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Y Combinator Cast

05/31/24

@ Y Combinator

Instacart launched without any grocery store partnerships by purchasing items from Trader Joe's, photographing them, and listing them online. This creative approach allowed them to start quickly without waiting for corporate approvals.

Video

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

@ Y Combinator

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

05/31/24

Related Takeaways

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

To add Trader Joe's to Instacart, we had to buy one of every item, photograph them, and create a catalog since there was no existing API.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

Instacart allows you to order groceries and have them delivered to your door within one hour, without holding any inventory or using warehouses.

Y Combinator Cast

04/09/22

@ Y Combinator

Instacart faced skepticism about competing with Amazon, but it turned out that Amazon struggled with specific challenges like selecting the right produce.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

I started coding the first version of Instacart in the spring of 2012 and committed to not visiting a grocery store until it was ready.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

I noticed my friends were using Instacart without any persuasion, which was a new experience for me compared to my previous products.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

As Instacart grew, we faced the challenge of making operations scalable while managing diverse customer orders and crowdsourced shoppers.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

In the early days of Instacart, I personally fulfilled orders myself, even without a car, leading to deliveries arriving in Uber black cars.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

In the early days of Instacart, most customers were Y Combinator founders, making it easy to gather feedback and iterate quickly on the product.

Apoorva Mehta

06/20/14

@ Y Combinator

On June 2nd, 2012, I placed my first order on Instacart, and by then, the business was already profitable.