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I was employee #2 at Shipt and the early CTO. Was really great seeing us go from absolutely nothing to a strong platform, great team and lots of customers. In

I was employee #2 at Shipt and the early CTO. Was really great seeing us go from absolutely nothing to a strong platform, great team and lots of customers. In telling our story early on I would talk about how Lyft was #2 in the ride-hailing space and was a billion dollar company. If we could be #2 in the grocery delivery space we should command a comparable valuation to Instacart (meaning we'd be worth a fraction of their valuation, but it would still be great by any standard). And we did exactly this [1]. With much less cash (60M vs 800M+) and in a very short period of time (we literally hadn't started building this three years ago from today). I haven't been involved in the past couple years, but am still friends with the founder and several on the team; and had a bit of equity (whohoo! :-). Really happy for everyone involved and for Birmingham and Alabama! [1] Here are my ratios based on recent valuations: Lyft/Uber, 11B/70B = .16 Shipt/Instacart, 550M/3.4B = .16 Astonishingly accurate! :-)

stevenj 9y ago
I think you meant a "B" for the Lyft/Uber valuations. :)
- harrisreynolds 9y ago
  Yes... thanks... updated.
almostApatriot1 9y ago
so you jumped shipt after what? A couple months? A year? It's only been around 3 years and you say you haven't been there for years... I guess you got a nice payday, but I wouldn't exactly call this story motivational.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  Next to political bullshit, this kind of nastiness has to be what I least want to see on HN, although I can only speak for myself.
  - softawre 9y ago
    I agree. I guess if GP wanted to tell us why he left so quickly he would have told us, though it wouldn't have hurt to ask in a nicer way.
    - harrisreynolds 9y ago
      Hey guys. I was with involved with Shipt for a little over a year. I honestly left because I am an entrepreneur at heart and have my own business that I did not want to see die. It would have been easier to have stayed at Shipt. Being a CTO is a relatively easy job for me. But I don't measure my success by what is easy or what makes sense. I certainly would have made more on this acquisition if I had stayed longer, but what can I say... being an entrepreneur is both a blessing and a curse!!!
  - gebeeson 9y ago
    You are speaking for me as well - no worries. I'd like to see less of that as well; adds nothing and speculative at that.
  - almostApatriot1 9y ago
    It was an honest question. I don't see what your beef is. So many top level employees show to put their name on something for a year and leave with a payout. I've fallen scam to this a number of times myself.
    - dang 9y ago
      That wasn't an honest question by the standard commenters are expected to maintain here. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and fix this. To fix it should be simple if you want to. Of course it's not so simple to avoid seeing others through the filter of our own past experiences, especially online where so little information is available. Most of what we're all doing when we read online comments is massive curve-fitting to our own pre-existing conditions. But the rules in the guidelines are designed to mitigate at least the worst effects.
dvt 9y ago
Congrats on your exit! Any lessons learned? Would love to pick your brain :)
- notjustanymike 9y ago
  He probably learned to stay involved longer :)

stevenj 9y ago

I think you meant a "B" for the Lyft/Uber valuations. :)

harrisreynolds 9y ago
Yes... thanks... updated.

almostApatriot1 9y ago

so you jumped shipt after what? A couple months? A year? It's only been around 3 years and you say you haven't been there for years... I guess you got a nice payday, but I wouldn't exactly call this story motivational.

QAPereo 9y ago
Next to political bullshit, this kind of nastiness has to be what I least want to see on HN, although I can only speak for myself.
- softawre 9y ago
  I agree. I guess if GP wanted to tell us why he left so quickly he would have told us, though it wouldn't have hurt to ask in a nicer way.
  - harrisreynolds 9y ago
    Hey guys. I was with involved with Shipt for a little over a year. I honestly left because I am an entrepreneur at heart and have my own business that I did not want to see die. It would have been easier to have stayed at Shipt. Being a CTO is a relatively easy job for me. But I don't measure my success by what is easy or what makes sense. I certainly would have made more on this acquisition if I had stayed longer, but what can I say... being an entrepreneur is both a blessing and a curse!!!
- gebeeson 9y ago
  You are speaking for me as well - no worries. I'd like to see less of that as well; adds nothing and speculative at that.
- almostApatriot1 9y ago
  It was an honest question. I don't see what your beef is. So many top level employees show to put their name on something for a year and leave with a payout. I've fallen scam to this a number of times myself.
  - dang 9y ago
    That wasn't an honest question by the standard commenters are expected to maintain here. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and fix this. To fix it should be simple if you want to. Of course it's not so simple to avoid seeing others through the filter of our own past experiences, especially online where so little information is available. Most of what we're all doing when we read online comments is massive curve-fitting to our own pre-existing conditions. But the rules in the guidelines are designed to mitigate at least the worst effects.

dvt 9y ago

Congrats on your exit! Any lessons learned? Would love to pick your brain :)

notjustanymike 9y ago
He probably learned to stay involved longer :)