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𝗛𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝟮𝟬 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟳𝟯𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀. Then, staring at his empty fridge, he got a 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚. The problem? He missed the 𝐘 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 deadline and needed funding FAST. So he pulled a bold move—and it changed how groceries are delivered forever. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 Apoorva Mehta was born in India and moved to Canada at 14. He later worked as a supply chain engineer at Amazon. But in 2010, he quit his job to chase his dream—𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩. The next two years were brutal. He launched 𝟐𝟎 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬—and every single one failed. • A social network for lawyers? Flopped. • An ad platform for gaming? No traction. • 18 more ideas? All dead. His biggest realization? "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭." 𝗧𝗵𝗲 ‘𝗝𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗮𝗱’ 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 One day, frustrated with grocery shopping in San Francisco without a car, he had a thought: "𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝?" That idea became 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭. He coded the first version in 𝟑 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. But he had a problem—he missed Y Combinator’s deadline. So he did something crazy—𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐘 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫. The result? → He got accepted into Y Combinator. → He raised $𝟐.𝟑𝐌 in seed funding. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗗𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 Mehta studied why Webvan failed in grocery delivery. His biggest insight? 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬. This meant: • No inventory costs • Faster scaling • Less capital needed The timing was perfect: • Smartphones were everywhere • People were getting comfortable with online shopping • The trillion-dollar grocery industry was still offline 𝗧𝗵𝗲 $𝟵.𝟵 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 Today, Instacart: • Partners with 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐜𝐨, 𝐊𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐝𝐢 • Operates in 𝟏𝟒,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 • Went public at 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐭 $𝟗.𝟗 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 Mehta’s failures weren’t wasted. Each one 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. I hope you've found this helpful. Follow Vishu Bheda for more such startups and business insights!