This CEO stepped down from his position to make space for somebody who he felt would be a better CEO for his company

Fidji Simo, the head of the world’s largest social media site, Facebook Inc since 2019 is set to join the USD 39 billion online grocery startup, Instacart in North America, as its CEO. This comes after Instacart’s founder and existing CEO, Apoorva Mehta, decides to step down from the position, and will be the Executive Chairman. Fidji Simo will take over as the CEO from August 2, 2021.

Instacart, founded in 2012, is a San Francisco-based grocery delivery company. The company in North America provides same-day grocery delivery and pick-up services in the United States and Canada. The service facilitates customers in ordering groceries from listed retailers with personal shoppers doing the shopping. The company has a website and mobile app to offer its services.

The rise of Instacart

Going back to history, Mehta participated in Y Combinator's Summer (seed money startup accelerator) 2012 batch, where he created Instacart. When he first started the grocery delivery firm, it was rejected by investors who said that bringing the grocery industry online would not be possible and retailers declined to work with them as they did not believe that a technology startup out of San Francisco could understand the integrities of the grocery business. Being a pick-up and grocery delivery services company, it was constantly questioned if it could be profitable in such a thin margin industry.

But all said, the founders and the team were able to overcome all challenges. The coronavirus pandemic came as a blessing in disguise for Instacart’s purpose as it broadened the grocery delivery market. In 2020 itself, Instacart managed to add over 200 new retailers and more than 15,000 new store locations to the Instacart Marketplace. As people around the world were in quarantine, they had to make limited in-person interactions. So, Instacart's contactless delivery option helped increase the consumer spending on delivery services. This also led Instacart to hire hundreds of workers, and also launch same-day delivery on a variety of products.

Below is an excerpt from the letter he issued to the Instacart family explaining his journey and his decision.

The strategic plan of Simo and Mehta

India-born Apoorva Mehta is a Jeff Bezos-headed Amazon's former employee. He was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013. Apoorva previously worked at BlackBerry, Qualcomm, and last at Amazon as a supply chain engineer, where he developed fulfillment systems for moving packages from warehouses to customers' homes. Before Instacart, he tried with more than 20 other services. Apoorva Mehta's startup ideas included building an ad network for social gaming companies, developing a social network only for lawyers, besides others.

Also read: Why do 90% of the startups fail? Address the general know-how’s and learn how to succeed

Mehta says that he had never thought that someone else would run the company, which changed when he met Fidji. Moreover, Mehta believes that with Fidji at the top, Instacart will be in an even stronger position to seize the incredible opportunity in front of it and in light of an impending IPO. As a daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of fishermen, Simo has grown up with incredible work ethics and with a deep appreciation for the power of food to bring people together.

Moreover, Fidji Simo is a consumer technology industry veteran with an experience of more than 15 years in the operations, strategy, and product development fields. Currently, she is the Vice President and head of the social media giant Facebook where she oversaw the development and strategy for the app, including newsfeed, stories, groups, video, Marketplace, Gaming, Ads, etc.

Mehta says that he knew Simo from her work and excellence at Facebook. With all the traits and experiences she had, he invited Fidji to join Instacart’s Board in January 2021. From the point she had joined as a Director, he was impressed by her capabilities as a leader. While Fidji was on Facebook during its transition phase from a private company to going to the public market, she understands what it takes to lead and scale a transformational company.

He says that they both have discussed everything about the company’s future. The more he reflected on their common vision for Instacart, the more excited he got about the prospect of bringing Fidji into the company, and how she would simply be a better CEO than him for Instacart in its coming years.