Today, Marc Lore is synonymous with eCommerce. He is known for translating his bold visions into trailblazing companies like Diapers.com and Jet.com. As a serial entrepreneur, there are consistencies in Marc’s companies: they were born out of his own needs and focused on how we consume goods. But perhaps most notably – they are ideas so daring that some would call him crazy.
His latest endeavor, Wonder, is no different.
In this episode of Spotlight On, Marc joins Accel’s Sameer Gandhi to reflect on their long-standing partnership and Marc’s bold yet methodical approach to company growth. They unpack Marc’s vision for Wonder to become an AI-powered personal chef and, along the way, share lessons for new and seasoned founders on stage-by-stage growth, scaling a team, and building investor trust. The conversation offers an open look into Marc’s ambition and unshakable belief in the importance of founder naïveté when challenging new markets that nobody believed could be disrupted before.
Conversation highlights:
- 00:00 – Recounting Marc’s and Sameer’s partnership over the years
- 04:00 – Marc’s early interest in entrepreneurship and atypical first investor
- 09:16 – Strategies for doubling the valuation of companies at each round
- 12:11 – Advice for new entrepreneurs on the power of naïveté
- 14:43 – How Diapers.com transformed e-commerce by redefining customer expectations
- 24:12 – Overview of Wonder and how it is redesigning the food supply chain
- 30:59 - Marc’s rubric for growth and the necessity of capital burn
- 35:10 – How Marc’s approach to interviewing and building a team has evolved
- 45:50 – Marc’s reflection on how to gain an advantage in the early days of your career
Featured: Marc Lore, CEO of Wonder, and Sameer Gandhi, Partner at Accel
Learn more about Accel’s relationship with Marc Lore:
Explore more episodes from this season:
- S2E1 | Klaviyo’s Andrew Bialecki on proving a tech startup can be built anywhere
- S2E2 | Webflow’s Vlad Magdalin on the biggest lessons learned from bootstrapping and raising capital
- S2E3 | Syrup’s James Theuerkauf on building an AI-powered product that cuts through the noise
- S2E4 | Sysdig’s Suresh Vasudevan on embracing a “challenger mindset”
- S2E5 | CrowdStrike’s George Kurtz on building a generational company
- S2E6 | Accel’s Amit Kumar and Ivan Zhou on being an effective startup partner when things don’t go according to plan
- S2E7 | Remote’s Marcelo Lebre on the future of the global workforce
- S2E8 | Gamma’s Jon Noronha on how early-stage startups can challenge industry incumbents
- S2E9 | Monte Carlo’s Barr Moses on creating a playbook for a product that’s never been built before
- S2E10 | ConductorOne’s Alex Bovee on the critical ingredients of a high-growth startup
- S2E11 | Netskope’s Sanjay Beri on building an iconic company through controlled innovation
- S2E12 | Chainalysis’ Jackie Burns Koven on building trust in new technologies
Access Spotlight On Season 1 episodes here.
