Scaling Instacart to $10+ Billion | Nilam Ganenthiran, Co-founder of Beacon Software

Jun 14, 2024

Nilam Ganenthiran, ex-Instacart Chief Business Officer shares insights on scaling Instacart to $10B, signing top grocers, customer research strategies, and launching Instacart's ad network. He discusses board responsibilities, navigating financial challenges, and optimism about generative AI. Engaging tales include cold calling Wegman's and catching an Uber in suits on the highway.

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ANECDOTE

Catalyst Of The Whole Foods Acquisition

When Amazon bought Whole Foods, Nilam learned the company had to immediately mobilize and reassure stakeholders.
He flew to SF, led an all-hands, and used the moment to rally retailers to adopt Instacart.

INSIGHT

Narrative As A Strategic Weapon

Positioning matters in crisis; Nilam framed Instacart as the "friend of the retailer" to rally partners.
That narrative united grocers against a common threat and drove prioritization.

ADVICE

Prioritize Ruthlessly During Crises

Drop unrelated work and prioritize signing every major grocer when stakes change rapidly.
Ask managers how their projects directly support the top company goal and reassign work accordingly.

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Nilam Ganenthiran is the founder and CEO of Beacon Software. Previously, he was the 12th employee and President at Instacart.

We talk tactics for customer research, building customer relationships, balancing strategy and execution, how to serve on and manage a board, what happened when Amazon bought Instacart’s biggest customer Whole Foods, inside its COVID response, surviving eight months of runway in 2015, his new company Beacon Software, and more.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro(04:23) Inside Amazon acquiring Instacart’s biggest customer, Whole Foods(12:13) Lessons from quickly signing 8 of the top 10 grocers(13:06) Why grocers were slow to adopt ecommerce(15:29) Building “Shopify for grocers”(16:22) Sales = building relationships(19:05) Why Wegman’s is one of the best grocers in the world(20:43) Cold calling Wegman’s and signing them two years later(24:33) How to do customer research(26:59) Catching an Uber in suits on the highway(28:50) Why Instacart was possible back in 2013(30:36) Launching Instacart’s advertising network(38:46) Growing 5x in 5 weeks during COVID(45:20) How Nilam started angel investing(47:56) Advice for sitting on boards(50:00) The roles and incentives of a board member(54:03) Deciding when to keep going and when to give up(56:02) Nilam’s framework around optionality(59:17) Seven years of weekly redeye flights(1:00:30) Almost running out of money 8 months after Instacart’s Series C(1:07:54) Why time is your scarcest resource & startups are default dead(1:10:00) Nilam’s new company, Beacon Software(1:11:28) Why he’s excited about AI(1:13:25) How AI makes human relationships more important(1:14:41) Turner’s investing lessons from family members

Beacon Software: https://beaconsoftware.ca/

Where to find Nilam:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nilamg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilamganenthiran/

Where to find Turner:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak/

Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/