Max Mullen is an American entrepreneur and businessman, best known as the co-founder of Instacart.[1] Max played a crucial role in building Instacart into a multi-billion dollar company.[2]
After graduating, Mullen began his career at Schematic,[4] an interactive agency later acquired by WPP.[5]
He spent six years at Schematic, starting as a Systems Engineer from 2004 to 2006, before being promoted to Director of Client Services from 2006 to 2010.[6]
In 2010, Max Mullen ventured into entrepreneurship by founding Volly,[4] a startup that allowed users to collaborate with friends to make group decisions.
Following Volly, Max worked as a Product Manager at Location Labs (now part of Avast) from 2011 to 2012.[4][6]
Founding of Instacart
In July 2012, Max Mullen co-founded Instacart along with Apoorva Mehta and Brandon Leonardo.[7] The idea for Instacart came when Apoorva Mehta had an empty fridge in his apartment.[8]
Growth and expansion of Instacart
Instacart, since its inception, has grown and expanded from just serving in San Francisco to across the United States[9][10][11] and later on even in Canada in 2017.[12][13]
Instacart had a valuation of $39 billion as of 2021.[14] The company has partnered with over 350 grocery retail chains,[15] covering more than 2,500 grocery stores.[16]
Leadership style and philosophy
Max is known for his customer-centric approach to business. He focused on customers from day one and advocates for learning from customer feedback to drive product development.[2]
Technological contributions
One of Max's notable contribution was the development of the capacity system, which ensures that Instacart only accepts orders it can fulfill in a timely manner.[17]
