Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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Max Mullen, co-founder of Instacart, joins a16z for a conversation on building and scaling startups, covering product-market fit, founder advice, and company culture, as well as the lessons he learned building Instacart from its earliest days.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - How Founders Should Think About Advice
02:55 - The Culture That Made Instacart Move Fast
04:57 - When Did Instacart Find Product-Market Fit?
07:38 - Max Mullen's Deadly Sins of Startups
09:17 - How to Spot Real Product-Market Fit
11:00 - Why Focus Was So Important at Instacart
14:09 - How to Change Your Direction as You Scale
17:23 - Instacart's “Wartime” Moment
18:35 - The Role of a Non-CEO Co-Founder
20:58 - Finding Your Highest-Leverage Role as a Founder
22:46 - Why Founders Need to Build the Next “Dumb” New Thing

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