President, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Maplebear
Search every verified Fidji Simo interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart and incoming CEO of OpenAI Applications, has spoken about her leadership philosophy and the need for a balance of masculine and feminine energy in the workplace. In response to Mark Zuckerberg's comments on "masculine energy," Simo stated that she believes there is a need for both, noting that women may need "masculine energy" to make hard decisions but should balance that with "feminine energy," and that the same is true for men. She has also discussed her approach to management, emphasizing the importance of sharing context with teams, clearing roadblocks, and spotting and unleashing each individual's "magic" or unique strengths. Simo has described her vision for Instacart as a "technology backbone" for the grocery industry, moving beyond its origins as a delivery app to power the digital transformation of grocers. She has stated that the company aims to build technologies for all grocery transactions, including powering retailers' own e-commerce sites and developing smart carts. Simo has also addressed the company's financial trajectory, noting that when she joined in 2021, the company was a "poster child for unprofitability" with declining transaction volume, but that it became a sustainable, profitable business within two years. She has discussed the role of AI in the food system, suggesting it can reduce waste and improve efficiency. Additionally, Simo has spoken about her personal experience being diagnosed with the chronic condition POTS, which led her to co-found the Metrodora Institute, a research and clinical center focused on neuroimmune disorders.
“I grew up in Sète, a very small fishing town — my dad woke up at 2:00 a.m. and came back at 8:00 p.m. — and that taught me the value of hard work and how to lead a crew where having each other's backs is everything.”
“When radar technology was introduced, my grandfather didn’t recoil — he became obsessed with the machine, stayed with the technician and upskilled himself, because if the game has changed you have to adapt and turn technology to your advantage.”
“I refreshed the school’s internship site like a mad woman and was the first resume to apply to an eBay internship — sometimes you have to go the extra mile because opportunity won’t land in your lap.”
“Facebook rejected me at first; I applied again for a marketing position I was unqualified for, spent Thanksgiving building a new product and all the marketing materials, and sent it to the recruiter — that got me through the door.”
“The playbook that got us to where we are won't get us to the next level — when you have $30 billion in gross transaction volume, finding one lever won't cut it; you need a portfolio of bets across time horizons.”
“Being a CEO requires understanding finance and capital allocation; I picked up the phone and asked Ramy dumb questions every day — there's real power in the humility to ask and learn from first principles.”
“I have a neuroimmune condition — it was life-changing, but I refused to let it take away my ambition, so I helped create an institute to care for patients properly and enroll them in research to accelerate the path to cures.”
“It's all about curiosity and learning — I deliberately put myself in situations where I know I'm going to learn, and I had to overcome the embarrassment of asking dumb questions because the wish to be the best mattered more than ego.”
“The best feedback I get is from the people I manage — they need to be comfortable giving me hard feedback so I can be at my best; pressure alone doesn't make things better, collaborative problem-solving does.”
“Mark has a 10-year vision but obsesses over execution today — he reviewed junior work closely, which let him discover talent and combine long-term vision with daily execution.”
“AI tools can now turn your imagination into reality in ways no other generation before you could have even imagined. That's why I believe this will be the golden age of creation.”
“The greatest currency isn't time or money. It's attention. And what you put your attention on grows.”
“When I first applied to Facebook, all of my experience had been in strategy, and the team rejected me outright. We don't need strategy people, they said. I applied to a marketing job instead, invented a product and the marketing materials, and because I went the extra mile I got the job that changed the course of my ca...”
“A trillion dollars in market cap later. It's kind of hilarious that this was ever up for debate.”
“When I joined Instacart, at the time it was a poster child for unprofitability and everyone thought grocery delivery would be just a pandemic fad. We tightened our operations and learned our way into a sustainable, profitable business within two years.”
From a small fishing town in southern France to the CEO of Instacart and now the CEO of OpenAI applications, Fidji Simo's ...
HEcgrad25 CEO of Instacart & incoming CEO of Applications at OpenAI HEC Paris alumna (H.08) At the HEC Paris 2025 ...
Tech visionary. Changemaker. HEC alumna. From a small town in the South of France to the heights of Silicon Valley, Fidji Simo ...
Instacart CEO Fidji Simo told CNBC's Julia Boorstin that there is a need for both masculine and feminine energy in the workplace.
Instacart's CEO, who is also on the board of OpenAI, shares lessons on growth and technology, and being a woman leader in a ...
Instacart CEO Fidji Simo shares the company's vision for building a tech-enabled food system for all. Simo, who previously spent ...
Emily Chang meets Instacart CEO Fidji Simo in her hometown in the South of France, and learns about her journey from a small ...
"The French really understand, like, how to enjoy the little moments, not just the big moments." Emily Chang learns from Fidji Simo ...
In this episode of our Significance Summit minisode series, Ben and David from the Acquired podcast chat with Fidji Simo, CEO of ...
Attendees joined Vijaye Raji for a fireside chat with Fidji Simo, as she shared insights on her journey to building successful ...
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