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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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CHAPTERS
Chapter summaries
Meeting Fidji Simo in Sète: roots in a Mediterranean port town
Emily Chang travels to Sète on the southern French coast to meet Instacart CEO Fidji Simo in her hometown. Fidji introduces the setting and shares how much she misses the place that shaped her.
- •Emily arrives in Sète and sets the scene of a port city defined by the sea and local traditions
- •Fidji welcomes Emily and reflects on how special Sète is to her
- •Emily frames Fidji as a major Silicon Valley leader with deep French roots
Holding onto her identity in Silicon Valley (accent, style, and belonging)
Fidji describes pressure she felt at Facebook to change how she looked and presented herself. She explains trying to fit the expected “tech” mold briefly, then rejecting it because it didn’t feel authentic.
- •Fidji recalls being told to dress down and change her look when moving into product at Facebook
- •She tried the recommended look for a day and decided it wasn’t who she was
- •Emily observes Fidji’s distinctly French presence as they meet locals in town
Les Halles market and a family legacy in fishing and food
At Les Halles, Fidji explains her family’s multigenerational ties to fishing and fishmongering. She emphasizes how central food is to her family culture and values.
- •Fidji describes how the men in her family—father, grandfather, uncles—worked as fishermen
- •She notes an uncle transitioned from fishing to fishmonger work
- •Fidji credits her grandfather with instilling respect for “feeding the world”
- •Food is described as the center of celebration and family life
Tielle and the pride of Sète: food as craft, community, and ritual
Fidji introduces the local specialty tielle and explains how it reflects the family-based production chain from sea to table. She and Emily taste it and talk about how food anchors memory and identity.
- •Fidji explains what tielle is and why locals are proud of it
- •She describes the family workflow: catching octopus, preparing it, baking, and delivering it fresh
- •Fidji says returning home includes immediately getting tielle because it’s the taste she grew up with
- •Emily reacts to the dish and highlights its appeal
French relationship to time: enjoying small moments (lunch, home, work)
Emily asks what Americans miss from French culture, and Fidji contrasts work-centric life with savoring everyday moments. She shares how she tries to recreate those values in both her home and workplace.
- •Fidji says the French prioritize enjoying small moments, not just big milestones
- •She’s surprised by the idea of working heavily for only a short vacation window
- •She highlights the importance of stopping for lunch and breaking bread
- •She tries to make everyday moments special at work and at home
Work ethic from the sea and early lessons about technology
Fidji reflects on her father’s demanding, dangerous work and the values she carried into her own career. She also shares a story about her grandfather adapting to new fishing technology rather than fearing it.
- •Fidji describes her father’s long, intense days starting very early and ending late
- •She says she didn’t become a fisherman partly because she’s seasick, but kept the work ethic and leadership values
- •She explains lessons about leading a crew and believing anything is possible with hard work
- •Fidji recounts her grandfather choosing to master new technology that changed fishing competition
High school in Sète, firsts in her family, and dreaming of California
Walking through Sète, Fidji points out her high school and shares personal milestones. She describes how American TV influenced her imagination about California and her future.
- •Emily notes Fidji is the first in her family to graduate high school
- •Fidji revisits her high school and says she met her husband there on the first day
- •Fidji names The O.C. as a key influence and recalls listening to its soundtrack when moving to California
- •Emily and Fidji share a light moment referencing the show’s theme
From elite school to eBay: choosing tech for impact and constant change
Fidji describes working intensely to earn admission to a top business school in France, then pursuing technology rather than finance. She explains why tech appealed to her and how that led her to eBay.
- •Emily references Fidji attending an elite business school in France and interning at eBay
- •Fidji says she worked extremely hard and slept very little for two years to reach that goal
- •She contrasts the popularity of finance at the time with her attraction to technology
- •Fidji says tech offered impact on people’s lives and demanded constant adaptation
Breaking into Facebook and taking career-defining risks
Fidji recounts being initially rejected by Facebook and how she got in by creating a product concept over a weekend. She explains that her rapid rise came from repeatedly taking big risks, including leading mobile monetization.
- •Fidji says Facebook initially told her they didn’t need strategy people
- •She created a product from scratch with marketing and sent it to recruiters, which helped her get hired
- •Fidji attributes her acceleration at Facebook to taking risks
- •She describes being asked to lead mobile monetization when many doubted it was possible
Business lessons from fishing: strategy, supply-demand timing, and trust
Back at the port, Emily and Fidji watch boats return and discuss the strategy involved in fishing economics. Fidji emphasizes that trust between crew and captain is essential, then introduces her father and the behind-the-scenes setting.
- •Fidji explains the tradeoff between returning early with fewer fish versus later with more fish at lower prices
- •She frames the dynamic as supply and demand in volume and price
- •Fidji says what she loves about fishing is the trust required between crew and captain
- •Fidji introduces her father and notes their access is possible because he’s with them
From traditional fish auctions to Instacart’s view of technology as support, not disruption
Emily observes the fish auction process and Fidji explains its evolution from shouted prices to electronic bidding. When asked how Instacart fits with hands-on market culture, Fidji argues technology can help preserve and strengthen traditional crafts rather than replace them.
- •Fidji explains the fish auction’s history and shift to electronic systems with remote bidding
- •Emily asks how choosing a personal fish contrasts with app-based grocery delivery
- •Fidji says there should be a healthy mix between ancestral work and technology
- •She rejects “disruption” framing and emphasizes helping craft workers do their jobs better in the future
Instacart’s origin story and Fidji’s CEO transition to reshape the company
Emily recounts Instacart’s founding premise and pandemic-era surge, then explains why the company needed to redefine itself after lockdown. In San Francisco, Fidji discusses the pros and cons of leading as a non-founder and the need to earn credibility through results.
- •A founder interview clip describes the grocery-shopping pain points Instacart set out to solve
- •Emily summarizes Instacart’s model: app ordering, a shopper fulfills the order, delivery to the customer
- •Emily notes the pandemic surge and the need for a post-pandemic redefinition
- •Fidji says being a non-founder brings scaling experience but requires rebuilding credibility
- •She says she’s earning credibility by showing that new bets are working
From delivery app to grocery technology company: partners, scale, and post-bubble reset
Fidji explains she saw Instacart’s potential as a grocery technology company, deeply integrated with many grocers. She describes resetting internal focus away from valuation toward building a sustainable, profitable “generational company,” and addresses skepticism about competition and quality at scale.
- •Fidji says Instacart can be more than an online delivery app by providing grocery technology
- •She describes deep integration with 1500 grocers and powering both Instacart’s marketplace and grocers’ own e-commerce
- •Fidji says the company faced post-pandemic declines and a reputation as unprofitable
- •She describes reframing priorities away from external valuation toward sustainable growth and profitability
- •Fidji argues the market underestimates how hard it is to deliver groceries with accuracy, speed, selection, and affordability
- •She says Instacart is strongest when customers’ preferred retailers are partner grocers
Smart carts, budgeting visibility, shopper concerns, and food-system ambitions
Fidji demonstrates AI-powered Caper carts and discusses how showing running totals can help budget-conscious shoppers. She responds to complaints about shopper work, then broadens to policy and long-term goals: using technology to improve nutrition access and reduce waste in a sub-optimized food system.
- •Fidji demonstrates how Caper carts scan items, display a screen, and recommend products based on basket and store location
- •She says hundreds of carts are deployed with plans to reach thousands soon
- •Fidji explains why showing totals can help people maximize within budgets and avoid checkout embarrassment
- •She acknowledges shopper complaints and describes investing in tools to make shopping work easier
- •Fidji says Instacart seeks savings for customers amid higher supply-chain prices
- •She describes advocacy tied to diet-related disease costs and the challenge of prescribing food versus medication
- •Fidji says the food system is sub-optimized and that machine learning and AI could reduce waste by better matching production to demand
Full circle: dinners with presidents, building in France, and growing women leaders
Fidji reflects on attending a state dinner hosted by President Macron honoring President Joe Biden and describes it as a full-circle moment. She discusses cultural barriers to entrepreneurship in France compared with the US and talks about the small number of female tech CEOs and the importance of women lifting other women into leadership.
- •Fidji says she never imagined having dinner with the French president
- •She describes the event as a state dinner organized by President Macron to honor President Joe Biden
- •Fidji says entrepreneurship has only recently been valued in France and that cultural change is still needed
- •She cites challenges in hiring, retaining talent, and organizational flexibility in France
- •Fidji says there are few female tech CEOs and that needs to change
- •She expresses hope that talented women in C-suites will become the next wave of CEOs and lift others up
Message to the next generation: dreaming big and focusing long-term
Emily asks what she would say to “the next French Fidji Simo.” Fidji answers by emphasizing possibility, ambition, and long-term focus, grounded in her own path from a small fishing town to Silicon Valley CEO.
- •Fidji says she tries to show women that a small-town upbringing doesn’t limit outcomes
- •She points to her own background in a fisherman family as proof of what’s possible
- •Fidji urges people to dream big and avoid self-imposed limitations
- •She emphasizes focusing on the long-term goal
