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20VC: Instacart CEO Fidji Simo on Why You Need Sponsors Not Mentors, Where Management Skills Align with Good Parenting & The First 100 Days as CEO at Instacart; The Challenges, The Surprises and The Next Chapter

Oct 18, 2021

Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart and former Facebook leader, shares her inspiring journey from a coastal fishing town in France to the tech forefront. She discusses the need for sponsors over mentors in career advancement and connects management skills to parenting. Fidji emphasizes creating a culture of trust to enable accountability in decision-making. She highlights the significance of embracing uniqueness in the workplace while advocating for women's health issues. Finally, she envisions a future of personalized food experiences through local retailers.

37:23

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Episode guests

Fidji Simo

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Episode notes

Intro

3min

Embracing Heritage: From Family Traditions to Food Tech

2min

Shaping Leadership through Upbringing and Experience

18min

Connecting Leadership and Relationships

9min

Embracing Uniqueness and Advocating for Women's Health

2min

Envisioning the Future of Food and Retail

3min

Fidji Simo is the CEO @ Instacart, the company that allows you to order whatever you want from local stores, delivering it straight to your door. Fidji joined the Instacart board 10 months ago and just 3 months ago, Fidji joined Instacart full time as CEO. Prior to Instacart, Fidji spent an incredible 10 years at Facebook in numerous different roles including Head of Facebook App and before that Vice President of Games, Video and Monetisation. If this was not enough, Fidji earlier this year announced her co-founding of Metrodora, an integrated medical ecosystem with the vision of advancing women’s health.

In Today’s Episode with Fidji Simo You Will Learn:

1.) How Fidji made her way from a small coastal fishing town in France to leading the Facebook App and becoming one of the most powerful CEOs in tech with her new role at Instacart?

2.) The Rise @ Facebook: How did Fidji rise in the ranks at Facebook so much faster than anyone else? What were the biggest inflection points in her rise? What bets did she make that others did not see? How did they play out? Did any of the bets go wrong? What did Fidji learn about management style when the bet went wrong?

3.) Problem Solving and Decision-Making: What framework does Fidji use to have the most effective problem-solving and decision-making process? How does Fidji built such tight trust and honesty with her team members? In what way can leaders make people feel safe to take big bets but also not lose accountability if it does not work out?

4.) The Move To Instacart: Why did Fidji decide that CEO of Instacart was the right next move for her? What was Fidji's hypothesis of how the first 100 days would go? What has been a surprise in the first 100 days? How do the best leaders onboard into new CEO roles? How does the role of CEO change when moving from private to public company?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Fidji Simo

Fidji’s Favourite Book: The Night Circus

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