GoKawiilKey Takeaways Max Mullen is the cofounder of Instacart and a tech investor who has invested in over 100 startups.
He said on a podcast earlier this month that he looks at founders’ shoes to determine if they are the “real deal.”
He said that “real builders” wear “dirty white sneakers” and noted that the founders who care the least about looking polished are usually the ones who are most invested in their companies.
Max Mullen can tell a lot about a founder by the state of their shoes.
The Instacart cofounder and tech investor, who has invested in over 100 startups, told the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast earlier this month that he has a trick for evaluating founders. At the seed stage, when it’s difficult to tell who the “real deal” founders are, he starts “looking down.”
“If you’re looking at a founder and they got dirty white sneakers, you’re a real builder,” Mullen said.
At founder dinners, demo days and startup events, he noticed a pattern: the founders who care the least about looking polished are usually the ones crashing on the office couch and working on their startups nonstop. The best founders don’t wear designer sneakers or high-tech running shoes, just plain, white, lace-up tennis shoes that are “filthy,” he said.
A pair of dirty white sneakers. (Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images)
“They don’t have time to buy nice sneakers,” Mullen said. “They just put on the same pair of sneakers, and they get dirty.”
How the sneaker test works in practice
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