The Deliveroo founder, who once had doors shut in his face, walked away from his company at 180p a share; he had floated it at 390p.
Both numbers are public, but what sits between them is Will Shu's own story, and we believe it deserves a slower read than the exit headlines gave it.
A Flat Above The Stockpot and a Landlord Who Said It Was a Bad Idea
The future Deliveroo founder was a Morgan Stanley banker who had moved from New York to London, and his first idea, he told The Grocer in 2023, came from a simple frustration: nothing could be delivered after the pub.
The brand was very nearly called Boozefood.
Deliveroo's first restaurant partner was The Stockpot on King's Road, beneath the flat where he lived.
Its owner was his landlord.
The landlord was not encouraging at all, and he told Shu, 'This is a very bad idea, but you live upstairs, so whatever, if I have a problem, I’ll definitely find you.'
Companies House records Roofoods Ltd, Deliveroo’s legal entity, as incorporated on 3 August 2012.
Orders began in February 2013.
Shu’s childhood friend Greg Orlowski co-founded the business and left in 2016, and so then Deliveroo founder Will Shu carried the early deliveries himself.
“For the first year I was doing the deliveries. I would say ‘hey I’m Will, I founded the company’. No one ever cared. Because they just wanted their food, right? So they just shut the door in my face.”- Will Shu, The Grocer, 2 May 2023
William Shu Deliveroo IPO: Control of the Vote, Not the Price
The Deliveroo IPO is usually told as a story about the share price.
Deliveroo floated on the London Stock Exchange on 31 March 2021 at 390p, valuing it at about £7.6bn , the shares fell as much as 30% on the first day, and the dual-class share structure drew criticism.
The Deliveroo founder held 20 votes per share, which reports put at roughly 57.5% of the vote on about 6.3% of the shares.
He sold about £26m of stock in the float and, Amazon’s stake came from the $575m round it led in 2019.
The Grocer reported that the golden share protecting Deliveroo from a takeover expired in 2024, and in April 2025, DoorDash made its approach.
Deliveroo Editions Built the Kitchens After the Flat
Shu’s company did eventually build kitchens. From 2017, Deliveroo Editions' dark kitchens housed delivery-only restaurant brands.
The first Hove site, opened that year, and was told to close in 2018 by Brighton and Hove City Council for lacking planning permission.
The enforcement notice was later withdrawn, but then in March 2026, a local paper still described the site as home to Deliveroo’s dark kitchen, as its owner applied to demolish the building.
Deliveroo Will Shu on Exits: Never Planned One, Then Sold at 180p
“I’ve never planned for an exit. I always just thought about what we can do for the consumer and trying to build a really good business.” - Will Shu, Founders Forum, published 7 November 2025
In March 2025, after reports that he was leaving, Deliveroo's Will Shu told The Grocer, 'I'm not. You’re hearing it from me.’
DoorDash had approached in April, and by May, it agreed to a 180p cash offer, valuing Deliveroo at about £2.9bn.
The company had just posted its first full-year profit: £2.9m for 2024, against a £31.8m loss the year before.
That was a 44% premium to the 125p close on 4 April, it was also almost 54% below the float, since 180p is 46% of 390p.
Shareholders approved the scheme of arrangement in June, and the High Court sanctioned it on 30 September.
DoorDash’s chief executive Tony Xu said in May he ‘could not be more excited’ about the deal.
Shu had sold £14.8m of shares in September 2024, leaving 95.8m. At 180p, that is £172.4m, which matches the £172m reported.
We think the sequence matters more than the sum.
“I have decided that now is the right time for me to step down... after 13 years I want to contemplate my next challenge.” - Will Shu, company statement, 18 September 2025
Completion came on 2nd October 2025, and Wolt co-founder Miki Kuusi became chief executive.
The company has moved quickly since, Hong Kong closed in March 2025, on Shu’s watch and in February 2026, DoorDash said Deliveroo would wind down in Singapore and Qatar.
Coco Robotics’ pavement robots are due at Canary Wharf this month.
Rider self-employment, the model Deliveroo scaled on, reached the UK Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously on 21 November 2023 that riders had no employment relationship with the company for collective bargaining.
What the Deliveroo Founder Does Next
We found no public statement from Shu since November 2025. ‘Contemplate my next challenge’ is the last thing we have, and it is not an answer.
So, what is the next challenge?
What we'd still like to ask
We found no account from Shu of how he weighed 180p against the 390p float., and we would like to ask the Deliveroo founder about that.
We would also like to know what the first year of riding taught him that no board paper could, what the next challenge is, and which of the eighty people he says started companies out of Deliveroo he regards as its real legacy.
Eighty is his figure, given at Founders Forum, and we have not been able to verify that independently.
Finally, we would ask what he would say to the riders who disagreed with the self-employed model he built the company on.
Editorial note
We have not spoken to Will Shu or anyone at Deliveroo or DoorDash for this piece. It is built purely from public filings, company announcements and published interviews.
We welcome additional context, corrections or first-hand perspectives from anyone with relevant knowledge of the story.
Reach our editorial team at [email protected]
Also read: What UK Crypto Regulation Will Cost a Startup’s Runway
SOURCES: Companies House, Roofoods Ltd 08167130; The Grocer interview with Will Shu, 2 May 2023; The Grocer, March 2025 (Shu quashes reports he is stepping down); Founders Forum, "Exiting Deliveroo", 7 November 2025; Sharecast, Shu statement, 18 September 2025; PA via LBC, May 2025; FT via Benzinga, 31 March 2021; LBC, dual-class voting; City Index, voting share; Daily Mail and LBC, 16 September 2024; Deliveroo FY2024 results RNS; TechCrunch and CNBC, May 2019; AJ Bell, High Court approval, 30 September 2025; Brighton and Hove News, 25 March 2026; Sussex Express, Hove closure order; Marketech APAC, 25 February 2026; Robotics & Automation News, 6 to 7 October 2026; UK Supreme Court IWGB ruling, 21 November 2023 (Checkout, HR Magazine).
