Alfred Lin

About Alfred Lin

Alfred Lin is an independent director of DoorDash and a Partner at Sequoia Capital. He has served on DoorDash’s board since May 2014; age 52 as of April 25, 2025. He holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University and an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University. His prior operating roles include Chairman and COO of Zappos, VP Finance & Business Development at Tellme Networks, and VP Finance & Administration at LinkExchange .

Past Roles

Organization	Role	Tenure	Committees/Impact
Sequoia Capital	Partner	Oct 2010–present	Advises high-growth tech companies; governance oversight via board roles
Venture Frogs	Co-Founder & General Manager	Jun 1999–Dec 2014	Early-stage investing/operating support
Zappos.com (acq. by Amazon)	Chairman of the Board & COO	Jan 2005–Dec 2010	Scaled operations; e-commerce expertise
Tellme Networks (acq. by Microsoft)	VP Finance & Business Development	Jan 2001–Jun 2005	Voice platform growth; corp dev
LinkExchange (acq. by Microsoft)	VP Finance & Administration	1996–1998	Early internet advertising ops

External Roles

Organization	Role	Public/Private	Notes
Airbnb, Inc.	Director	Public	Current public company directorship
Various private companies	Director/Advisor	Private	Multiple private company boards/advisory roles

Board Governance

Independence: The board determined Mr. Lin is independent under Nasdaq rules .
Committees and roles (DASH):
- Compensation (Leadership Development, Inclusion & Compensation) Committee – Chair .
- Audit Committee – Member; designated an “audit committee financial expert” by the board .
Board/committee attendance: In 2024, each director attended at least 75% of combined board and committee meetings; board held 4 meetings; Audit 5; Compensation 4; Nominating & Corporate Governance 3 .
Lead Independent Director: Role held by Shona L. Brown (not Lin), appointed in Feb 2021; LID responsibilities include executive sessions of independent directors .
Compensation Committee interlocks: None disclosed (no executive officer/director interlocks with other companies) .

Fixed Compensation (Director)

Component	Amount/Policy	Notes
Annual cash retainer	$60,000	For non-employee directors
Committee chair fees	$15,000 (Comp Chair); $20,000 (Audit Chair); $5,000 (N&G Chair)	Increased effective June 20, 2024
Lead Independent Director fee	$40,000	Increased effective June 20, 2024
Board Chair fee	$40,000	Applies if serving as Chair
Meeting fees	None	No per-meeting fees

Alfred Lin – 2024 Director Compensation	Amount
Cash fees earned	$72,639
Stock awards (grant-date fair value)	$274,974
Total	$347,613

Performance Compensation (Director)

Equity Instrument	Grant Value/Structure	Vesting	Performance Metrics
Annual RSU Award	$275,000 value (at grant)	Vests on earlier of one-year anniversary or day prior to next annual meeting, subject to service	None (time-based; no performance/TSR metrics)
Initial RSU (if new director)	$250,000 New Director Award + pro-rated annual grant	Monthly (48 months) for New Director Award; pro-rated balance vests by next annual meeting	None (time-based)
Change in Control (directors)	Plan treatment applies	Outstanding director equity treated per plan terms upon change in control	Not performance-based for directors

Outstanding unvested RSUs for Lin at 12/31/2024: 2,495 RSUs from 6/20/2024 grant (vesting entirely by June 20, 2025 or the day before the 2025 annual meeting) .

Other Directorships & Interlocks

Current public board: Airbnb, Inc. (Director) .
Notable network interlock: DoorDash director Elinor Mertz serves as Airbnb CFO (since Mar 2024) while Lin serves on Airbnb’s board, creating an information-flow network across boards (not a disclosed related-party transaction) .

Expertise & Qualifications

Audit committee financial expert designation by DoorDash’s board (financial literacy and sophistication) .
Deep technology, marketplace, and consumer operations background (Zappos; Tellme; LinkExchange) and venture investing (Sequoia) .
Advanced quantitative education (Harvard Applied Math; Stanford Statistics) .

Equity Ownership

Item	Detail
Beneficial ownership – Class A	559,960 shares (<1% of Class A outstanding)
Options	None disclosed for Lin as director; no option line items listed in director equity table
Unvested RSUs	2,495 (from 6/20/2024 director grant)
Pledging/Hedging	Company policy prohibits hedging and pledging by directors/employees
Ownership guidelines	Required to hold 4x annual cash retainer; company disclosed directors subject to the requirement were in compliance as of 12/31/2024, except newer directors within permitted timelines

Note: Sequoia Capital funds beneficially own ~31.20 million Class A shares (7.8%); Lin is a Partner at Sequoia and a director/stockholder of SC US (TTGP), Ltd., which may be deemed to share voting/dispositive power over Sequoia funds. Lin disclaims beneficial ownership of Sequoia entities except to the extent of his pecuniary interest .

Insider Trades and Compliance

Year	Note
2024 Section 16 compliance	Company reported all directors, officers, and 10% holders complied with filing requirements in 2024 except one late Form 4 for Andy Fang; no delinquencies noted for Alfred Lin

Related-Party Exposure and Conflicts

Major shareholder affiliation: Sequoia Capital (7.8% Class A) with which Lin is affiliated; board nonetheless determined Lin meets Nasdaq independence standards after considering relationships .
Registration rights: Entities affiliated with Sequoia (and Kleiner) are parties to an Investors’ Rights Agreement with registration rights; Audit Committee oversees related-person transactions policy .
Policies and mitigants: Related-party transactions require Audit Committee review/approval; independence assessed annually; hedging/pledging prohibited .

Governance Assessment

Strengths:
- Independent director; chairs the Compensation Committee; serves on Audit and is designated an audit committee financial expert—a strong signal on financial oversight capability .
- Robust director equity alignment via annual RSUs and stock ownership guidelines; company disclosed broad compliance with guidelines .
- Compensation Committee interlocks: none; independent external advisor (Semler Brossy) deemed independent; high Say-on-Pay support in 2024 (~96%), reflecting investor endorsement of compensation governance under Lin’s committee leadership .
Watch items / RED FLAGS (potential):
- Sequoia affiliation while Sequoia is a significant shareholder and party to registration rights—standard for venture-backed issuers but a potential perceived conflict; mitigated by independence determination and related-party transaction policies .
- Network interlock with Airbnb (Lin on Airbnb board; DoorDash director Mertz is Airbnb CFO) could raise information-flow/perception concerns; not a related-party transaction but worth monitoring for recusal practices when relevant topics arise .
Engagement and attendance: Met attendance threshold; board and committees met regularly; independent leadership via Lead Independent Director and independent-only committees support board effectiveness .

Overall, Alfred Lin’s committee leadership (Compensation Chair) and audit expertise bolster governance quality; key perceived conflicts relate to his Sequoia affiliation and cross-board networks, which are disclosed and governed via DoorDash’s independence reviews and related-party policies .