DoorDash, Risk, and Why I’m Poor Today

If only I’d launched my Munchie Delivery Service in 1987, I’d be a billionaire by now

“DoorDash Brings Big Gains In Debut of Shares,” my copy of the Wall Street Journal says today. But the idea for it was hatched over games of Risk I played in college; I can only assume that a friend of a friend latched onto my idea in 1987 and then sat on it for a few decades.

Just to set the scene, my friend Lori and our then-spouses were college seniors who sometimes got together to play Risk and indulge a bit. After such indulgence — the type that is legal now but not so much then — the munchies would hit. Sure, we could have ordered a pizza or a sub, but that was the extent of the munchie-satisfaction services that were available back then.

About mid-way through the night, as I began to lose big, I’d describe the business I thought we should start.

“There should be a Munchie Delivery Service, man,” I would start out.

“They’d bring you whatever you wanted,” I’d explain. “Not just pizza, although a pizza would be great right now. But what about fries? Wouldn’t some fries be great right now? You could just order a bunch of burgers and fries if you wanted, and they’d bring them to you. Or ice cream. They’d pick up whatever you wanted. The Munchie Delivery Service, man. We need to start it.”