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Bloomberg OriginalsHow Instacart's CEO Fidji Simo Brought French Style to Silicon Valley | The Circuit with Emily Chang
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Fidji Simo blends French roots with Instacart’s tech ambitions
- Fidji Simo connects her upbringing in Sète’s fishing culture to a leadership philosophy built on craft, teamwork, and the mission of feeding people.
- She describes resisting pressure to adopt Silicon Valley norms and instead bringing French sensibilities about daily enjoyment and community into work and home life.
- She recounts her path from elite schooling and eBay to breaking into Facebook through initiative, then accelerating her career by repeatedly taking high-risk, high-impact roles.
- As Instacart CEO, she says she reoriented the company away from bubble-era valuation talk and toward building a sustainable, profitable “generational” business.
- She positions Instacart’s future as a grocery technology platform—integrated with grocers, expanding in-store tech like smart carts, and aiming to reduce waste and improve nutrition access through technology.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasSimo chose authenticity over Silicon Valley conformity.
She described being told at Facebook to “dress down,” wear a hoodie, and change her hair, but said she did it for one day and it “felt horrible” because it wasn’t who she was.
Her identity and leadership narrative are rooted in feeding people, not just building tech.
She said fishermen are highly respected in Sète because they “feed the town,” and framed her Instacart role as “bridging” her love of tech with her passion for feeding people.
She emphasizes mastering new technology as a competitive edge rather than resisting it.
She recounted her grandfather’s response to a new fish-finding machine: instead of fearing it, he aimed to “become the best master” of it and use it to his advantage.
Taking calculated, high-impact risks is presented as central to her career growth.
She said her career accelerated when Mark Zuckerberg asked her to lead mobile monetization at a time “no one thought we could monetize mobile,” and she framed repeating that pattern as taking high-stakes risks that can change a career trajectory.
At Instacart, she aimed to re-anchor the company around sustainable growth and profitability.
She said she reset Instacart internally by moving focus away from external valuation and toward building “a generational company” that can grow sustainably and be profitable.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI remember, like, at Facebook, there were a lot of people, when I moved into the product side, telling me like, "Oh, you need to dress down. You need to wear a hoodie. You need to tie your hair." And I did it for one day, and it felt horrible because it wasn't who I was.
— Fidji Simo
The French really understand, like, how to enjoy the little moments, not just the big moments.
— Fidji Simo
Whereas here, the people who are most respected are the people who feed the town.
— Fidji Simo
I mean, I, I literally didn't sleep for two years to get into the best possible school.
— Fidji Simo
It's pretty crazy that today it is easier for a doctor to prescribe medication than it is to prescribe food, when we know food is such a big driver of this condition.
— Fidji Simo
SPEAKERS
Emily Chang
hostJournalist and host at Bloomberg Originals, presenting and interviewing leaders on technology and business.
Fidji Simo
guestCEO of Instacart and former Facebook executive.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
