Instacart’s K2 Retreat

At San Francisco Headquarters — July 14 & 15, 2016

13 min readAug 8, 2016

“While Mount Everest is well known for being the tallest mountain in the world, K2 is known for its extreme difficulty.” –Apoorva

“In fact, Instacart has more full time employees than there are climbers who have ever reached the summit of K2. As a company, we will be embarking on the most difficult expedition yet over the next few years. Focus, hard work, and passion will drive us forward. Perseverance, collaboration, and a strong culture will keep us strong.”

“Instacart becomes a different company every month.” –Apoorva

“It changes constantly. When everyone comes together for these retreats, it’s a celebration of how far we’ve come together. It’s also a chance for us to step back and look at the bigger picture, and to reflect on what we’re doing and why it matters.”

“None of this would be possible without the work of Zain, Sara, Bill, Andrew Nodes, Shadi, Dave Hora, Ashby, Kelsey, Gina, Shannon, Brenda, Guissu, Helen, Melissa, Jeff, Rahil, Scott, Michelle, Max, and Shevelle.” –Ravi

Thank you!

“We asked ourselves, what is it that all of you already believe in?” –Apoorva

“Three things came to mind. The first was optimism. Just because something has failed before does not mean it will fail again. You believed before anyone else did. Second is the fact that we love hard problems that, at times, seem impossible. And finally, you are excited by work that is meaningful. Today, hundreds of thousands of people use Instacart and as a result, they have more time to spend with their families, they have access to fresh food, and their lives are better. Tens of thousands of people now have a new opportunity to earn a wage. You created this opportunity.”

“Without a customer, there would be no Instacart.” –Nilam

“We would have no retailer partners, no CPG pay to advertise with us, and our shoppers wouldn’t have anything to do. So when you are faced with problems day to day, start by asking, “Am I putting the customer first?”

“Even though we have an incredible lead in the market right now, we must work hard every single day to maintain and build that lead.” –Doug

“If we can learn faster, we can make better decisions, build better products, and build a better experience for our customers. What this means for all of us is, every single day we must work hard to compress a week into a day, and a day into an hour.”

“If everybody truly cares and takes ownership, brings all 110% to the table, we will succeed.” –Gina

“It’s setting a high bar and then raising it even higher. We’re proud of the work we do and we’re responsible for every single action we take.”

“Thinking big is in the DNA of Instacart, and sometimes to think big, you have to turn the world upside down.” –Max

“This value is about recognizing that sometimes the whole world believes one thing, and they’re all wrong. We’re using this phrase to describe the difference between thinking in a limited way, and thinking in a limitless way, where anything is possible.”

“There’s a saying: If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.” –Lulu

“What does this mean for us? This means that we listen, that we trust, that we collaborate. We’re already fast, but to go far, we need to go together. Ask yourself, could I work with a team to make this even better?”

“I love working at Instacart because there’s always a new challenge.” –Lauren R.

“Every day is totally different, and things move fast. If you have an idea at Instacart, it can be implemented in a matter of days, weeks, or months. At other companies I’ve been at, it can take years.”

“My favorite part of the retreat is getting to see the afar people.” –Shevelle

“I talk to them all the time, but just in Slack. All this week people are coming up and hugging me and I’m like, ‘Oh, hi! It’s you!’”

“Managing with compassion is my first principle.” –Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn

“There’s going to be people here who are taking on more and more responsibility for other people. That’s a very different role from being an individual contributor and constantly getting shit done. If you’re going to scale, you’re going to need to coach these people to solve their own problems, and you’re going to have to take a step back and let them make mistakes. The longer you hold on to forcing them to act exactly how you would act, the less scalable it will be over time. So summoning compassion and taking the time to understand what motivates somebody, is one of the hardest things—and far and away one of the most valuable things—someone can do as a manager.”

“When we take mental shortcuts to make decisions about people, we very often get it wrong.” –Joelle Emerson, Paradigm

“By managing unconscious bias, we make better decisions, ensure the best idea wins, and build a more diverse, inclusive company. Diverse teams are smarter, make better decision, and are better at complex problem solving. The positive effects of diversity make the most impact on teams that focus on innovation.”

“I grew up in England and every store delivers there. I was actually horrified when I moved here. I was like, “Oh god, I have to go to the grocery store?” Instacart has been a complete game changer.” –Tamika, customer

“I think about people my age, and Instacart isn’t a steep learning curve for us because we grew up with people delivering milk and baked goods.” — Lynn, customer

“I started using Instacart when I was pregnant. I think I became an express member when she started walking.” –Lindsey, customer

“I actually really enjoy shopping. When I started I didn’t know what a Granny Smith apple was. Now I can name 10 different apples.” –Akima, shopper

“When we feel appreciated we work a lot harder for each other. We take care of each other.” –Emily, shopper

“Everybody at Instacart is always happy and trying to help you. Since I joined, I’m happy all the time.” –Chirag, shopper

“We needed to find a delivery partner who would take care of our customers and we felt like Instacart would do that.” –Liz, retail partner
“Instacart has really helped me scale my business. Every time we talk to customers about Instacart, it’s deepening our connection to them.” –Suzy, retail partner

“If things seem impossible, you’re aiming about high enough.” –Ben Saunders, Arctic Explorer

“The part of myself that I have stretched and tested to the limit more than any muscle, ligament, or tendon, is my sense of self-belief. By self-belief, I mean the belief that tomorrow can be better than today and that I have the capacity to make that happen. Self-belief is like a muscle. The more you test it and stretch it, the more time you spend genuinely outside your comfort zone, the stronger it gets.”

“To the seemingly impossible!”

“ I love my team.” –Mal H.

“I’ve never worked at a company where everybody was a friend of mine and we hang out. It’s a very positive environment.”

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot at Instacart.” –Matt G.

“I started as a shopper, then moved into different roles. I’ve stuck with it because there’s cool people here and lots of opportunities to learn something new.”