What's for Dinner? AI-Driven Commerce with Instacart CEO Fidji Simo

**Sarah** (0:05)
Welcome to No Priors. Today, we're speaking with Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart, the leading grocery technology company and co-founder of the Metrodora Institute, whose mission is to cure neuroimmune access disorders. She's also the former leader of the big blue app, Facebook.
Instacart is transforming the way we shop, making it possible for millions of busy people to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love. We're really excited to explore Fidji's re-founding of Instacart, their use of AI and the impact of AI on commerce and healthcare. Fidji, welcome to No Priors.

**Fidji Simo** (0:33)
Thanks for having me, Sarah and Elad.

**Sarah** (0:36)
Let's start with some personal background. You've been a star leader in technology for a long time, from strategy at eBay to meteoric rise to product, and eventually beloved leader of Facebook, and now CEO of Instacart. That is a wide range of different things. What's driven your career decisions?

**Fidji Simo** (0:55)
Wow, that's a hard question to start with. I think it sounds cliché, but it was all about where could I have impact on problems I deeply cared about.
I always say that I am a pragmatic technologist. What I mean by that is that I love technologies that solve real problems for real people.
eBay was a good example of that. When I joined the company, I was in love with this idea of all of these communities of collectors, exchanging goods, but really exchanging their passion. I was fascinated by that. Then my transition to Facebook was very similar. I was an immigrant in the US and I was starting to see that it was so much easier to stay in touch with my family back in France thanks to Facebook. Then transitioning to Instacart was similarly about the mission. I saw the idea of connecting people to the retailers they love so that they can enjoy the food they love and spend more time with their family was so critical. Food is one of the most important things in our lives. It felt like I could have a big impact there as well.

**Sarah** (2:06)
Yeah. Amazing.
I remember what an impression you made on me when we first met when you were at Facebook. You are very French, you wear lipstick and heels, you've led some of the most iconic products and companies in the tech world, but you don't subscribe to some of the, let's say Silicon Valley, monoculture. You were clear, very conscious of that. Why is that important to you? Or how do you think about cultural image and how you present as a leader?

**Fidji Simo** (2:31)
Well, I've been French since I was born. I have been wearing lipstick and high heels since I was 12
So it is such a big part of me that it was never a conscious decision. It was just about being me. And then when I arrived in Silicon Valley, a lot of people were commenting on that. And I was pretty surprised because that was just me being me.
And they were telling me, well, especially as you move into product development, you really need to blend in with the engineers. So remove the makeup, tie up your hair, start wearing a hoodie.
And I did that for one day at Facebook. No one recognized me. I would pass in the hallways, no one would say hi. And the reality is that it felt like a lot of effort and work not to be you. And when I thought about it, I realized like, you know, if I have a lot of effort and energy to put into something, I'd much rather put it into building amazing products than trying to shape myself into something I'm not. And so, you know, I decided to embrace the French accent, embrace the heels and all of these things. And, you know, people around like adapted to it and then got used to it. And that was not a problem anymore. So, you know, better to be you, basically.

**Sarah** (3:48)
I asked a mutual friend of ours, Ravi Gupta, what I should ask you.
And he said that you are, you know, a very, very good leader with tremendous loyalty from your people while still being really tough. His suggested question was, how do you earn followership as a leader?

**Fidji Simo** (4:08)
Oh, that's a good question. Not surprised Ravi would ask that. I think, you know, I tell my leaders when I start, you know, working with them and I start when I joined Instacart, that I want to be, like, I want them to look back and realize that I was a big accelerator in their career. And like, and I'm telling them that to play that role, like it's a partnership, obviously they have to want that.