An Instacart founder shares his sneaker test for entrepreneurs
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Max Mullen is the cofounder of Instacart. Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images 2026-04-22T09:58:01.283Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Instacart cofounder Max Mullen said dirty sneakers can be a sign of dedication in founders. Mullen said a founder's shoes can show their commitment to their startup. "Real builders," Mullen said, "don't have time to buy nice sneakers." AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. Why do shoes indicate dedication? How common is this hiring approach? How does Max Mullen evaluate startups? What is the "sneaker test"? What other traits show founder commitment? A quick fit check can tell Max Mullen much of what he needs to know about a founder. Loading audio narration... The Instacart cofounder — also a prominent seed investor who has backed over 100 startups — shared his top trick for evaluating founders on the "Uncapped with Jack Altman" podcast on Thursday.Mullen said it's tough to tell who the "real deal" is at the seed stage, and at a certain point, he started "looking down." "If you're looking at a founder and they got dirty white sneakers," he said, "you're a real builder."He's found that the entrepreneurs who aren't as focused on their appearance are usually the ones sleeping at the office and working on their companies around the clock. "They don't have time to buy nice sneakers," Mullen said. "They just put on the same pair of sneakers, and they get dirty."For example, Mullen said he invested in the AI automation platform Gumloop, and one of the founders had "such dirty sneakers." "They were falling apart," Mullen said, adding that he bought the founder new shoes."My cofounder Rahul [Behal] does not see the purpose of buying new shoes or shirts, so Max bought him a new pair," Gumloop's Max Brodeur-Urbas told Business Insider. Mullen bought one of the Gumloop founders a new pair of sneakers because his were falling apart. Max Brodeur-Urbas Meanwhile, a "founder who has their aesthetic fully dialed in" is usually "signaling that they're a great founder rather than spending every ounce of their energy becoming one," Mullen wrote in an April blog post."I've just found that the real builders, they look the part," Mullen told Altman.