logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2021
37m 23s

20VC: Instacart CEO Fidji Simo on Why Yo...

Harry Stebbings
About this episode

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

Up next
Yesterday
20Growth: The Death of Growth Teams? | How Hubspot Use AI to Triple Email Conversion | The Future of AI SEO | Why Prompt Engineering is the New Coding | What Every CMO Needs to Know About AI in 2025
Kieran Flanagan is the CMO at HubSpot, where he’s led the transformation of their growth strategy from SEO-led to multi-channel and AI-powered. Formerly SVP of Marketing, he helped scale HubSpot’s user base to millions and revenue past $2B. Before HubSpot, he drove breakout growt ... Show More
1h 15m
Jul 10
20VC: Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Acquired by Meta | OpenAI’s SBC Bombshell: More Stock Comp Than Revenue | Privat Equity is Back: Olo Bought for $2BN | Microsoft Lays Off 9,000 People: Is This Just the Start | Will Sequoia Part with Shaun Maguire
Agenda: [00:00] The AI Talent Crisis No One’s Ready For [03:00] Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Why Two Legendary VCs Walked Away From $1B to Join Meta [12:00] Meta’s AI Talent Magnet: Will It Actually Work? [15:00] Cursor Is Breaking the Market: Can Anyone Compete? [18:30] OpenAI ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 7
20VC: Scott Galloway on Are Billionaires Happy & The Impact of Money on Psychology and Self-Worth | Becoming a Better Father & Husband | Why We Should Drink More and Not Work From Home | The Tinder Effect & How it Makes Young Men Radical
Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, where he’s taught for over two decades. He’s the founder of several successful companies, including L2 (acquired by Gartner for over $150M), Red Envelope, and Prophet. He’s a New York Times bestselling author of four books ... Show More
1h 10m
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2021
Rapid Response: Re-founding Instacart, w/first-time CEO Fidji Simo
This past summer, Fidji Simo departed from Facebook – where she stood among the highest-ranking female executives, serving as the head of their app – for the opportunity to become a first-time CEO at Instacart. She replaced founder Apoorva Mehta, who appeared on this show last sp ... Show More
31m 41s
May 2022
Fidji Simo on Integrating Work and Life
When Fidji Simo was an exec at Facebook, she discovered she had a chronic health condition. That meant: taking meetings from her bed, fainting at work, and awkward conversations with her bosses. That experience taught Fidji how to be a leader while taking care of herself and putt ... Show More
33m 53s
May 2023
Fidji Simo - Creating Delightful Consumer Experiences - [Invest Like the Best, EP.328]
My guest this week is Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart. Fidji grew up in a small town in the South of France and was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Since then, she has had a dazzling career with stops at France’s leading university, eBay, and Faceboo ... Show More
1h 13m
Feb 2024
12 leaders share what to prioritize in 2024
Where do you see yourself and your team a year from now? How can you maximize tech - and mitigate its risks? How can you stay focused despite increasing geopolitical tensions? What impacts will small decisions now have in 5 to 10 years? In this special compilation episode of Meet ... Show More
27m 3s
May 2023
159. Voices of CEO Excellence: Merck’s Ken Frazier. Episode 1
As CEO of Merck, Ken Frazier gained the respect of his employees, shareholders, and the broader community - both through the company’s performance during his 11-year tenure and also through his handling of several tests of his leadership. Now Merck’s former executive chairman, he ... Show More
42m 20s
Nov 2022
#152 Tobi Lütke: Calm Progress
My guest today is Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobi Lütke. We discuss the differences between founders and professional managers, how he’s scaled with Shopify, the constant fight against bureaucracy, how he thinks about innovation in a large company, and how he manages to keep his ... Show More
2h 45m
Aug 2021
369: How Deputy is Scaling to Reach 1 Million Workplaces Spending $30k on a Website Domain: Ashik Ahmed of Deputy
Ashik Ahmed doesn’t like the term “tech unicorn.” As the CEO and cofounder of Deputy, a homegrown workforce management solution, Ashik’s priority is creating impact for their customers. To date, the company has partnered with 250,000 workplaces across 100 countries. Ashik is aimi ... Show More
45m 57s
Mar 2017
SaaStr 105: Why Marketing Is Eating Sales, How To Make Data-Driven Marketing Decisions & Why Companies Need To Have A Strong Point of View About The World with Nadim Hossain, Founder & CEO @ BrightFun
Nadim Hossain is the Founder and CEO @ BrightFunnel, the startup that shows marketing true impact on revenue. They are backed by many past guests of the show including Matt Garratt @ Salesforce Ventures, Tim Kopp, and James Cham @ Bloomberg Beta. As for Nadim, prior to founding B ... Show More
22m 58s
Sep 2023
How Zepto is delivering the results - an investor's insight
Zepto - the quick climber in quick commerce! With a billion-dollar valuation, what is making this 2-year-old company zip in a race with others that are backed by big corporates? Get the scoop on how Zepto is capturing the Kirana corner in quick commerce from its investors. TMB Ho ... Show More
32m 30s