<i>“The one thing that we got extremely right about the Webvan investment was that there would be huge consumer demand for home delivery of groceries," he says. "It’s just taken time for technology to finally catch up."
</i><p>I don't understand this at all and would really appreciate any enlightenment.<p>What has changed in technology in the past 12 years to enable home grocery delivery? Broadband? Cloud storage? HTML5? AJAX? Flat design? Mobile? And if any of these (Mobile being the most likely), how would they affect viability?<p>I suspect the thing that has changed more is <i>us</i>. We are probably more open to "low tech" evolutions: lack of privacy, increased trust of strangers, crowd sourcing, always being connected. Or maybe some clever hackers figured out a better way of doing something new with the same basic technology.<p>Frankly, I can't imagine what these 10 programmers would be doing today that couldn't have been done in 2001.
Mike Moritz doesn't get out of bed for less than a billion dollars - <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/mike-moritzs-midas-touch-green-dots-billions-and-whispers-of-greatness/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/mike-moritzs-midas-touch-gr...</a><p>Looks like Instacart is on the right path to a massive IPO :)<p>Good work guys!
Congrats to the team on securing funding! Can't wait to see you guys expand!<p>Personally, I use Instacart every week to buy all of my groceries. I live in Palo Alto, and don't own a car. With Instacart, that's easy, since I don't have to worry about going to the grocery store, and lugging groceries back and forth in a car. So while it may be more expensive to use Instacart, my reduced burn-rate of not having to own and maintain a vehicle makes it a net cost-savings.
First: Congratulations all around. Very exciting to get that much support and validation.<p>Second: As much as any of us can make comprehensive grocery lists, there's a serendipity to the grocery runs that I'm not ready to give up. Snap decisions can be enablers for future meals. "I need 1 lb. of chicken breast but, hey, wait… maybe I'll get 2 lb. and make double and freeze the rest for next week?" … "Oh shit… tomato paste! Definitely used the last of that a couple days ago; better get some more." It was a no-brainer to ditch the video rental store, but you can't browse fresh groceries from an Apple TV.<p>Third: I'm not willing to trust a stranger to pick out an avocado that's just the right ripeness for my purposes, nor do I want to type out just how ripe I want my avocado this time.<p>EDIT: clarity
When I read "crowdsourcing" in the headline I was expecting more of a discussion about how Instacart was enlisting a broader base of "delivery" people but it sounds like its messengers are still a pretty tight circle. Which makes sense, since, as the article also notes, there's a quality level that probably needs to be attained to be viable.
The strange thing about this is that in the UK, here every major food retailer has been doing this for years. It also has to be said, they don't break-down figures but most folks suspect it's not a profitable activity - it's a market share activity.
Apoorva stop killing it, it's needless pressure on the rest of us ;)<p>Jk, congrats! Instacart rocks and aside from delivering groceries, is creating work and income to a lot of people who really need it.<p>The so called "99%" won't be saved by politicians, but rather companies like Instacart.
This company will fail. I don't see it being profitable on 3.99 per delivery... Nor do I see the interest in the service outside the Bay Area. Enjoy the VC money while it lasts guys