Elad Gil Apoorva Mehta, Founder of Instacart, Fireside Chat w/ Elad Gil
Nov 8, 2023
Apoorva Mehta, the founder of Instacart and a former Amazon engineer, shares the riveting journey from building startups to creating a grocery delivery giant. He delves into the challenges of overcoming skepticism from investors influenced by Webvan's failure. Apoorva highlights key traits for early hires and the strategic importance of team dynamics. He also explains technical complexities as moats, the impact of the Whole Foods acquisition, and lessons learned during pivotal moments like COVID. His insights on launching a second startup and market evaluation frameworks inspire future entrepreneurs.
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Founder Delivered His Own Orders
- Apoorva built the first Instacart version in three weeks and shopped his own order as the sole employee.
- He even tipped himself and used the experience to iterate the service quickly.
Facing The Webvan Comparison
- Early investors compared Instacart to Webvan and warned against repeating that failure.
- One investor literally handed Apoorva a Webvan business plan and told him to study it and quit.
Mobile Phones Rewrote Grocery Economics
- Smartphones with GPS changed logistics economics and enabled a gig marketplace instead of asset-heavy models.
- Apoorva reasoned from first principles to revisit grocery delivery viability after Webvan's failure.