tony Xu, CEO of DoorDash, “Ravi’s impact has continued to expand over his time at DoorDash, and his capabilities as a leader have pushed us to excel. He’ll be a world-class CFO.” Before wrapping up his interview, Inukonda revealed that he orders chicken salad from the restaurant Starbird Chicken the most through DoorDash, a dish he said he's likely enjoyed over 100 times. He encouraged his interviewer to try it as well.